I learned something new the other day.
Did you know there was such a thing as editing down verses editing up?
Me, neither.
I read an excellent article on Critique Circle called Working with an Editor by John Berkowitz. While his article was focused with the particulars of hiring editorial services, I did take home the value of various types of editing.
Many years ago, I belonged to a critique group. Many of these writers were EDITING UP type of critiquers, focusing on grammar, punctuation and sentence structure, in other words, the minutiae of the story. This type of critiquing worked for this particular group, but the writing I submitted was raw, first draft stuff. Nowhere near ready for this type of critique. They tried to help me, and I tried harder to give them what they needed. Eventually, I left the group. I probably should have left earlier, but everyone was too nice to tell me that we didn't work well together, and I was too obtuse to figure it out on my own.
While this type of critique is beneficial, BUT only at the right time. If you end up deleting 30,000-words because 1) you started at the wrong spot, 2) the plot/characters/story are weak and need serious work and tweaking it simply won't work, or, 3) world-building or structure needs an overhaul, then you have wasted everyone's time and effort.
This type of editing is the last step prior to proofreading before submitting to a publisher (whether self-publishing, searching for an agent, or submitting to a traditional publisher).
On the other hand, I have always known I'm an editing down type of critiquer, though I didn't know this was a thing. I also use this technique to judge writing contest entries. And don't ever ask me to edit for grammar/punctuation, it is NOT my forte.
When I look at someone's writing, I look for flow, big picture items, and the "does this make sense" sort of stuff.
This is also how I approach my own writing.
Recently, I wrote a 1,000-word short fanfic story called "LAST WILD DRAGON", as an homage to the late, great Anne McCaffrey. I'll post it tomorrow.
I look at the big picture flow, then I work on each paragraph, and then individual sentences. I had the added challenge of making this story fit the parameters of a contest:
In 1,000 words or less, write yourself into a scene set in the world of your favorite book!
I think I edited this short about six times, but I still would find weird mistakes, or flow problems. I had one stupid sentence that needed to be in the story, but after tweaking and editing the story so much this sentence didn't fit in the paragraph it had been originally placed.
So I cut it.
Cutting it from the paragraph made the story flow better.
And then, I found a better spot to place the rewritten version of this sentence, not the original sentence as it was written.
Everyone should learn to edit their own work. It's hard. And it doesn't get any easier, but you do learn how to write to engage your reader, to bring them into your world.
Because that is the whole purpose of writing is sharing your story, isn't it?
Write on!
Showing posts with label editing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label editing. Show all posts
11/12/13
Writing and a Snippet
Well, peeps, I'm writing.
Not NaNo speed, but I am writing . . . on two stories, with a goal to finish them by the end of the year.
The first one is DRAGON DAYS OF SUMMER, the fourth book in The Goblin's Apprentice series. I'm currently at 20,414 words, and I expect to hit 65,000-75,000 words at the finish. It's a little long for MG (middle grade), but that word length isn't too hideous. TROLL (book three) came in at 66,000 words.
And only JK and her editing team knows how long the Deathly Hallows is . . . well, lookie there, Answer has the answer to everything. Book 1 Sorcerer's stone--76,944 words, compared to book 6 Deathly Hallows--204,796, but the longest was Order of the Phoenix at 257,046.
Who knew, right?
I was slightly stuck in this story, and to be perfectly truthful, I don't like how I wrote through this particular scene, but the story is almost to the point where I know exactly how I want to write it. Oh, that doesn't mean there won't be misbehaving scenes, but hopefully they won't stop me cold.
The other story is called FIRE WITHIN. It's under the Mystic Elements tab on my blog's home page. It's technically a "New" adult urban fantasy.
What is "new" adult?
It's one of those catch words that editors and agents toss around. Basically it's not YA (young adult), which is usually considered a high schooler, mid- to late- teens, though sometimes it can go a little younger or a little older. I consider the age of the character to be in their early twenties. Out of high school, but still unrealistic as to what life is all about.
This was the story I worked on the most this week. It's a lot more hard hitting with nasty language to boot. Sorry, but that's the way the character needs it to be. She's at a hard place in her life.
This is a rough draft, so there might be mistakes, booboos, and errors.
Please forgive, but there is a reason it's called "the writing process".
If you have any kids (12 and under) who read my blog, then you might want to keep them from reading this little excerpt.
Not NaNo speed, but I am writing . . . on two stories, with a goal to finish them by the end of the year.
The first one is DRAGON DAYS OF SUMMER, the fourth book in The Goblin's Apprentice series. I'm currently at 20,414 words, and I expect to hit 65,000-75,000 words at the finish. It's a little long for MG (middle grade), but that word length isn't too hideous. TROLL (book three) came in at 66,000 words.
And only JK and her editing team knows how long the Deathly Hallows is . . . well, lookie there, Answer has the answer to everything. Book 1 Sorcerer's stone--76,944 words, compared to book 6 Deathly Hallows--204,796, but the longest was Order of the Phoenix at 257,046.
Who knew, right?
I was slightly stuck in this story, and to be perfectly truthful, I don't like how I wrote through this particular scene, but the story is almost to the point where I know exactly how I want to write it. Oh, that doesn't mean there won't be misbehaving scenes, but hopefully they won't stop me cold.
The other story is called FIRE WITHIN. It's under the Mystic Elements tab on my blog's home page. It's technically a "New" adult urban fantasy.
What is "new" adult?
It's one of those catch words that editors and agents toss around. Basically it's not YA (young adult), which is usually considered a high schooler, mid- to late- teens, though sometimes it can go a little younger or a little older. I consider the age of the character to be in their early twenties. Out of high school, but still unrealistic as to what life is all about.
This was the story I worked on the most this week. It's a lot more hard hitting with nasty language to boot. Sorry, but that's the way the character needs it to be. She's at a hard place in her life.
This is a rough draft, so there might be mistakes, booboos, and errors.
Please forgive, but there is a reason it's called "the writing process".
If you have any kids (12 and under) who read my blog, then you might want to keep them from reading this little excerpt.
****
The Fire Within
Chapter One
Footsteps echoed down the
metal corridor. Quincy Jones’s eyes opened as she listened to the cadence of
two pairs of heavy steps. To her knowledge, her cell was the only one occupied at
this end of the hallway. They were coming for her. She would have company in
three, two, one . . .
The small metal window in
the steel door scraped open. “Warden wants to see you, firestarter.”
God, she hated that name
almost as much as she hated the asswipe who used it—Cunningham. “I don’t
suppose Warden thought to provide me with some clothes, did he?” In first two
days she was imprisoned, she had burned up five sets of scrubs, the mattress
covering the bare springs that formed her bed, and she had blistered the paint
off two-thirds of the cell walls. Other than acquiring a fire retardant
blanket, nothing else had been replaced.
“You’re in luck today. He
didn’t want to see your lily white ass traipsing down the halls disturbing the
other patients.” Cunningham gave a
greasy chuckle.
Patients, my ass, this place was more like the Hannibal Lector wing for
criminally insane psychopathic murderers, she thought, as a set of gray
scrubs were shoved through the hole. At least it wasn’t one of the bright
orange jumpsuits that the total loser whackjobs wore—besides orange would have
clashed with her maroon hair. “You have exactly two minutes to get dressed. If
you aren’t ready, then too bad, you can walk the gauntlet naked.”
The metal springs on the
bed squeaked as she rolled off the frame and padded over to the door in her
bare feet. Long ago, or was it just days? She tried to hide her nudity, but soon gave
up. Cameras watched her every move. Cunningham called it ‘suicide watch’. Maybe
it had been valid when she first arrived, but not any longer. It didn’t take a
rocket scientist to suspect they watched her just to jacked off in the control
room.
Perverts.
10/29/13
Time to Write
A couple of weeks ago, my daughter came to me and told me that she needs to know what happened next in my Goblin's Apprentice stories. At the time, I knew I had a lot of other stuff on my plate and I wouldn't get to it anytime soon.
So I told her that I would try to have it finished by the end of the year.
I have only two months.
Eeeeeekkkk!
Actually, I've been marking items off my to-do list quite nicely and I should be ready to start the process (again) tomorrow. Tuesday is errand day. So I'll be tweaking my candy fillings (Cranberry, Pomegranate, Cherries Jubilee, and making a new batch of Limoncello) in-between my jaunts into the world.
Though it's been a year since I've written TROLL, and almost a year since I started writing DRAGON, the characters still live in my head. It's just that the plot and story are evasive.
Thank goodness I managed to write a brief synopsis!
How many times have you heard a writer say those words?
Never.
Who knows, maybe I'll be ready to tackle NaNo this year, not officially of course since I have some of the story already written, but in the daily challenge of writing.
Anyone want to join me? Writing is such a lonely business that having someone challenging you is part of the fun!
Later, Peeps!
So I told her that I would try to have it finished by the end of the year.
I have only two months.
Eeeeeekkkk!
Actually, I've been marking items off my to-do list quite nicely and I should be ready to start the process (again) tomorrow. Tuesday is errand day. So I'll be tweaking my candy fillings (Cranberry, Pomegranate, Cherries Jubilee, and making a new batch of Limoncello) in-between my jaunts into the world.
Though it's been a year since I've written TROLL, and almost a year since I started writing DRAGON, the characters still live in my head. It's just that the plot and story are evasive.
Thank goodness I managed to write a brief synopsis!
How many times have you heard a writer say those words?
Never.
Who knows, maybe I'll be ready to tackle NaNo this year, not officially of course since I have some of the story already written, but in the daily challenge of writing.
Anyone want to join me? Writing is such a lonely business that having someone challenging you is part of the fun!
Later, Peeps!
4/25/13
Middle Grade Novel vs. Picture book
As I mentioned before, I have no clue how to write a picture book. When I attended the local SCBWI conference last Saturday, I was all ears listening to an art director break down a picture book.
So I finished writing one. It's just like writing a regular book.
What it doesn't have is:
The editing is just as intense as editing a longer novel, though editing 3-4 pages is a piece of cake vs. 300 pages. You want the words to flow in a longer novel, but the words are read in your head versus out loud. When you do edit a novel, a good trick is to read it out loud so your ear can catch all the inaccuracies.
Anyhoo, I'm at the editing stage of this story . . . and managed to add a 100 words! Eeeeek!
I'm supposed to be cutting words, not adding them!
Here's the sitch: When I wrote this story titled, for lack of anything better at this point in time, "Go Away, Piper!" I added many, many descriptions as part of the process. I wanted to visualize the scene. When I cut all the descriptors, there were some serious issues with flow and cohesion--I had to add some words back to the story.
Over the next week, I'll periodically mull this story over, tweaking it as necessary and then write a query letter before I send it out.
One of the reasons I attended the SCBWI conference was to get direct contact to editors. This gives me a foot in the door.
Whether or not my story is strong enough for them to want to publish it is a whole other problem.
But that's another blog post.
Later, Peeps!
So I finished writing one. It's just like writing a regular book.
- It has a beginning, a middle and and end.
- It has action. It has adventure. And it has an 'all is lost' moment.
- It has a story arc. It has a character arc.
- It has a little twist in the end.
- It has varying sentence structure. It has a few complicated words.
- The story builds upon every scene
What it doesn't have is:
- rhyming
- a 'lesson'. Though you could read one into the story, I didn't write this story to teach or preach to a kid. (and if you know me at all--that's my one pet peeve about literature classes--can't people simply write a good story? I mean, what if there really wasn't a deep meaning to Moby Dick when it was written? Why do lit teachers see 'symbolism' in everything?) . . . sorry, rant over.
The editing is just as intense as editing a longer novel, though editing 3-4 pages is a piece of cake vs. 300 pages. You want the words to flow in a longer novel, but the words are read in your head versus out loud. When you do edit a novel, a good trick is to read it out loud so your ear can catch all the inaccuracies.
Anyhoo, I'm at the editing stage of this story . . . and managed to add a 100 words! Eeeeek!
I'm supposed to be cutting words, not adding them!
Here's the sitch: When I wrote this story titled, for lack of anything better at this point in time, "Go Away, Piper!" I added many, many descriptions as part of the process. I wanted to visualize the scene. When I cut all the descriptors, there were some serious issues with flow and cohesion--I had to add some words back to the story.
Over the next week, I'll periodically mull this story over, tweaking it as necessary and then write a query letter before I send it out.
One of the reasons I attended the SCBWI conference was to get direct contact to editors. This gives me a foot in the door.
Whether or not my story is strong enough for them to want to publish it is a whole other problem.
But that's another blog post.
Later, Peeps!
5/3/12
The Chapter that would NOT end . . .
IS NOW FINISHED!
I still have the second half of the book to deal with, but chapter 7, Double, Double, Toil and Trouble, was a doozie! It's around twenty typewritten pages which makes it almost double most of my regular chapters. This chapter included using ideas from my original draft of TROLL, written TWO years ago, but updated and merged with the new beginning of the story.
I'm slow when working this way. I'm so doing just plain old edits because I'm rearranging, rewriting and reading it aloud. So many other writers that I know finish editing their stories in two days, it takes me at least two weeks--AND my middle grade stories are half the length!
Anyway, I'll find out how much editing I'll have to do when I get it back from my CP. But I think it will have to stay like it is with minimal cutting. Be gentle, my Meggie!
This next chapter will also include melding of old and new words, but I don't think it will be as intense. . . I hope.
Part of the problem is that when I wrote the first draft of TROLL, I had just finished writing FAERIE, but all I had was a logline.
That isn't bad, per se, but I think the fast writing lost my character's voice. AND to top it off, I didn't get around to even looking at it for almost two years. The biggest reason for that was my decision to self-publish my middle grade stories, and I had to get them edited, formated, find a cover artist, etc.
But I'm back!
Today, I'm working on Chapter 8: Just one little bite . . .
Later, Peeps!
I still have the second half of the book to deal with, but chapter 7, Double, Double, Toil and Trouble, was a doozie! It's around twenty typewritten pages which makes it almost double most of my regular chapters. This chapter included using ideas from my original draft of TROLL, written TWO years ago, but updated and merged with the new beginning of the story.
I'm slow when working this way. I'm so doing just plain old edits because I'm rearranging, rewriting and reading it aloud. So many other writers that I know finish editing their stories in two days, it takes me at least two weeks--AND my middle grade stories are half the length!
Anyway, I'll find out how much editing I'll have to do when I get it back from my CP. But I think it will have to stay like it is with minimal cutting. Be gentle, my Meggie!
This next chapter will also include melding of old and new words, but I don't think it will be as intense. . . I hope.
Part of the problem is that when I wrote the first draft of TROLL, I had just finished writing FAERIE, but all I had was a logline.
That isn't bad, per se, but I think the fast writing lost my character's voice. AND to top it off, I didn't get around to even looking at it for almost two years. The biggest reason for that was my decision to self-publish my middle grade stories, and I had to get them edited, formated, find a cover artist, etc.
But I'm back!
Today, I'm working on Chapter 8: Just one little bite . . .
Later, Peeps!
4/9/12
Hyperlinking / Writing 101
It took me less than 15 minutes to hyperlink the Weighty Wednesday and Foodie Friday posts to their respective pages. It helps me find them when I title the blog post with the WW or FF first. :-) That was when I realized I hadn't written a Writing 101 post in a very long time. Part of the reason is that those particular posts take a little bit of thought . . . that's not to say my other posts don't take some thought, but let's be real here, most of the time I'm posting 'off the cuff', or "pulling it out of my a$$".
Here are a few of the topics that haven't been covered yet. I will confess that a couple of these particular posts will be very, very short as they aren't my writing strengths, which means I don't have a definite opinion on them.
HA! Bet that surprised some of you!
Personally, I'm leaning toward -- Hooks. And I think Jody suggested Beginnings and Endings about a gazillion years ago. Anyone else have a topic you want to listen to me blather on and on about??
Anyone? *taps microphone* Anyone?
"Ruh-roh, the zombie Apocalypse has already struck! And I'm talking into nothingness!" Aaarrrrgggghhhh! "Run away, run away!"
Here are a few possibilities:
Writing 101 -- Plot
Writing 101 -- Story Structure
Writing 101 -- Dialogue
Writing 101 -- Writing Style
Writing 101-- Punctuation
Writing 101 -- Voice
Writing 101 -- Hooks
Writing 101--GMC Goal, Motivation, and Conflict
Writing 101--Craft
Writing 101 -- Description
Writing 101 -- Using Spellcheck and Grammar check
Writing 101 -- Beginnings &Endings
And yes, some of them DO overlap--genius of you to catch that! Or if you want to know how I approach judging a contest, I'm sure I've jabbered on about that topic numerous times!
Hey, I did do a crit for my friend Cyndi (Texas Two Step) for her next book and she mentioned that I should be an EDITOR. *snork* Yeah, I thought the same thing! It's because I don't worry about the minutiae (line editing) of the story--that's the writer's job until the story is uber-polished--but I tend to see more of the big picture: pacing, character development, etc.
Anyhoo, if you have a suggestion feel free to chime in!
Later, Peeps!
Here are a few of the topics that haven't been covered yet. I will confess that a couple of these particular posts will be very, very short as they aren't my writing strengths, which means I don't have a definite opinion on them.
HA! Bet that surprised some of you!
Personally, I'm leaning toward -- Hooks. And I think Jody suggested Beginnings and Endings about a gazillion years ago. Anyone else have a topic you want to listen to me blather on and on about??
Anyone? *taps microphone* Anyone?
"Ruh-roh, the zombie Apocalypse has already struck! And I'm talking into nothingness!" Aaarrrrgggghhhh! "Run away, run away!"
Here are a few possibilities:
Writing 101 -- Plot
Writing 101 -- Story Structure
Writing 101 -- Dialogue
Writing 101 -- Writing Style
Writing 101-- Punctuation
Writing 101 -- Voice
Writing 101 -- Hooks
Writing 101--GMC Goal, Motivation, and Conflict
Writing 101--Craft
Writing 101 -- Description
Writing 101 -- Using Spellcheck and Grammar check
Writing 101 -- Beginnings &Endings
And yes, some of them DO overlap--genius of you to catch that! Or if you want to know how I approach judging a contest, I'm sure I've jabbered on about that topic numerous times!
Hey, I did do a crit for my friend Cyndi (Texas Two Step) for her next book and she mentioned that I should be an EDITOR. *snork* Yeah, I thought the same thing! It's because I don't worry about the minutiae (line editing) of the story--that's the writer's job until the story is uber-polished--but I tend to see more of the big picture: pacing, character development, etc.
Anyhoo, if you have a suggestion feel free to chime in!
Later, Peeps!
3/19/12
Repetition kills stories
On Saturday, I decided to read a book that I had downloaded as a freebie.
No--I'm not mentioning the title or the author. All I will mention was that it was a paranormal romance.
Suffice it to say that it wasn't worth my time.
But it taught a great lesson--
Mindless repetition kills stories.
And, THANK GOD I have a wonderful CP (*shoutout to Meg Reid*) who will gently beat the snot out of me if I did this.
Since this was downloaded onto my Kindle, I can only give percent completed instead of page numbers.
10% The first part was good, not great, but a good start. Since I'm a writer and a reader, I could tell that it had been entered in some contests. NO, I never judged it, but it felt clean, straight forward.
Right around the 10% point, the story took on the soap opera effect. Where everything could be cleared up provided there was actual conversation between the hero and heroine.
Right about now, the author told the reader--for about the fifth time--about the hidden secrets the heroine needed to discover about her father. Hero knows the secret, but he's not talking. Heroine wants to be herself, but is in total denial about how she really is.
Usually when a writer writes a paranormal romance, she will choose one type of paranormal 'thing'. This author decided to include all of them from the heroine who sees ghosts, to the centuries old hero (angel or demon?) to vamps, to weres, to witches, to a demon/devil barred in the basement.
And I will bet you money that she included a kitchen sink in there somewhere.
Yeah, talk about overkill.
Yes--I've done this before . . . on the very first novel that I wrote, which will never see the light of day. AND when I've done it on recent stories, I like to think that I've learned to edit myself to stop it--which explains why I'm rewriting TROLL!
Add in the obligatory lust scene. Secrets mentioned again. AND then I skipped ahead to about the 25%
Same secrets, blah, blah, blah, secrets, ghosts, blah, blah, horniness, secrets, blah, blah, blah.
At this point I stopped reading and deleted the story . . . now I need to figure out how to PERMANENTLY DELETE it. Yes, it was that bad.
I know the brave new world of publishing is allowing more authors to share their stories, but we must all remember to edit ourselves and make that story the best it can possibly be--even if it means a drastic rewrite.
Please listen to your CP's, especially the ones who don't pull their punches. True writing friends/CP's aren't out to pull you down, they really do want to make the story better.
Listen to them.
Oh, and I started reading a tried and true author for me--Jayne Ann Krentz--now I need to get back to see what Fallon and Isabelle are up to!
Later, Peeps!
No--I'm not mentioning the title or the author. All I will mention was that it was a paranormal romance.
Suffice it to say that it wasn't worth my time.
But it taught a great lesson--
Mindless repetition kills stories.
And, THANK GOD I have a wonderful CP (*shoutout to Meg Reid*) who will gently beat the snot out of me if I did this.
Since this was downloaded onto my Kindle, I can only give percent completed instead of page numbers.
10% The first part was good, not great, but a good start. Since I'm a writer and a reader, I could tell that it had been entered in some contests. NO, I never judged it, but it felt clean, straight forward.
Right around the 10% point, the story took on the soap opera effect. Where everything could be cleared up provided there was actual conversation between the hero and heroine.
Right about now, the author told the reader--for about the fifth time--about the hidden secrets the heroine needed to discover about her father. Hero knows the secret, but he's not talking. Heroine wants to be herself, but is in total denial about how she really is.
Usually when a writer writes a paranormal romance, she will choose one type of paranormal 'thing'. This author decided to include all of them from the heroine who sees ghosts, to the centuries old hero (angel or demon?) to vamps, to weres, to witches, to a demon/devil barred in the basement.
And I will bet you money that she included a kitchen sink in there somewhere.
Yeah, talk about overkill.
Yes--I've done this before . . . on the very first novel that I wrote, which will never see the light of day. AND when I've done it on recent stories, I like to think that I've learned to edit myself to stop it--which explains why I'm rewriting TROLL!
Add in the obligatory lust scene. Secrets mentioned again. AND then I skipped ahead to about the 25%
Same secrets, blah, blah, blah, secrets, ghosts, blah, blah, horniness, secrets, blah, blah, blah.
At this point I stopped reading and deleted the story . . . now I need to figure out how to PERMANENTLY DELETE it. Yes, it was that bad.
I know the brave new world of publishing is allowing more authors to share their stories, but we must all remember to edit ourselves and make that story the best it can possibly be--even if it means a drastic rewrite.
Please listen to your CP's, especially the ones who don't pull their punches. True writing friends/CP's aren't out to pull you down, they really do want to make the story better.
Listen to them.
Oh, and I started reading a tried and true author for me--Jayne Ann Krentz--now I need to get back to see what Fallon and Isabelle are up to!
Later, Peeps!
9/20/11
Writing 101--Evolution of a story
I think many readers think that the story that they read is the first incarnation. Well, for most of us, it isn't. Beginnings are the most difficult to write because the writer has to:
1) engage the reader
2) introduce characters to engage the reader
3) give enough back story so not to lose the reader's attention
Notice the common denominator? THE READER.
As much as writers are delving deeply into their own personal psyche, they are also tempering their story to engage as many readers as possible. Writing in a particular genre and style also play a part in the equation. You don't want to pick up a thriller and have it start with how horrible the main character's childhood was. You want to start with action.
Writers not only write, we rewrite . . . A LOT.
About three years ago, I wrote GNOME. During my querying phase, which lasted for over a year, I rewrote the beginning of the story no less than five times. AND this was after I had edited it prior to the query process. After I decided to query FAERIE, Summer 2010, I put GNOME aside. During the fall of 2010, a friend of my self-pubbed and was doing quite well. I knew I would have a tough time selling my novel (it's a middle grade and her novel was a romance--different audience, and romance writers have been electronically publishing for numerous years), but I thought this story deserved a break so I had another writer friend look at it. She thought the beginning was slow. 10,000 words into the 40,000-word story slow. I cut 1/4 of the story and rewrote it into 1,200-words.
GNOME is now lighter and leaner.
As a writer, you have to make the hard decisions--for the good of the story. So many newbie writers feel that their words are gold and refuse to buckle under pressure because someone didn't 'get' their writing. There's a reason many people don't 'get' your writing and many times it's because it is weighty with backstory narrative and information dumps.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't write the backstory information--you should, BUT DON'T SHARE IT WITH THE READER. They don't care. All they want is to get into the story--so start the story with change. What makes your character's happy little world go into Hell-in-a-Handbasket? So what if your main character had to lie about their age to get a job at fourteen to support their drunk and psychotic mother. This is backstory. This builds the characterization of the main character (MC), which in turn, effects the MC's decision making and actions/reactions to various circumstances, but the reader doesn't want to read about it.
Every writer has their own way of writing. Some writers write X# of pages every day and edit the previous day's pages before they move on. Other writers write the first draft all the way through, discovering their characters, plot, etc as they write. And then when they know enough about the character's they can tweak and edit the story based on their new knowledge.
Some writers will write detailed character sheets, while other writers 'wing it'.
Not every writer writes the same way. This is a good thing, because everyone has a story inside and the difference lies in how you tell it. Just remember, that a first draft is 99.9% NOT good enough. Dig deeper into your characters. Read your genre. Cut all the superfluous words. Tighten excessive wordiness. Chose your words carefully. As a writer, you are a wordsmith. Treat words with the proper respect and use them well.
Remember, only YOU will have the passion to write YOUR story.
1) engage the reader
2) introduce characters to engage the reader
3) give enough back story so not to lose the reader's attention
Notice the common denominator? THE READER.
As much as writers are delving deeply into their own personal psyche, they are also tempering their story to engage as many readers as possible. Writing in a particular genre and style also play a part in the equation. You don't want to pick up a thriller and have it start with how horrible the main character's childhood was. You want to start with action.
Writers not only write, we rewrite . . . A LOT.
About three years ago, I wrote GNOME. During my querying phase, which lasted for over a year, I rewrote the beginning of the story no less than five times. AND this was after I had edited it prior to the query process. After I decided to query FAERIE, Summer 2010, I put GNOME aside. During the fall of 2010, a friend of my self-pubbed and was doing quite well. I knew I would have a tough time selling my novel (it's a middle grade and her novel was a romance--different audience, and romance writers have been electronically publishing for numerous years), but I thought this story deserved a break so I had another writer friend look at it. She thought the beginning was slow. 10,000 words into the 40,000-word story slow. I cut 1/4 of the story and rewrote it into 1,200-words.
GNOME is now lighter and leaner.
As a writer, you have to make the hard decisions--for the good of the story. So many newbie writers feel that their words are gold and refuse to buckle under pressure because someone didn't 'get' their writing. There's a reason many people don't 'get' your writing and many times it's because it is weighty with backstory narrative and information dumps.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't write the backstory information--you should, BUT DON'T SHARE IT WITH THE READER. They don't care. All they want is to get into the story--so start the story with change. What makes your character's happy little world go into Hell-in-a-Handbasket? So what if your main character had to lie about their age to get a job at fourteen to support their drunk and psychotic mother. This is backstory. This builds the characterization of the main character (MC), which in turn, effects the MC's decision making and actions/reactions to various circumstances, but the reader doesn't want to read about it.
Every writer has their own way of writing. Some writers write X# of pages every day and edit the previous day's pages before they move on. Other writers write the first draft all the way through, discovering their characters, plot, etc as they write. And then when they know enough about the character's they can tweak and edit the story based on their new knowledge.
Some writers will write detailed character sheets, while other writers 'wing it'.
Not every writer writes the same way. This is a good thing, because everyone has a story inside and the difference lies in how you tell it. Just remember, that a first draft is 99.9% NOT good enough. Dig deeper into your characters. Read your genre. Cut all the superfluous words. Tighten excessive wordiness. Chose your words carefully. As a writer, you are a wordsmith. Treat words with the proper respect and use them well.
Remember, only YOU will have the passion to write YOUR story.
9/14/11
How to Buckle down to Edit?
At the beginning of August, I opened TROLL with the intentions of editing and publishing it by October 1.
I read the first ten pages and closed the manuscript. What a mess! I proceeded to go on vacation. Disney World and Universal Florida were more fun than thinking about TROLL.
After vacation at the end of August, I opened the manuscript, read the first ten pages, went 'uh-oh' and closed the manuscript before I sent an SOS out to a writer friend:
Please read and tell me what's wrong.
Sept 7: I opened the manuscript and FREAKED when I read the first ten pages. Something was very, very wrong. I phoned my friend. She was gone . . . of course.
*sheesh* Who does she think she is? What do you mean I'm not the center of her universe? Aren't MY needs more important than hers?? Some people . . .
The next day she emailed me, asking what's up.
My response:
Okay, now, my friend actually HAS a life, unlike me, so it's been a few days before she can get around to reading my story. During this time, I'm thinking about the beginning of my story while I'm walking.
--This is the biggest reason why I don't walk with a buddy--all they do is talk, talk, talk. Mindless jibber-jabber about 'stuff' when I need to be thinking about my characters.
Again, *sheesh*!
So on Sept. 12, I have ants in my pants about this story and send her an email:
Sept. 13, here's a partial response from my friend:
I read the first ten pages and closed the manuscript. What a mess! I proceeded to go on vacation. Disney World and Universal Florida were more fun than thinking about TROLL.
After vacation at the end of August, I opened the manuscript, read the first ten pages, went 'uh-oh' and closed the manuscript before I sent an SOS out to a writer friend:
Please read and tell me what's wrong.
Sept 7: I opened the manuscript and FREAKED when I read the first ten pages. Something was very, very wrong. I phoned my friend. She was gone . . . of course.
*sheesh* Who does she think she is? What do you mean I'm not the center of her universe? Aren't MY needs more important than hers?? Some people . . .
The next day she emailed me, asking what's up.
My response:
. . . I need your help, and you shoot straight from the hip (like me), no sugar coating for you. You helped so much with GNOME by simply pointing out that the story didn’t start until 10K into it, resulting in my cutting those words and reworking them.
Anyhoo, I started going over TROLL—AND IT’S WRONG, VERY, VERY WRONG!
The beginning totally sucks. And something is missing. I don’t know what it could be other than the voice and I’m simply ‘telling’ stuff. I need to get to the real beginning of the story, but I’m mired in how to ‘fix’ things. I’m debating on scraping the whole damn story right now, since I can’t read far enough into it to know if there is any redeeming qualities about it.
I need your help, Obi Wan Meg. You’re my only hope!
PS: I’ve already mentally scraped my Oct 1 deadline to publish it. I’d still like to get it up this year, but I want it to be of the quality of the other ones.
Okay, now, my friend actually HAS a life, unlike me, so it's been a few days before she can get around to reading my story. During this time, I'm thinking about the beginning of my story while I'm walking.
--This is the biggest reason why I don't walk with a buddy--all they do is talk, talk, talk. Mindless jibber-jabber about 'stuff' when I need to be thinking about my characters.
Again, *sheesh*!
So on Sept. 12, I have ants in my pants about this story and send her an email:
Okay, tell me the truth.
I can handle it. Even if you haven’t read the damn thing yet, tell me what I expect to hear.
The rhythm of the story is off. The pacing sucks. Kyte’s voice is off. It needs serious slicing and dicing and condensing.
I think that’s it.
Mags--
The pacing in the first few pages is off. While I like the sword play, it goes on a bit long. Where the blue stars are, that got my attention. You are so good about layering what you need.
You do have to put what happened to Mike as well as Rhan's back story.
What is the one thing that would motivate both an adult and a kid? Threaten family, and if she cares for Mike or her mother, that is powerful motivation.
Okay. So what do I do?
I proceed to write 2282 words on ANOTHER story. Yeah . . .talk about my avoidance issues.
So how does this whining episode help me edit TROLL?
This is my process. Yeah, it's lame, but sorry, it is what it is.
--I go through the 'don't look at it and it will disappear' stage, then the freaking out stage, then the whole story stinks phase,then the 'okay, I know I have story issues but how do I start' phase. This is where my brain juices kick in and I start thinking about what I can do to make it better.
I'm not quite ready to jump in with edits, but I'm almost there.
Today, along with writing 2282 words on a new story, I wrote down the chapter titles of TROLL. The chapter numbers are off. Some of the chapter lengths are off (too long or too short). Some chapter don't even have titles.
So how does this help me?
1) I tend to get bogged down in the minutia. Tweaking isn't going to work for this story. This calls for dumping the first few chapters and rewriting them. Big stuff.
2) It familiarized me with the story line again.
3) I also glanced at the writing at the beginning of each chapter. It isn't too bad. Kyte's voice and style are there--just not in the first few chapters.
The story isn't a lost cause. Oh, I'll probably cut most of the first two or three chapters and rework the beginning.
This is what a writer does. We rewrite. We rewrite to make the story the best it can possibly be. We rewrite because we do not want to disappoint our readers.
It's just that some of our processes are a little whinier than others. Okay, I think mine is pretty whiny.
But I must stop blogging, because I have a story to rewrite!
Later, Peeps
2/28/11
The Truths about Self-Publishing
For those of you who think self-publishing is simply slapping your manuscript up on an e-pub site, let me be the first to educate you.
Just because you wrote a story, it doesn't mean it's ready for the big time. Just because you read your rough draft and fixed a few errors, it doesn't mean it's ready for the big time. Just because you allowed your family and friends to read your story (and they gushed . . . unlike my family who simply ignores me), it doesn't mean it's ready for the big time.
Once you finish that first story, you heave a big sigh, you can't wipe that huge grin of your face, you set it aside for a week or six, and you tell those near and dear that you finished your novel . . . and then the real work starts.
The creative portion of your work is out of the way, now you have to get analytical. Yes, you have to be logical and think about how to improve your story and make it more marketable. You need to see what's selling in your genre. You need to read your target genre VORACIOUSLY. You need to know what length of book is acceptable for your particular genre. You need to know what is morally acceptable in your particular genre. Pushing the limit on certain topics might work for your story, but be simply be AWARE. You might have a book that talks about abuse, drugs, and sex, but if it's for a Young Adult novel you need to approach it with a delicate touch. YA's don't want preachy, they want real and if you can educate them at the same time then good for you.
And now you need to rip your story apart--RUTHLESSLY. Cut any crap that doesn't move the story forward. Cut any chapter/paragraph/sentence that doesn't show growth in your character, expand the plot, or reveal information. Cut any sentence that you have to read twice--if they confuse you, they will certainly confuse the reader. You need to be analytical about your story's pacing, characterization, and dialogue, which should reflect the style of each character (age, dialect, syntax).
If you think your story is ready to publish--think again. Do this 3-4 times before you even let anyone look at your story. Now is the time to call in your trusted writer friends, your critique buddies, or beta readers. Let them know what is expected from them. Do you want big picture items? Pacing, characterization, plot. Or do you want them to find the nit-picky stuff? Grammar, punctuation, word choice (this is HUGE, especially with characterization). It's a waste of EVERYONES time if you have a CP fix your grammar and punctuation problems, if you have to cut an entire chapter or two because your pacing is off.
REMEMBER: Fix the big stuff first and then work down to the little stuff.
You need to come up with a decent title. It's up to you to find a title that conveys what your story is all about. Put on your thinking cap, brainstorm with your group of CP's, or simply jot down every crappy title you can think of until the most obscure thought pops into your mind.
Once you have a viable story and title, you need to come up with a blurb, synopsis and logline. A blurb is what you would find on the back of a physical book. It identifies the main character(s) and their conflict. A synopsis (long-5-10 pages and short-1 page) describes your story in detail (some e pub sites require both). And a logline is a way to convey your story idea in less than 30 words. Think of the TV blurbs in the paper or TV Guide. If you can't develop an 'elevator pitch', then you aren't ready for the big time. The Smashwords site requires a short blurb of less than 400 characters, not words, characters including spaces. How would you tweet your story concept? Condensing your 90,000 word story into 30 words is HARD. You have to think about the core story, and then choose the words carefully to convey what that story is about.
THIS IS THE POINT WHERE YOU WOULD QUERY AGENTS AND EDITORS WITH YOUR STORY. YOU ARE ALSO READY TO PITCH TO AN AGENT/EDITOR, TOO.
Now you need to think about your cover concept. What is the impression you want the reader to have when they first see your cover? Is it dark? Romantic? Thriller? Fun? Fantasy? If this story is the first in a series, you need to think about the series logo, idea, or concept. This idea will carry through all the books in the series, so spend some time thinking about your 'look'. And if you have zero artistic talent, take a crowbar to your wallet and spend some money.
Why?
Think about it. What is the first thing a prospective reader sees when looking for a book? The cover.
And now you have to think about tags. Those are the words that will be searched on by a prospective reader. (for GNOME, I used, gnome, goblin, witch, magic, fantasy, etc)
You've checked all of the above and you think you're ready.
Think again.
Now it's time to format your story. Get rid of all those stupid extra spaces that snuck in when you weren't looking. You know the ones. They're insidious. Some times they crop up at the beginning of a paragraph or they multiply in-between sentences, or they'll even show up at the end of a sentence. This includes those extra ENTER keystrokes, which translate into blank pages in an e-book. You might not think it matters, but it does when your manuscript converts to the computer formats used by various e-readers. This is a good time to slowly go through your story AGAIN. One trick is to go through it backwards to keep yourself from getting caught up in the story and missing things.
Verify each chapter number--trust me on this. Been there, done that. I forgot that I cut a chapter, which made everything wonky. If you changed a character's name, or left ??? where you meant to check something or find a more appropriate noun or verb. Or simply left a word out of a sentence (and it had been missed by you AND THREE OTHER PEOPLE!).
Take a deep breath and realize that you are now ready. Look beginnings of other e-books that are in your genre. Did they have a cover page, write a disclaimer, add licensing notes?
Now, you're ready. Go through the instructions. If you don't have a cover image the correct size, then fix it BEFORE you upload the image. If you need to add a teaser chapter for your next book be sure to add it to your copy before you upload the document.
Then you have to fill out the legal forms and "sign the contract".
And all you have to do is wait for the money to roll in, right? Be real, rememberyour you're (and this was after I proofed it 3 TIMES!) already in the hole . . .
Uh, think again. Now comes the marketing part of the equation.
I don't know about you, but I'm beat.
So this is all for today!
Later Peeps!
Just because you wrote a story, it doesn't mean it's ready for the big time. Just because you read your rough draft and fixed a few errors, it doesn't mean it's ready for the big time. Just because you allowed your family and friends to read your story (and they gushed . . . unlike my family who simply ignores me), it doesn't mean it's ready for the big time.
Once you finish that first story, you heave a big sigh, you can't wipe that huge grin of your face, you set it aside for a week or six, and you tell those near and dear that you finished your novel . . . and then the real work starts.
The creative portion of your work is out of the way, now you have to get analytical. Yes, you have to be logical and think about how to improve your story and make it more marketable. You need to see what's selling in your genre. You need to read your target genre VORACIOUSLY. You need to know what length of book is acceptable for your particular genre. You need to know what is morally acceptable in your particular genre. Pushing the limit on certain topics might work for your story, but be simply be AWARE. You might have a book that talks about abuse, drugs, and sex, but if it's for a Young Adult novel you need to approach it with a delicate touch. YA's don't want preachy, they want real and if you can educate them at the same time then good for you.
And now you need to rip your story apart--RUTHLESSLY. Cut any crap that doesn't move the story forward. Cut any chapter/paragraph/sentence that doesn't show growth in your character, expand the plot, or reveal information. Cut any sentence that you have to read twice--if they confuse you, they will certainly confuse the reader. You need to be analytical about your story's pacing, characterization, and dialogue, which should reflect the style of each character (age, dialect, syntax).
If you think your story is ready to publish--think again. Do this 3-4 times before you even let anyone look at your story. Now is the time to call in your trusted writer friends, your critique buddies, or beta readers. Let them know what is expected from them. Do you want big picture items? Pacing, characterization, plot. Or do you want them to find the nit-picky stuff? Grammar, punctuation, word choice (this is HUGE, especially with characterization). It's a waste of EVERYONES time if you have a CP fix your grammar and punctuation problems, if you have to cut an entire chapter or two because your pacing is off.
REMEMBER: Fix the big stuff first and then work down to the little stuff.
You need to come up with a decent title. It's up to you to find a title that conveys what your story is all about. Put on your thinking cap, brainstorm with your group of CP's, or simply jot down every crappy title you can think of until the most obscure thought pops into your mind.
Once you have a viable story and title, you need to come up with a blurb, synopsis and logline. A blurb is what you would find on the back of a physical book. It identifies the main character(s) and their conflict. A synopsis (long-5-10 pages and short-1 page) describes your story in detail (some e pub sites require both). And a logline is a way to convey your story idea in less than 30 words. Think of the TV blurbs in the paper or TV Guide. If you can't develop an 'elevator pitch', then you aren't ready for the big time. The Smashwords site requires a short blurb of less than 400 characters, not words, characters including spaces. How would you tweet your story concept? Condensing your 90,000 word story into 30 words is HARD. You have to think about the core story, and then choose the words carefully to convey what that story is about.
THIS IS THE POINT WHERE YOU WOULD QUERY AGENTS AND EDITORS WITH YOUR STORY. YOU ARE ALSO READY TO PITCH TO AN AGENT/EDITOR, TOO.
Now you need to think about your cover concept. What is the impression you want the reader to have when they first see your cover? Is it dark? Romantic? Thriller? Fun? Fantasy? If this story is the first in a series, you need to think about the series logo, idea, or concept. This idea will carry through all the books in the series, so spend some time thinking about your 'look'. And if you have zero artistic talent, take a crowbar to your wallet and spend some money.
Why?
Think about it. What is the first thing a prospective reader sees when looking for a book? The cover.
And now you have to think about tags. Those are the words that will be searched on by a prospective reader. (for GNOME, I used, gnome, goblin, witch, magic, fantasy, etc)
You've checked all of the above and you think you're ready.
Think again.
Now it's time to format your story. Get rid of all those stupid extra spaces that snuck in when you weren't looking. You know the ones. They're insidious. Some times they crop up at the beginning of a paragraph or they multiply in-between sentences, or they'll even show up at the end of a sentence. This includes those extra ENTER keystrokes, which translate into blank pages in an e-book. You might not think it matters, but it does when your manuscript converts to the computer formats used by various e-readers. This is a good time to slowly go through your story AGAIN. One trick is to go through it backwards to keep yourself from getting caught up in the story and missing things.
Verify each chapter number--trust me on this. Been there, done that. I forgot that I cut a chapter, which made everything wonky. If you changed a character's name, or left ??? where you meant to check something or find a more appropriate noun or verb. Or simply left a word out of a sentence (and it had been missed by you AND THREE OTHER PEOPLE!).
Take a deep breath and realize that you are now ready. Look beginnings of other e-books that are in your genre. Did they have a cover page, write a disclaimer, add licensing notes?
Now, you're ready. Go through the instructions. If you don't have a cover image the correct size, then fix it BEFORE you upload the image. If you need to add a teaser chapter for your next book be sure to add it to your copy before you upload the document.
Then you have to fill out the legal forms and "sign the contract".
And all you have to do is wait for the money to roll in, right? Be real, remember
Uh, think again. Now comes the marketing part of the equation.
I don't know about you, but I'm beat.
So this is all for today!
Later Peeps!
2/11/11
Another Round of Slicing and Dicing
*sigh* Ah, the life of a writer. Inventing all sorts of cool worlds, plots and situations only to have to chop most of the extraneous stuff.
I finished my . . . oh, let's go with . . . 8th round of edits on GNOME and I sent it to my CP. This is a person who had read Lost Leprechaun Loot, but hadn't read any of GNOME. Fresh eyes, yanno.
A-and I get it back within 24 hours, which is a FANTASTIC turnaround time, if I do say so myself, BUT . . .
There's always a BUT. :-) The pacing in the first few chapters was off.
By the time my CP reached a certain point--I don't want to give anything away, so deal with the ambiguity of this statement--she was totally engrossed and couldn't stop reading. This is A GOOD THING.
So roughly the last 3/4 of story works, but not the first 1/4. All she did was confirm what I already suspected. So what to do?
This is where the Ginsu knife comes in handy--it will slice and dice through a tin can!
I'm cutting chapter one and most of chapter two. I'll wave my magic wand and *POOF* it will be fixed . . . yeah, I wish. This is where you see a writer gazing out the window, staring at nothing. Writers think A LOT, so I'm thinking about how I want to weave this new beginning into the story. To have the fantasy element a little quicker off the mark and hopefully engage the reader sooner.
But it won't happen with me blogging about what I need to do. So . . .
Later, Peeps!
I finished my . . . oh, let's go with . . . 8th round of edits on GNOME and I sent it to my CP. This is a person who had read Lost Leprechaun Loot, but hadn't read any of GNOME. Fresh eyes, yanno.
A-and I get it back within 24 hours, which is a FANTASTIC turnaround time, if I do say so myself, BUT . . .
There's always a BUT. :-) The pacing in the first few chapters was off.
By the time my CP reached a certain point--I don't want to give anything away, so deal with the ambiguity of this statement--she was totally engrossed and couldn't stop reading. This is A GOOD THING.
So roughly the last 3/4 of story works, but not the first 1/4. All she did was confirm what I already suspected. So what to do?
This is where the Ginsu knife comes in handy--it will slice and dice through a tin can!
I'm cutting chapter one and most of chapter two. I'll wave my magic wand and *POOF* it will be fixed . . . yeah, I wish. This is where you see a writer gazing out the window, staring at nothing. Writers think A LOT, so I'm thinking about how I want to weave this new beginning into the story. To have the fantasy element a little quicker off the mark and hopefully engage the reader sooner.
But it won't happen with me blogging about what I need to do. So . . .
Later, Peeps!
2/7/11
Snow, Gnomes and Pictures
Well, I don't know about y'all, but I'm already tired of the white stuff. Not that I've driven in it--I haven't . . . much. I don't drive in bad weather and being a homebody, I really don't mind staying at home. Besides, we all know the hubster won't be taking his 'Vette out of the garage anytime soon, I'll be carless in the interim.
What I do mind, is being cooped up with both my children. Yes, the 46-year old and the 10-year old do get on my nerves at times, though they have been playing Donkey Kong in relative peace.
Ever since I found out last Monday that Jabberwocky didn't want my GNOME story, I've been editing it for about the 9th or 10th time. Emails have been fast and furious between me and my cover designer, the wonderful Laura Morrigan. Plus we've been searching for a distinctive 'look' for my series, which I'm calling, THE GOBLIN'S APPRENTICE. And since the goblin wasn't introduced until book two, I'm having to rewrite some of Book One, GNOME.
--and I just found out they cancelled school, which means my kidlet will be home AGAIN. So here are a few pictures I thought I'd share.
Later, Peeps!
What I do mind, is being cooped up with both my children. Yes, the 46-year old and the 10-year old do get on my nerves at times, though they have been playing Donkey Kong in relative peace.
Ever since I found out last Monday that Jabberwocky didn't want my GNOME story, I've been editing it for about the 9th or 10th time. Emails have been fast and furious between me and my cover designer, the wonderful Laura Morrigan. Plus we've been searching for a distinctive 'look' for my series, which I'm calling, THE GOBLIN'S APPRENTICE. And since the goblin wasn't introduced until book two, I'm having to rewrite some of Book One, GNOME.
--and I just found out they cancelled school, which means my kidlet will be home AGAIN. So here are a few pictures I thought I'd share.
 |
| The front door before |
 |
| After shoveling |
 |
| Sledding by the school |
 |
| Rachel and Maggie 'frolicing' |
 |
| A little more frolicing |
 |
| Fire and comfort surrounded by the snow fort |
 |
| Where's the swimming pool?? |
 |
| Pre-toasted marshmallow |
 |
| Who needs a blanket when you have a fuzzy dog? |
9/20/10
Learning to Revise/Edit
At the end of April, I finished FAERIE. My intentions were to edit the story over the summer when my kidlet was out of school.
--it didn't happen. Instead, I diddled around with the beginning of an old partial that I had put away, rewriting the first few chapters/synopsis from scratch.
I've gotten about all the rejections I can handle with GNOME, so I'm 'officially' retiring it from active querying. It's time to move on. And yes, I've been pimping GNOME for over a year. Got some nibbles (partials and fulls), but no takers. *sigh*
So, I pull out my FAERIE query, make a few tweaks and send it to a few people. I got some comments back, but I'm shelving the query for now. Why? Because I did a name change of my main character in FAERIE's first draft. I skimmed the story when I was 'finding and replacing' and realized that I have a HUGE amount of work ahead of me--more than I thought or expected. I need to buckle down and get the manuscript into shape BEFORE I consider querying it.
Therefore, I'm changing into my EDIT hat and will dive into the story today. The problem that I have, and will ALWAYS have, is that I tend to dink with the sentences and paragraphs each and every time I read them. During the second draft is NOT the time to do this.
On an aside: THIS is why I don't want someone to crit to this depth and request only general comments--slow pacing, unbelievable dialogue, or confusing sentence--you get the picture. But it doesn't stop the majority of critters from trying to change the story into the way they would write it.
If you are a critter, please, please, please, try to respect the writer's wishes and do the type of crit they request. Writers, just like critters, have different strengths and weaknesses, along with different needs. If you are unable to do that type of crit requested, then decline the request.
Here's my plan:
1) read the story all the way through without making changes--jot notes/comments throughout
2) make big picture corrections--this tends to involve little corrections, too
3) read the story again for pacing, characterization, dialogue, blah, blah, blah--adjusting spices as needed
4) find willing victim . . . oops, volunteers to sample finished story
5) scream/rant/rave about their comments as they 'ruin' the story
6) put on big girl panties to use the suggestions to improve my story
7) read the #$@#$ thing again.
8) lather, rinse, repeat as needed.
So--if you have another method, PLEASE tell me your method as I might be able to improve mine!
TTFN!
Write on!
--it didn't happen. Instead, I diddled around with the beginning of an old partial that I had put away, rewriting the first few chapters/synopsis from scratch.
I've gotten about all the rejections I can handle with GNOME, so I'm 'officially' retiring it from active querying. It's time to move on. And yes, I've been pimping GNOME for over a year. Got some nibbles (partials and fulls), but no takers. *sigh*
So, I pull out my FAERIE query, make a few tweaks and send it to a few people. I got some comments back, but I'm shelving the query for now. Why? Because I did a name change of my main character in FAERIE's first draft. I skimmed the story when I was 'finding and replacing' and realized that I have a HUGE amount of work ahead of me--more than I thought or expected. I need to buckle down and get the manuscript into shape BEFORE I consider querying it.
Therefore, I'm changing into my EDIT hat and will dive into the story today. The problem that I have, and will ALWAYS have, is that I tend to dink with the sentences and paragraphs each and every time I read them. During the second draft is NOT the time to do this.
On an aside: THIS is why I don't want someone to crit to this depth and request only general comments--slow pacing, unbelievable dialogue, or confusing sentence--you get the picture. But it doesn't stop the majority of critters from trying to change the story into the way they would write it.
If you are a critter, please, please, please, try to respect the writer's wishes and do the type of crit they request. Writers, just like critters, have different strengths and weaknesses, along with different needs. If you are unable to do that type of crit requested, then decline the request.
Here's my plan:
1) read the story all the way through without making changes--jot notes/comments throughout
2) make big picture corrections--this tends to involve little corrections, too
3) read the story again for pacing, characterization, dialogue, blah, blah, blah--adjusting spices as needed
4) find willing victim . . . oops, volunteers to sample finished story
5) scream/rant/rave about their comments as they 'ruin' the story
6) put on big girl panties to use the suggestions to improve my story
7) read the #$@#$ thing again.
8) lather, rinse, repeat as needed.
So--if you have another method, PLEASE tell me your method as I might be able to improve mine!
TTFN!
Write on!
6/29/09
Beta Readers
I sent out the call for beta readers last Friday. Yes, it was a last minute SOS and I knew I would be pushing my luck getting anyone to respond to me by this AM.
--Remember: my deadline is tomorrow. I have only today and tomorrow morning to make the needed changes. The manuscript must be in the mail with tomorrow's time stamp on it!
Many people had stuff to do this weekend so I didn't expect a whole lot. So far I've only had 2.5 responses.
--#1 beta reader is my SIL and I talked to her last night. She journals and reads a tremendous amount of books. She's the only person, other than Deb Dixon, to read the entirety of The Leprechaun Connection. Oh, since I couldn't sell that story, I stole some of my characters and put them in this book.--HEY! It's my own stuff, I can recycle. Her input concerned the first two chapters. She felt as if I had changed POV. Well, I had. :-) From the mom's POV to the daughter's POV AND into first person. I need to rework the first two chapters, especially since the daughter thinks/speaks older than her age, BUT I have an answer for that and I hope this will fix the problem.
--#2 beta reader writes MG/YA stories. She had the same issues with the first few chapters and caught some stupid stuff (missing words, wrong word, wrong tense, missing -ed's, that sort of thing)
--#0.5 beta reader was only able to finish 1/2 the story. This reader is published by Harlequin American. Now, this reader was awesome! She found so many missing things that I'm in shock! Definitely, head-whacking stuff. It is amazing how the eye and brain supply the missing words.
--one friend, not counted as an official response, but still has a valid point, is published with Wild Rose Press, has critted for me in the past. She sent me a quick note questioning the main character's maturity for her age and offered a suggestion.
Two things stood out for me. Missing words and MC too mature. Both are fixable in my time frame.
1) I will offer a sound reason for my character's maturity in the first few pages. The scene is already in place, I just need to enhance it.
2) Find and fix missing words/tenses, etc. For me this will involve reading the story out loud. My jaw will get tired, but I'm game.
Heck, I've been reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone out loud to my kiddo before she goes to bed, I think I can do this.
Write on! . . . or should this be . . .
READ ON! . . .
. . . and edit!
--Remember: my deadline is tomorrow. I have only today and tomorrow morning to make the needed changes. The manuscript must be in the mail with tomorrow's time stamp on it!
Many people had stuff to do this weekend so I didn't expect a whole lot. So far I've only had 2.5 responses.
--#1 beta reader is my SIL and I talked to her last night. She journals and reads a tremendous amount of books. She's the only person, other than Deb Dixon, to read the entirety of The Leprechaun Connection. Oh, since I couldn't sell that story, I stole some of my characters and put them in this book.--HEY! It's my own stuff, I can recycle. Her input concerned the first two chapters. She felt as if I had changed POV. Well, I had. :-) From the mom's POV to the daughter's POV AND into first person. I need to rework the first two chapters, especially since the daughter thinks/speaks older than her age, BUT I have an answer for that and I hope this will fix the problem.
--#2 beta reader writes MG/YA stories. She had the same issues with the first few chapters and caught some stupid stuff (missing words, wrong word, wrong tense, missing -ed's, that sort of thing)
--#0.5 beta reader was only able to finish 1/2 the story. This reader is published by Harlequin American. Now, this reader was awesome! She found so many missing things that I'm in shock! Definitely, head-whacking stuff. It is amazing how the eye and brain supply the missing words.
--one friend, not counted as an official response, but still has a valid point, is published with Wild Rose Press, has critted for me in the past. She sent me a quick note questioning the main character's maturity for her age and offered a suggestion.
Two things stood out for me. Missing words and MC too mature. Both are fixable in my time frame.
1) I will offer a sound reason for my character's maturity in the first few pages. The scene is already in place, I just need to enhance it.
2) Find and fix missing words/tenses, etc. For me this will involve reading the story out loud. My jaw will get tired, but I'm game.
Heck, I've been reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone out loud to my kiddo before she goes to bed, I think I can do this.
Write on! . . . or should this be . . .
READ ON! . . .
. . . and edit!
6/15/09
Draft #2
Okay, this week I'm getting serious about my second draft of MOGG. So far I've made it to page 16. Not a good thing. The first 30 pages will be the roughest and take the longest as I have to change the mom's POV to the daughter's POV and then layer description/ emotion/ characterization/ etc. to the story.
Two things are in my favor this week:
1) Rachel is at all day soccer camp. I have to fight traffic and take her to Tulsa University for a drop off at 8:30 and pick her up at 4:30.
2) My cyber friend Barbara is holding her monthly BIAW this week.
Once I get home, the timer will be put to good use. When I was writing this story I didn't know what kind of word count I was going to get, but when I hit around the 3000-word mark on the first day, I knew I could do it again. And by this type of dedication, I managed to finish the story.
I think I'm going to try something similar with my edits. And I may or may not blog this week. If I can blog without it interrupting my editing time then I will post on Wednesday and Friday. The same thing goes for my blog hopping tendencies. So without further ado . . .
Write on!
Two things are in my favor this week:
1) Rachel is at all day soccer camp. I have to fight traffic and take her to Tulsa University for a drop off at 8:30 and pick her up at 4:30.
2) My cyber friend Barbara is holding her monthly BIAW this week.
Once I get home, the timer will be put to good use. When I was writing this story I didn't know what kind of word count I was going to get, but when I hit around the 3000-word mark on the first day, I knew I could do it again. And by this type of dedication, I managed to finish the story.
I think I'm going to try something similar with my edits. And I may or may not blog this week. If I can blog without it interrupting my editing time then I will post on Wednesday and Friday. The same thing goes for my blog hopping tendencies. So without further ado . . .
Write on!
4/3/09
Edits Finished, Doubts Setting In
I think today's blog title explains it all.
When do you know you've edited enough to improve your manuscript?
Right now, I think I'm simply moving the words around and making more of a mess than I had when I started. The one saving grace is that this is a three page manuscript and not my 400 page TNR fantasy. Come to think of it, I know I could easily cut 20K from the fantasy, but a 500 word story is tough!
After I deconstructed a few picture book/easy reader stories (typed into computer, printed and sliced and diced), I thought I was ready to tackle the editor's comments. Most of them are easy fixes: resolution comes to quickly, the fly character is acting too human, etc. See? Easy to fix.
But then comes the biggie: Story structure/pacing
Talk about having me bumfuzzled. In a 90-100K romance novel you have some wiggle room. Usually you have some sexual tension to build to the first kiss, which could be anywhere from the first few pages to the middle of the book.
Children's books have to follow strict guideline. There aren't 100 pages to muck about in building the tension, you have roughly 30 pages, or 500 words from intro of characters to build conflict to the climax and then resolution.
I think I managed it. But how do I really know? Yes, I could start mass querying, but I'd rather go into that will my guns loaded and blazing away. I HAVE to be ahead of the other 99% of the people in the slush pile.
Rejections don't scare me, trust me, I have enough from my romances to paper a wall. You learn to ignore most of them and move on.
Rejections without a reason scare me. I can't fix what I don't know is wrong. And yes, some of it will simply be subjective opinion--that's the nature of the biz. But again, I'd rather have as perfect of a manuscript as possible because I have seven other related stories I'd like to sell as a series.
I have to admit that I'm far more passionate about my Peter stories than I ever was with my romances. I'm hoping that passion shines through.
Write on!
When do you know you've edited enough to improve your manuscript?
Right now, I think I'm simply moving the words around and making more of a mess than I had when I started. The one saving grace is that this is a three page manuscript and not my 400 page TNR fantasy. Come to think of it, I know I could easily cut 20K from the fantasy, but a 500 word story is tough!
After I deconstructed a few picture book/easy reader stories (typed into computer, printed and sliced and diced), I thought I was ready to tackle the editor's comments. Most of them are easy fixes: resolution comes to quickly, the fly character is acting too human, etc. See? Easy to fix.
But then comes the biggie: Story structure/pacing
Talk about having me bumfuzzled. In a 90-100K romance novel you have some wiggle room. Usually you have some sexual tension to build to the first kiss, which could be anywhere from the first few pages to the middle of the book.
Children's books have to follow strict guideline. There aren't 100 pages to muck about in building the tension, you have roughly 30 pages, or 500 words from intro of characters to build conflict to the climax and then resolution.
I think I managed it. But how do I really know? Yes, I could start mass querying, but I'd rather go into that will my guns loaded and blazing away. I HAVE to be ahead of the other 99% of the people in the slush pile.
Rejections don't scare me, trust me, I have enough from my romances to paper a wall. You learn to ignore most of them and move on.
Rejections without a reason scare me. I can't fix what I don't know is wrong. And yes, some of it will simply be subjective opinion--that's the nature of the biz. But again, I'd rather have as perfect of a manuscript as possible because I have seven other related stories I'd like to sell as a series.
I have to admit that I'm far more passionate about my Peter stories than I ever was with my romances. I'm hoping that passion shines through.
Write on!
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