What Happens to an Author When She Finishes Editing?
Writing » Editing, Work-in-ProgressAugust 12th, 2008
Last week, I finished the paper edits of First Draft B. Cue the fanfare, tears of happiness, and confetti. Now it’s time to pull off the gloves and re-type the entire thing with the new edits to see what we’ve got. And so begins the Second Draft.
Now, there are multiple things an author feels once she or he gets past another stage in the writing process…
- Fear that what you wrote stinks beyond belief.
- Elation that you finished it, you really finished it.
- Depressed that at some point, you’re going to have to let someone else read it and tell you exactly what they think about it.
- Proud that, upon reading over it, you like more than you hate.
I know some of you are reading this now because of my editing workshop, and I bet you’re wondering if I followed my own advice.
Stumbling Blocks, Workshops, and a Contest
General » Editing, Giveaway, Tips, Work-in-ProgressJuly 24th, 2008
“Nobody’s perfect, I gotta work it again and again ’til I get it right…”
Nobody’s Perfect sung by Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus
Well, Hannah Montana’s right on the money with this one. This song should be the theme for all writers in the editing phase.
I’m holding an online editing workshop next week to contribute to Lynn Viehl’s Left Behind & Loving It (LB&LI) convention. I’ll tackle a different facet of editing each day. At the end of the week, I’ll give a free critique of the first three chapters (or the first 50 pages, whichever is shorter) of one commenter whose name I will pull from a hat.
Paper Evidence of a Writer’s Mind
Writing » Fun, Work-in-ProgressJune 3rd, 2008
I briefly mentioned, a little while ago, that I have a paper journal. This past year, my paper journal has been a lifesaver, especially when I had to drastically cut back the number of hours I sat hunched over a computer. I mean, there was a time where sitting in one spot for ten minutes would cause pain. No good for programming or writing.
So I turned to a paper journal, which I could write in while laying on my stomach and giving my back/legs a break. I’ve never been able to fill a paper journal, and I blame that on the journal. Really, I do. Because the journal I have now, just looking at it inspires me to write. The paper is smooth, with large lines so I can write new ideas between sentences. The cover has a magnetic seal, but lays flat when open. And, in the newest journal, I decided to draw a bit. Below are a couple of pictures of my journal.
First Draft B Complete
Writing » Work-in-ProgressMay 26th, 2008
The title of the post says it all, but here are some details.
Saturday night, I couldn’t focus on homework. So instead, I daydreamed about my novel.
At midnight, I decided I would tape the show I had been staying up to watch so I could write, instead.
By three in the morning, I had a draft of the last chapter that I liked better than the six other half-starts I’d saved in the file, and the other almost fully-drafted chapter that I had in my paper journal.
Sunday morning, I woke up to re-read the chapter and found I still liked it. A good sign.
WIP: A New Beginning
Writing » Editing, Work-in-ProgressMay 20th, 2008
A little over a week ago, I added a new scene to the beginning of the WIP. It shifts the moment when the reader joins the story from the original scene to fifteen minutes earlier. Amazing, what a quarter of an hour can do, right? This new scene completely changes the tone of the opening chapter, yet still is in keeping with the tone of the entire work. My problem is that I feel the original scene also sets the story and tone correctly. Which should I choose?
WIP: Dragging my Feet
Writing » Work-in-Progress, Writer's BlockApril 29th, 2008
Am I the only one whose writing slows to a sluggish halt as the finish line approaches? I’m terrified of everything seeming like a deus ex machina, so I’m fighting to make sure nothing is too easy, and that everything depends on the characters. Which means I’m leaving a lot of notes in this draft for the editing phase about dropping hints here and there in the character’s actions so that things make sense, that everything is building up to the end.
WIP: A Writing Update
Writing » Hook, Work-in-ProgressApril 1st, 2008
No April Fool’s today, just a quick shout-out to my mother (it’s her birthday!), an announcement, and a long-overdue post about my WIP.
If you visited the blog recently, you noticed that the WIP counter on my sidebar has suddenly changed from 82k, a mere 3% away from my 85k goal, to 87k. Admission time: I’ve been past the 85k goal since the beginning of March. I didn’t want to change my progress counter until I actually finished First Draft B, which is silly, but true. I haven’t finished it, but I can see the finish line.
Plot Snafus and Hasty Research
Writing » Plot, Work-in-ProgressJanuary 15th, 2008
Do you know how hard it is to look up 120 year-old weather patterns for a relatively obscure location? I stretched my Google-fu to the limits, searching everything from “UK weather archive” to “Swindon almanac feb 1887.” (My location is actually a small community relatively near Swindon, but that community is so small you might as well say it doesn’t exist on the internet.) After searching for an hour, I found two sources saying there was a December 1886 snowstorm in southern England so fierce that school was canceled, overhead telegraph lines and trees around London were felled, and Kent received 30cm snow (11.8 inches). My community would have experienced that snowstorm, then. But what about February 1887? What happened then?
The new year cometh
General, Writing » Announcements, Fun, Hook, Websites, Work-in-ProgressJanuary 1st, 2008
Happy new year, everyone! Here’s hoping your muse is kind. Mine favored me at the end of my break from school, the procrastinating little wretch that she is, and I’m now 76% complete with the WIP manuscript! I’ve done a lot of work-shopping on the tagline and the hook. Here’s what I came up with for my WIP, Trentwood’s Orphan…
WIP: First Paragraphs
Writing » Historical, NaNoWriMo, Victorian, Women's Fiction, Work-in-ProgressNovember 13th, 2007
Caricature drawn by Worderella
Everyone talks about how important a first line is, how important the first page is, of any good piece of writing. We go on about how the idea needs to grab the reader, to hook them as one might hook a fish. But we never really give our own examples, unless we’re sure we’ve got it down. And the thing is, I don’t know if I have it down. I’m fairly certain I don’t, if only because I’m a type A perfectionist who second-guesses herself a lot.
So this is what I’m going to do: here are the first lines of my working!title Trentwood’s Orphan.
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