This past November I drafted a novel and yesterday I did something I have yet to do after drafting many different novels...I finished my first set of edits. My experience in writing my current WIP "work in progress" has been so different than in previous years. I bet you can feel a list coming on...yep...me too.Things that have been different this time around - -
1) I read the entire draft (like it was a book) and made some changes and notes.
2) My sister read the entire draft and then we discussed her thoughts and ideas. I feel it important to note that she has never read any of my other novels...she claims that she could not put it down.
3) I did not start off with a title in mind. In fact, I still don't have a title.
4) There are pieces from my previous draft novels that lend themselves to this one. Characters and Situations...
5) I have actually made all of my "pen and ink" changes to the draft novel.
6) It somehow feels less "impossible" to continue to re-shape it and make continued progress towards actually finishing.
7) I have a plan for how I am going to get it "done". Done means that I feel comfortable enough to have other people read it and give me feedback. In addition to my writing buddies (if they are willing)...I have a list of a few other people whose eyes I know will be honest and brutal. That is the point of course...to be brutal.
The Plan
My Novel -
* is currently 140 pages and 20 Chapters (this is Version 2)
* is going to be edited for structural related things next (this will be Version 3)
* is going to have a whole section added to cover the stuff I need research more (this will be Version 4)
* is going to be read through again by myself (and sister??) with changes being noted
* is going to be edited based upon said changes (this will be Version 5)
* is going to be released from my hands to a few others for feedback
So there you have it, it is way past November, it is well past the new year, and I am still working on my novel. Progress?? I think so...
4 comments:
OMG, SO EXCITING!!!!!!!!!!!
keep it going, Joy!!
I know where you are: I edited half of one of my novels (reading for continuity, taking notes, correcting grammar including the "not rather than n't" stuff), sent that and the unedited portion to Kip. Now I've decided that though I planned to do the grammar/note edit on part two of that book, I want to go back and read it all critically and rewrite on the basis of Kip's suggestions. Afterwards will come the grammar/technical edit, possibly handing over to someone else to help with that reading. And then. . . there are one and a half books of this series already written and more in my mind.
It certainly is a different feeling to actually edit and look at the work as "someday it'll be submitted."
Vix that is fantastic!!! I am so not at the courage level to look at anything I do as "someday it'll be submitted"...but I hope I will someday.
We will definitely have to plan some Panera time as we work through our novels. It helps...
Thanks for the encouragement Elizabeth. You are on my list. ;)
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