Late to the Party

I’m a bit late to the party with this years NanoReviMo. 

For those of you who aren’t aware, last year, a bunch of us decided that we weren’t in a position to do the NanoWriMo, as we were knee deep in revisions.   This prompted Peggy to spearhead the Revision month as an alternative.

To have everyone giving inspiring updates, and posting the last lines that they edited, it spurred me (and hopefully the rest of the group) on to work harder than I probably would have at the time.

This year, Jessie has volunteered to put her head above the parapet and lead us all in our revision quests.  At the start of the month, I was already testing the water with querying my MS, and had started the first draft of a new project, and decided to be a fly on the wall and be inspired by everyone else.

This morning, I re-read the first page of Odd Squad, the MS I’ve been sending out. And didn’t feel draw into the story.  It felt like it was a series of statements than a story.

So... I’m throwing myself into the revisions group as a participant after all.  My goal is to make the story flow more smoothly before the end of the month.

A Self Help Book Tale

As you may already know, I'm getting close to finishing my revisions for Odd Squad, and teetering on the edge of making my first round of submissions.  The closer I get, the more nervous I'm becoming about sending it off. 
So, in an attempt to make sure I don't miss something critical, I've been reading a book that I picked up recently called: Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King.

The book covers a wide range of areas to look at, and provides a good selections of examples to back up the lesson.  On a personal note, I was quite pleased and re-assured that I knew most of the things mentioned, but it also helped sharpen and remind me of things to check on my (hopefully) final round of revisions.  It's been a great help.

What about you guys?  Have you found something that has helped you edit your work?

Who are you? And what have you done with my WIP?

I'm coming to the end of yet another round of revisions on my WIP, and it's interesting to look back and see how my attitude has changed towards this process.

Initially, it was a chore. 

With previous WIP's, the thrill of getting the idea out of my head into something tangible is always an enjoyable part.  The way that the details present themselves as you expand on an idea and the story starts to run away from you as it gains momentum, gives me a really good buzz.  But the revisions...?  These always seemed to be a long slog. 

This book, however, has changed everything.  It's probably because I've learnt so much while writing and editing it, but the revisions have been fun, and every change has made me feel like I'm getting closer to making this piece a viable candidate for publication.  It's also because I have some great Crit partners who have made the process so enjoyable.  Being able to discuss some of the changes to find the best way of wording something or the most impact has helped considerably.

This morning, it struck me that I'm going to reach a point where I feel the book is where I want it to be.  Obviously, that's when I'll be trying to get someone else to think the same.  So, for arguments sake, if I do manage to get a book deal and the editor starts to suggest changes, will they be taking my book to somewhere new that isn't where I left it?

The big question is..... do authors who get their work published still feel as connected with their work, or do they feel it's been hi-jacked to make it as commercially successful as possible?

Playing patience?

What do you know?  I finally seem to have learnt how to be patient.

I have just finished my 6th round of revisions on my WIP, and finally believe that it’s ready.  A large part of me is screaming at me to shove it in an envelope and to get it ‘out there’ as fast as possible. 

BUT

A smaller part, which I’m finding is being a lot more assertive, is saying hold on.... if it’s as good as I believe it is, then a few more days or weeks isn’t going to make any difference.  Let’s get it right this time.  Let’s make sure that the synopsis is spot on,   Why not have a couple of Beta readers take a look and confirm what you think.  In the mean time, I can check that my agents list is still up to date, and hone that covering letter so that the agent has no choice but to look at my accompanying chapters.

The small voice is winning so far.  And I have to tell you, that if I wasn’t already sitting down, I’d have to go and sit down before the surprise makes my legs give way.

Are you guys already there with the patient thing?  Is this yet another thing I’m playing catch up with? Let me know :o)

Just one more read through, and then...

I can’t believe how nervous I am about the next step I need to take with my MS.  I’m about to use the C-Word.
No, not that c-word, the other one: Critique.
I’ve been through some hefty revisions over the past year, and hacked a lot of words out, added a whole load more when I realised that I’d missed out entire chunks of the MC’s development arc, and finished with a few minor plot tidying tweaks.  And now, (after one more read through), I have to take the next step. 
I think that the main issue for me is that my CP's know what they are lookin for, and what makes a good story.  My Crit Team have probably volunteered because they think that they are going to get a good read.  What happens if it’s not one?  The fear of letting them down is quite tangible, and it's hovering there, waiting to say:  I told you they’d be disappointed.
Then again, if I don’t let them read it, then I’ll never know how much work I’ll need to do to make it the best I can.
I guess I’d better start that final read through now...

Probably more stupid than I look.

 Last week, I nearly threw the towel in on this whole writing lark.  It's not that I'm disillusioned, or  struggling for ideas.  I'm feeling quite the opposite.  The problem was that I didn't think that I had enough talent.
The thing that set the train of though into motion was that I'd picked up my MS and started to read through it.  It's been through some serious revisions, and I felt that it should be at the stage where I'm going to need to look at the flow, and characters, more than whether the narrative was active or passive.  BUT, I started to read the first chapter, and there was shedloads wrong with it.  How could I have missed all of this?  If this was the results of two carefully thought out edits, then it was going to take about a hundred attempts to make it barely readable.  What was the point of having half a dozen well formed stories floating around my head if I could never do them justice when I committed them to paper?
Of course, the packing it in thought was fleeting.  I don't really have a choice on whether I write.  It's either do it, or my head will explode.  And I'm sure I'd have to clear up the mess after :o|
That was last week.  Today is a new week, and it dawned on me that in my last two rounds of revisions, I've cut out the start of the story, and made it begin later into the adventure.  I've had to write the start of the first chapter from scratch, and reason it reads like it's not been edited, is because it hasn't!!  The first page is currently a mass of editing scribbles (again), but I have found that by the time I've reached the end of the chapter today, there's just the odd tweak.  It looks like I'm not quite as bad as I feared, but I quite sure that I'm a bit more stupid than I look. :o)

Last lines Part 2

This is the second half of the last lines I edited during NaNoRevMo.

The details just said 'Professional Services' and totalled £15,000.

Sid waved the radio about.  "I'm going up to the edge to let the bomb squad know that we've found it, and what its layout is."

There was a knock on the door and a guard entered.  "Sorry to disturb you, but we've just got word that the plane with the girl on, has disappeared."

In his world of blinding light and agony, the darkness robbed him of his consciousness.

In his haste to get the job done, he'd forgotten he'd need a security card to give him acess to the other parts of the building.

His head turned sharply as an invisible punch landed on his jaw.  He sank to the floor, his eyes rolling up in their sockets.

"They are looking to ship us back home, but I've said that we all need a break, so I'll be driving us there.  It'll give us time to track down Maz's movements, and fix the mess that they've landed us in."

“Pleasant trip?”  The sarcastic voice gave T.D. a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.  Mr. Large was driving.

Steve appeared in the dooray, quickly followed by Sid and Holly.

They think that the plane was probably hit by lightning.

Who knew what menial tasks they would be set once they went back to London.

NaNoReviMo

I signed up for Peggy's NaNoReviMo, and seeing how everyone has responded to the challenge has been fantastic to see.
Some of us have not had the best of starts, while others have exceeded their targets. 
Me?  Well, I'm somewhere in the middle.  I found that getting my head into Editing Mode was a bit of a struggle to start with, but once I got going, it went really well.

Last line edited: T.D. watched the little tendrils of electricity snaking over her unconscious body, before earthing into the floor, seconds later.

Keep up the good work everyone :o)


P.S. Thank you E.D. for the Liebster Award.