Let the Edits Begin!

The draft of Symbiosis (WIP) is now a year old, so it’s time to start the edits. I sent my first page for a review/critique through a workshop with James River Writers. The feedback gave me the push I needed to get into the edits. So, here we go!

I’ve reworked the beginning scenes a smidge and finally found a way through a piece I knew wasn’t working. The changes I made required two scenes to receive complete makeovers to fit the new storyline. Initially, I was having a hard time writing the first new scene as it was only a bridge to the second new scene. I needed to find a way to “want” to write it, and I found it. I was able to add a small interaction between the MC and another character. Bonus: this will help in later scenes when the MC actually meets this character.

Some time last year, I created a spreadsheet to track my story beats. The tracker, based on my all time fave book for writers — Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody, breaks down each act and beat into percentages and word counts. I am in the process of a broad review of my current draft to see where it fits into the beats based on word count. Even though I am only a few beats into the edit, it’s lining up as it should. This is exciting!

It may be odd to think about writing as percentages and numbers, but isn’t everything about numbers? For me, breaking down this overwhelming task into segments feels right. I am a “pantser” at heart, but I do love an organized spreadsheet!

First Draft Complete, Now What?

In 2021, I wrote about 13,000 words on this first draft. I think I restarted it twice and put it away more often than I wrote. From March of this year to now, I’ve written 63,000 words. As of 11pm, Thursday, June 9th, I’ve completed my first draft of Symbiosis at 76,000 words. This is the first book in a planned trilogy. How did I go from writing 10,000 over the span of a year to writing 63,000 in the span of 3 months?

Bookdun! This is a group of writers on discord all with one goal — get the book done. There are team competitions and events. There are daily and weekly goals. You can earn roles and awards. It’s your choice to be as involved as you want to be. I cannot recommend this discord writing group enough.

Moving on to the elephant in the room — editing! I finally finished this draft and now it’s time to edit. It’s time to get this draft into shape. It’s time to turn this draft into a novel. But, where do I start? There are hundreds of books on writing. Some writing books mention editing in passing, but I need more. I want to read five different full processes for editing, six possible ways to just get started, and four things to absolutely ignore during the process. Sure, there are websites with the top 10 this or top 10 that — but they do not get into the meat of the editing process.

There are numerous ways to structure a story. There are specific processes you can follow depending on genre, pace, and point of view. However, I cannot locate a specific process for editing let alone multiple processes with variances depending on any number of variables.

That main suggestion seems to be to start with the big picture and save line by line editing for the last review. I purchased an annual subscription to Plottr with hopes it will help me see my draft in a big picture format. Right now, my draft is a list of no name chapters in which things happen. Some of the chapters make sense. Some of the chapters do not. I can tell you quite honestly there’s a few scenes right in the middle, and they do not flow with the story. I could feel it while I was writing it. So why did I keep it? Because my goal was to get it all out, then go back after the draft was done. I would jokingly say, “that issue is for editing Wendy, not drafting Wendy.” Well, editing Wendy doesn’t see the humor.

I’m off to start some sort of editing process. My plan is to get the major plot points into Plottr for a visual of the draft. From there I’ll add more detail and look for the holes. I’ll let you know how it’s going in the coming weeks. I am open to any suggestions or advice on editing a fiction draft.

Here Comes the Plot Bunny…

There once was a girl with a story in her head. A story she wanted, no she needed to write. The girl was excited and started outlining, storyboarding, and cutting out images and pasting them on boards. She loved to see the faces she’d attached to the characters in her mind. They spoke to her regularly and whispered all the best scenes. So, one day, she started to write. She wrote the opening scene, then another scene, then another. She had written eight thousand words and loved the story.

But then, a plot bunny hopped into her ear and reminded her she did not know enough about her characters to write this story. The bunny told her to stop writing this draft and start a new draft with different characters. The girl listened to the bunny and agreed. She started again with a new story. She wrote seven thousand words.

When the plot bunny returned, the girl showed it all the words she’d written on the new story and beamed with pride. The plot bunny shook its head. It told her this writing was for nothing as she had not completed the first draft. When the girl reminded the bunny of its words about the first story, the bunny wiggled his nose and reminded her of the very first draft she completed 12 years ago. It told her she needed to edit that draft.

The girl, more confused than ever, thought about what the bunny said to her. It was very convincing. Maybe she had wandered too far from her original thought so many years ago. Maybe she should scrap both new drafts and edit the very old draft. Maybe. The plot bunny cleaned its ears and scratched its belly, and vanished leaving her with a decision.

The girl didn’t know what to do. Edit an old draft which she’d set aside as a potential book three in the series. Keep writing the draft about the characters she had not fully fleshed out and would be book two in the series, or go back to the initial draft which would be book one. She chose the worst of all. She stopped writing.

Then, one day, the girl was looking around in Discord and stumbled across a post from a fellow writer about a Discord channel called Bookdun. The channel opened a new world of contacts, team events, discussions, and games centered on writing. She saw sprinting and colorful names. She saw pages for structure, dialogue, and world building. As she scrolled down the list of pages, her eyes sparkled and her characters started to speak to her, again. They’d missed her, but she remembered the adorable plot bunny that had led her away from everything she tried. She sat back from the laptop and stared at the screen. A page in the list caught her eye: Put your plot bunnies here. She was elated. She could write her story and if the plot bunny came around, she could put it here where it could live with other plot bunnies. She could essentially ignore it!

The girl did just that. She joined the Discord and wrote her first 10k in one week. She joined a team of writers all working to the same goal… words on the page. After one month with Bookdun, she’d written 37k words, and she wrote happily ever after.

Epilogue:
Plot bunny still comes around, and the girl still listens. Now, however, she knows exactly where to put it.

Acknowledgements:
The girl is me.

Who’s Writing This Novel?

The answer to that question is “not me.” I have not been writing for the past month or two, and I am trying to work out why I stopped. I took time around April to work out my outline which was a change for me. I generally have a rough idea of a few scenes I need to happen, but the how the story gets there is blurry. This time, I made an outline. There’s room for surprise, but the plan is laid out. I then made scene boards across three acts. I’m rather proud of my scene boards. The boards are large enough to doodle on when an idea presents itself. I have character pictures and the outline tapes to the boards.

I wrote 7k words in April then another 1 or 2k between May and July. Then nothing. Just nothing. It’s not that I don’t want to write the story. I think about the path of the story, the characters, their needs and goals several times a day. Then why am I avoiding it like a 7th grade science project?

  1. While I like the visual representation an outline gives, it is stifling me. I can’t breathe.
  2. I am forcing my characters to go in directions they are not ready to go. Literally. I needed them to get on the road for a long trip, but he insists on walking her down to the family cemetery. I let them, but I cut it short. They are now on the road. The actions and conversations feels forced.
  3. My writing area is not a welcoming space. I’ve tried writing elsewhere, but I want to be in the space I created for writing. There’s a door for privacy and a window for jumping. Just kidding. Maybe.

Well, I think that’s helped a bit. Now that I know these things, here’s what I’m going to do:

  1. Let the outline go. Just let it go. The characters already know the story. I just need to let them tell me.
  2. I’m going back to a time when I felt the characters were driving the story and move forward from there. I feel more connected to the writing, and I stay engaged. There’s an excitement in not knowing exactly what’s about to happen. There’s an elation is realizing you knew this had to happen all along.
  3. I fixed this one just in the last few days. I turned my desk so it faces my boards and my day-job desk is behind me. I cleaned up the writing desk and added a lamp and a melty, smelly thing. I also added fairy lights around the boards. I can change them to any color I wish. Today, I am pale blue.

To add more chances of me finishing this draft by year’s end, I am participating in the 2021 National Novel Writing Month in November. Yes, the novel has already begun, but there’s at least 50k still to be written.

“The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.” – Terry Pratchett

Setting the Mood

Camp NaNoWriMo for July was a disaster. I wrote… wait for it… just under 2,000 words. Yep. That’s it. While that’s almost 2,000 words I didn’t have before July, it’s nowhere near the 25,000 I’d hoped to write. I love the NaNoWriMo site and the people behind it. They do some great things for young writers and get books into the hands of children. But, the process of using NaNoWriMo to get me to the next phase, next chapter, next draft of this novel is no longer working for me. The entire draft is 10,730 words. I have an outline and have not drifted too far from the plot points. I know what needs to come next. Why aren’t I writing?

My current excuse is my writing space. I have a room of the house (small, but enough) for my writing as well as my day job. When it’s time to leave the day job, I don’t want to spend more time in that room, in that chair. I have a separate desk, but it’s only ten feet from my work desk with one shared chair. There’s not enough space for a partition to at least give the illusion of separate spaces. I’ve added décor to the room to designate the writer side, but it still feels so empty. I need to feel surrounded and enveloped in the room. I need it dark with just a little light. I need to feel cozy but not hot. I need sounds in the background. Could be music. Could be white noise. A plant. I also need a plant.

What makes you get “in the zone” so to speak? What’s your go-to ambience?

One Little, Two Little, Three Little Fictions

Do you work on more than one piece of writing at a time or do you focus on one piece until complete? I have read of authors working on poetry, short stories, or articles while writing novels.

I am currently writing a draft for a novel at the pace of a few hundred words a day and not feeling a connection to the writing the way I normally do. It may be the story is not heading in the direction I wanted, or it is not flowing the way I expected. I could go back and write that scene again, but I just want to get to the end of this draft.

Another option is to put this draft aside and work on a short story idea rolling around in my head. I jotted down a few notes and want to flesh out the idea more. I have not written a short story in many years, and the thought of completing something (anything) is intriguing.

Why am I able to multi-task up to 5 different projects during work hours and feel confident the projects are being completed on time, but working with more than one idea during my personal time makes me feel lost. If I work on the novel draft, I am thinking about the short story. If I move to making notes about the short story, then I think about the draft I am not writing. Right this minute, I am writing a blog about writing both but currently not writing either! Ha! Score one for me.

Do you focus on one project or work on a few at a time? Do you have several unfinished drafts waiting for your return? Do you have tunnel vision for one project and no room for anything else?

“I’m writing a first draft and reminding myself that I’m simply shoveling sand into a box so that later I can build castles.” — Shannon Hale