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Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Back To The Drawing Board

A special thank you to Rebecca for reminding me that I needed to post again.

My original goal when launching this blog was to post at least twice a week. Obviously I need to do better with that. :lol:

On the revision front, I'm moving along--slowly but surely. The first two chapters have been revised, polished and shipped off to crit partners. I've already received the feedback for chapter one and after analyzing it, it's obvious I need to go back in and make some changes. Strangely enough, the things I was worried about ended up not being much of an issue. Only one out of the four had a problem following the dialogue and nobody had an issue with the volume of characters introduced.

The two things they did have problems with, were things I was totally blind to. Like the tone of the first few pages and the likeability of the hero. Although, TBH-- I knew the hero could be a problem...because...well... he's an ass. :lol: Interestingly enough, the verdict on the hero was split-- two loved him, and two...well not so much. One of the things I'll be doing when I go back into chapter one, is explain a bit more why he is acting the ass. Ramp up his motivation so to speak. I think that will fix his likeability ratio.

I'm going to wait to go back in and fix things until after I get the crits back for chapters three and four. I suspect there will be issues in both these chapters that will need to be addressed earlier-- in chapters one and two.

As for Chapter two, well that one seems to be a hit. I've got feedback from 3 out of the 4 people I sent it to, all highly favorable. So no major changes there. Chapter three, however, has been a PITA. It just wasn't flowing, and the banter between the hero and heroine turned into page filler rather than actually accomplishing anything and then a couple of the characters who were supposed to be in there, just sort of vanished. :lol: After struggling with it for four days, I finally just deleted the entire thing and started over. The new version is going much smoother and is very close to the way I'd envisioned it. So I think I've finally fixed the problem. It's amazing how deleting and starting over can fix things for me.

I will admit that I slacked off a bit this past week. I got hit with a nasty cold, and started sleeping in rather than getting up and writing before heading to work. Add in the fact by the time I’d get home I was exhausted. So I missed several days. I’m back on track again as of today though. For the first time in a week I got up at 4am and worked until 6:30. Maybe that’s why the writing went so smoothly.

Those early morning sessions are a must for me!

So how are you guys doing? What kind of progress are you looking at?

10 comments:

  1. Good going on the revisions!

    My WIP is going much slower than normal, but I think it's better. Life keeps getting in the way, and I made too many commitments to other stuff. Next year I won't be volunteering for anything!

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  2. Edie,

    You're one of the most disciplined writers I know. So no question once you finish up with your commitments, you'll go to town on that sucker. You'll be finished before you know it. I've always been jealous at the rate you can put out a book.

    I'm happy to hear that you feel the WIP is better for your slower pace. But out of curiosity, what do you like better about it?

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  3. Dear Godiva! My brain does not function at 4 a.m. AT ALL. Glad to hear you're happy with where you're at in the process. Sounds like those early mornings work for you. May the muse be with you. (So yours is a lush, too?) I wonder if it's an occupational hazard? :)

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  4. The only way I've found to shock my brain awake, so I can get some decent writing in, is by guzzling down some Starbucks Doubleshot Espresso. After fifteen minutes of lethargy, I'm usually good until I leave for the day job-- by then the jolt has worn off--but who cares, right? It's just the day job. lol

    And yes, my muse and yours have a lot in common. Mine would live on white chocolate Lindor Balls if I let her, or if those aren't handy--then rolos will do. . .or butterfinger squares...or weatherbys.

    *sigh* Now I'm getting hungry.

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  5. out of curiosity, what do you like better about it?

    I think my characters are more interesting and have more depth than in the past. This book is more high concept, too. I have a good feeling about it.

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  6. Mmm, Lindor. Oops, sorry I'm back now.

    Glad the rewrites are going well for you.

    I used to get up at five to write, but I can't seem to do it anymore.

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  7. Glad to help! Now, to take my own advice and get caught up on my own blog. :)

    I'm a 4 a.m. waker myself (with the exception of the past week). That's about the only time I can get some peace and quiet for any progress. Assuming, of course, that I DON'T get on twitter and Facebook... *sigh*

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  8. Edie,

    Interesting characters and depth, are two of the ingredients that really sell me on a book. More depth affects everything, IMO-- since it affects characters, setting, emotion. Even dialogue-- since if you've got the depth, the dialogue will spark.

    Sounds to me like you've really turned a corner with your writing.

    The high-concept this is hard. I'm finding it means different things to different agents and editors. One might find it high concept, while the other doesn't. Very frustrating.

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  9. Hi Dawn, Welcome back *grin*

    I hope the Lindor ball ecstasy lasted a while. lol

    Getting up at 4 am is soooo hard, sometimes I'll waffle until 5 am and then get up. I need to start making more of an effort next week, though. I get my best work done in the early mornings.

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  10. Hi Rebecca,

    Well I can see why you don't want to mess around with your blog at the moment-- your last post is just too cute. That goldfish and then the title...I still get a good chuckle out of that.

    Twitter is difficult to avoid at 4am in the morning, LOL. I usually let myself play on it while the coffee kicks in and my brain wakes up. I'm not on facebook (and have no intention of signing up. lol) so at least that form of procrastination isn't available to me. But I am addicted to blogs...so that can really eat up my morning if I'm not careful.

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