The truth is I have very little idea what I\u2019m doing.<\/p>\n
I came into NaNoWriMo a little bit of a cheat. I had a novel that I\u2019d already spent a lot of time on, and I wanted to finish it, so I used NaNo to do so. Since then,\u00a0I’ve\u00a0been letting it cool. I am a big believer in the advice that after completing a manuscript you should get a little distance from it before you dive back into editing.<\/p>\n
The idea is you\u2019re trying to see your story with fresh eyes. If you\u2019re like me, the time away also gives you the opportunity to stop hating your characters. By the end of my novel, I was barreling toward the finish line because I\u00a0didn’t\u00a0want to spend one more day with those people in my head. I loved them when I created them, but familiarity does indeed breed contempt, and the gang and I had spent far too much time together.<\/p>\n
Since completing the manuscript,\u00a0I’ve\u00a0sent it out to some beta readers, and I\u2019m just now beginning to get some notes.\u00a0They’ve\u00a0been mainly positive, but there are also a lot of good suggestions for improvement.<\/p>\n
My reaction to someone else\u2019s opinion of my story has been mixed. The rational part of me sees the critiques and thinks, \u201cThat\u2019s a good point. I really need to address that. I\u2019m glad they caught that.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, there is a little brat inside my head as well and he has full-on pout-rage. \u00a0He\u2019s stomping his feet and holding his breath because he\u00a0doesn’t\u00a0want to spend any more time on this story. These people are daring to suggest he do even more work. He thinks the novel is good enough as it is, and those beta readers can like it or leave it.<\/p>\n
(Important note: If you ever find yourself thinking or speaking the words \u201cgood enough,\u201d it probably isn\u2019t. You need to go back and try harder.)<\/p>\n
Rest assured I have already told the brat to go fuck himself. He\u2019s lazy, but he\u2019s also afraid because rewriting is a beast unto itself and probably more work than the initial sprint to the finish. I know I have a solid first draft, but I want this story to be even better, so I\u2019m going to put in the time to address the questions my betas have raised.<\/p>\n
After taking a good two months off, I\u2019m finally doing a full read of the manuscript. I\u2019m about a third of the way through, and I\u2019m happy to report it\u2019s not entirely shitty. I even laughed at a couple of lines that I\u2019d forgotten I\u2019d written.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m taking notes as I go, highlighting the areas that need tightening or could benefit from a little more explanation. I\u2019m looking for plot holes, examining character motivation, and making sure that each chapter has a clearly defined goal. When I get to the end of the book, I\u2019ll go back and focus on just those parts, rewriting as necessary. Then I\u2019ll tackle the betas\u2019 suggestions and do the same.<\/p>\n
After that\u2019s done, I\u2019ll read the whole thing again, this time getting picky about phrasing and punctuation. I have a list of overused words and annoying phrases that I\u2019m sure have snuck into my manuscript. I will attempt to assassinate most adverbs and exclamation points, both of which are a plague on my writing. And again, I\u2019ll tighten up the writing wherever I can because I want my story to move at such a quick clip that readers forget to put it down.<\/p>\n
When that round of edits is complete, I\u2019m sure I\u2019ll read the novel through a third time because that\u2019s what people whom I respect have suggested I do. I won\u2019t like it, but I know those I trust have my best interests in mind, so I will follow their advice.<\/p>\n
By the end of this editing gauntlet, I hope to have a manuscript that\u2019s worthy of being seen outside my small group of trusted friends. Regardless, I\u2019m pushing it out the door. I will not invest this much time in a project just to shelve it.<\/p>\n
Ready or not, world, here it comes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The truth is I have very little idea what I\u2019m doing. I came into NaNoWriMo a little bit of a cheat. I had a novel that I\u2019d already spent a lot of time on, and I wanted to finish it, so I used NaNo to do so. Since then,\u00a0I’ve\u00a0been letting it cool. I am a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[105,239,327,733,939,941],"class_list":["post-7922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mechanics","tag-beta-readers","tag-critique","tag-editing","tag-nanowrimo","tag-revise","tag-revision"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7922\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}