First, Finish your Book

[skipster56]

If you want to write a book, please consider taking a long time to edit your work. In the suspense and excitement, one tends to read past the words. An avid reader will find mistakes, and that will throw them off the path of reading. When I write a novel, I have it edited 3 times by other people, including and editor, and I do a final reading, backwards. Even then, I have found a very minor mistake. You can never edit enough. A lot of people tend to edit their work and make changes as they go.This can be devastating to your work. If you change something, make sure it doesn't effect a prior paragraph or chapter. I keep my outline with me at all times, for that reason. I do an outline so I can reference the chapters, knowing where to look for information. I also like to take on a character in my novel. It helps me to live it out, as if it is really happening. Good luck to all writers. Skip

[Commando_Cody]

Editing! Ugh! My first published novel (The Ezekiel Code) is about to be released soon (end of August, I hope!). I did all my own editing and I have to tell you, next time I'm very tempted to bite the bullet and hire a professional editor. I got through it alright but it was such a tedious, laborious, time-consuming task. There were times, during the writing of the book, when the process of writing was more like "work" than "fun" but at least it was enjoyable "work". The editing, on the other hand... well, it was more like forced labor in a prison camp! :-)

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magicalbookworm wrote:
I've gotten the finish the book part, I think I'm just stuck on the editing and if I need to find a beta reader for said novels. I guess what I really need to work on is editing!

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[klavim]

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SundayArtist wrote:
I've written a children's picture book, but the illustrations are at the storyboard stage, so I haven't submitted it. I'm still learning what the requirements are for the art.

Does anyone out there write and do their own illustrations?

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I wrote a children's picture book, but the illustrations are not done yet.
I'd love to self-publish this picture book.

[Dezdura]

You can't even know what you have unless you finish it first.

Authors who can go to their desk and bang out a 180,000 word manuscript within 3-4 months are truly amazing. It is one tiny step forward each day. I try to write like this. One step forward each day.

I'm really amazed when I pick up a book by Mailer or Wolfe and pick out a sentance, and think "why these are just WORDS!" It's the same language and same vocabulary as mine.

The way I start my writing day is to ask myself what I am writing, and what is it for? I have to know what I want my reader to get out of the piece I am writing. How is it important to the book? I don't write in a linear style, I generally have "Starting" points all over the book. This is so I can work where I please at any time, so I need to know where I am in the book.

I started to do this multiple entrance technique because I had gotten stuck at one place many times and often had to give up. I find that If I can just skip forward, and write another section, I often get the idea I need to go back and transition the parts together.

[klavim]

That's very good advice. Some sections of a story are more fun to write than others, and they flow easier. I'm stuck in the middle of the story I'm writing, but the end is pretty much done. I will change some of the details, but nothing major.
Now, the beginning is still first draft quality, slightly better than an outline. It's also the hardest part, because it must give information and build a momentum to the second half, which is mostly action.
The longer the story, the more starting points it should have.
180,000 in 3 or 4 months??? That sounds like the ninowrimo. (Ninowrimo is a competition in which you write a full novel in a month. No editing required.)

[Dezdura]

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klavim wrote:
That's very good advice. Some sections of a story are more fun to write than others, and they flow easier. I'm stuck in the middle of the story I'm writing, but the end is pretty much done. I will change some of the details, but nothing major.
Now, the beginning is still first draft quality, slightly better than an outline. It's also the hardest part, because it must give information and build a momentum to the second half, which is mostly action.
The longer the story, the more starting points it should have.
180,000 in 3 or 4 months??? That sounds like the ninowrimo. (Ninowrimo is a competition in which you write a full novel in a month. No editing required.)

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Hi Klavim

I did mean 3 months for the Rough Draft, sorry if I didn't clarify. 180,000 Divided by 90 days is 2000 words per day. If you work 4 hours per day, that's what, about 500 words per hour? I guess I don't think that is very hard if you are on a roll. If not, you are banging your head against a wall. I've written 50,000 words so far and I just finished my first month, but it is not getting any easier. I've actually written a full rough draft in a month. It was basically getting up only to go to the bathroom. It was horrible by the way.


Middles are the hardest part of the novel for me, where the action occurs depends on the genere. I think so many "how too" books focus on beginnings and endings, because the middles are where the real juggling happens. I tend to use the good old fashioned five part division.


I have, really, sets of out of sync characters each with a different plot, so it can get quite twisted. But, in a way also, Its like the journey of Frodo and Sam, everyone starts together. They split up in smaller groups, and then, they work alone.

[Deliciouskiss2u]

Wow I'm jealous it seems that so many people are writing books and getting things done, i started and I'm struggling to decide on what i want to really do with the book. I have started it and I read that people are writing outlines. Is it easier to write an outline? I was rolling with the punches really just typing whatever comes to mind on paper. I have an idea of were it's going but still working on it. Any tips from others that really know what they are doing?

Tips please!!!!

[Irishbookish]

Reading and re-reading over your work is time-consuming but extremely important.  You may sometimes hear of authors sending work to publishers in draft form - I personally couldn’t do it. It’s a bit like making breakfast when someone has not done the dishes from the night before. I am compelled to clean up before eating. It’s about conscience, and displaying a certain amount of professionalism which will show itself in your finished product if you have scrupulously edited your work. You will almost certainly want an editor to proof your work as well, and know that between you both, your work will be what you set out to achieve.

I was told by my publisher after someone there read my work that it didn’t require editing. I instinctively found this difficult to believe, but trusted their professional opinion. I really should have trusted my instincts, because I found over two hundred mistakes in that first published copy, yet had absolutely no comeback. It was simply one person's advice. I had to pay £200 for a complete Retech, (the same cost I would have paid to have it professionally edited by them...) and even after that, I have since found two or three little typos, (pointed out by well-meaning readers) but have consoled myself that even famous authors make a handful of mistakes in their books, and put it down to a lesson well-learned.

Firstly, when actually writing, remember to get as much of your thoughts down on paper as you can the first time - this way, you’ll have a lot of material to work with, and when you are re-reading each section, the concepts and objective of each part will be clear, so that if you need to add, or change something the objectives of the story will remain solid as you work around them. As someone suggested earlier - DO try to keep with the theme though, as altering a small detail in a manuscript can be like altering the time continuum and create little fissures in your story.

I have some practical editing tips which I might post later on if anyone wants them, or maybe I’ll find the appropriate thread somewhere in here.

Message Edited by Irishbookish on 04-21-2008 12:48 PM

[dianaprince]

   I've been working on the same sci-fi novel for over a year now (since March 2007), and I've written three different versions already.  I've changed the basic storyline, but not the characters, to make it more science fiction and less fantasy each time I re-write it.  I've also gone through and edited it at the end of every chapter, and so far I'm sure I'll keep the current version.

   I write in a treasured three-ring binder in my own handwriting.  I know, very low-tech, but I'll still type my book into a document on my computer after I finish it. 

   I prefer to write in my bedroom, without a bunch of people staring at me while I write.

   Here's some things I couldn't live without:  a small sheet of paper with descriptive phrases on it, a vintage thesaurus from a library book sale, and a mechanical pencil with replacable leads.

[Irishbookish]

Dianaprince, I too used to write in my bedroom (albeit when I was much younger). You mentioned you've changed your manuscript a few times. I too did that. I started my first serious manuscript at 16 and picked away at it on and off for about until life became far too busy with college and work. When I picked it up again about a year later, I found I had changed my style, so edited the whole hundred pages, then I lost interest and away went again because I loved also to write poetry, songs and stylish letters and often found myself restless with the initial concept.

Before my wedding, I was sorting my belongings and I came across my beloved manuscript. My proofing-eye found some mistakes and I sat down happily to begin the task of editing. I soon  realised, however, that in the process of maturing, I had changed my style so much that I no longer felt the same. I still keep that first manuscript lovingly stored, wondering if one day I will breathe life into it again.

Completing my first manuscript some years later was indescribable, however I do feel that the intensive and sometimes exhausting labours are what makes it all such an achievement after all.