Revision notes - Day 2

Or whatever. Re-did the Nico fight, think it's much better.

Next up, cutting Renaud's enslavement bit and moving straight to him with the water. Be sure anything important gets moved somewhere else. Over all much better flow. It will need one more read-through before send off, but you can do that at the end of the real third revision.

Onward!

Revision notes - Day 1

Well, actually day 2.5. I've written out my descriptions and started in on the ending. So far, I've fixed the scene where Karon knocks down the doors, smoothed out the Josef fight. This morning, I completely redid Renaud's speech explaining what the pillar was, and I think it's much better, much less info-dumpy. I also took out the blood magic thing, I can save that for another book or add it in a lesser capacity for this one later. I also had Renaud go into the pillar, which solves the whole "where is Renaud during all of this?" question AND is super creepy. This changes a lot of stuff down the road, but I think it'll all work out for the better. This climax has to flow properly, or there's no fun at all.

Next up: Battle of lava and sewage, then Nico. Don't forget to keep an eye on the ACTUAL text edits now that you're not writing new stuff.

My read through is done!

And MAN, do I have a lot to do:

1. Go setting by setting and character and write out general descriptions to use in the edit. That way, all my descriptions will be uniform. This is especially important for interior settings.
2. Edit the ending and make all noted changes. This is the most broken part, so do it first.
3. Start at the beginning and start making the edits. Do a chapter a day, each in its own document before adding it to the final file. Don't skimp on this, and don't forget to edit the ending again (this should be done mid December, DO NOT rush on this, you need the best book you can write).
4. Give fresh edit to Matt and Trav to go over.
5. Start querying!

right on schedule!

And I'm done (well, finished anyway) with the first go through right on schedule. Two months exactly, even with all the nonsense. Today, I will send the draft to the printers and then hand it out. Maybe... MAYBE they'll have it back to me on time.

In the meanwhile, my task is to

1. Do all the crap at work I've been ignoring -_-...
2. Write a query letter!
3. Write a synopsis!
4. Sit on both (seriously, you only get one shot, don't jump the gun)
5. Do all that map making and world building and what not for the next Eli novel.
6. Do all that map making and world building and what not for the next OTHER novel.
7. Don't obsess.

Now, off to get things done!

danger, TL:DR

Ok, the hard part of the edit/rewrite is, as of 12 this morning, DONE. Left-to-dos as follows:

1. Edit final chapter (duh) - mostly polished, minor editing. Should be doing it right now, actually :P. DONE

2. Go through the words listed below - seriously, I can't REALLY need to use suddenly twice a chapter... DONE

3. Codify the world - make sure everyone's names are consistent all the way through, check the details, do anyone's eyes change color? Are Miranda's rings on the right fingers? Do her spirits change names? Does Renaud gain/lose an arm somewhere? Etc. This really should have been done during this edit, but it wasn't. Spot check as best you can and then save the real combing for Edit 2. DONE

4. Go though all the sections where I talk about magic and make sure I'm a) giving enough information for understanding, and b) not overstating or over-explaining and that each explanation matches the speaking character's world view and knowledge. - this includes both Miranda talks in the beginning, Eli's talk in the clearing, Miranda's talk to the king, Coriano's talk, and the stuff at the end. DONE

5. Go back over the beginning - this part is the most stylistically different, make it more like the rest of the book.

6. Go over all the new sections and make sure they make sense - including new Coriano/Renaud transition section, the walk under the city, and the ending. You've got 16k new words, make sure they're good. Also, watch for wordiness. You get wordy when you don't know what you're talking about.

7. Save, reformat, and clean up everything to go in a Bel Jean's book to hand out for reader copies - on the list: Trav, Tim, Steven, Andrea, Matt B., Aaron, Krystina, and Emily (8 total). Check price of copies, this may not be practical. Emily needs one for sure, though. See if Alex can get you a discount :P.


While the book is out with beta readers in November, my job is to:

1. Codify the world - draw maps, add roads, write out spirit naming conventions, etc.

2. Plan out the second novel thoroughly so I know if I need to add anything in this one. I want a scene by scene with all major events mapped out. Don't start writing it, just make sure you're not shooting yourself in the foot.

3. Write query letter, synopsis, and finalize your agent list (the fun part!)


When I get the reader copies back in December (hopefully) I need to:

1. Go through the novel line by line, applying the codifications listed above.

2. Read through everyone's notes and implement the best of them, fix problems people point out.

3. Get the manuscript agent ready.


THEN, in January, I...

1. Query until I sell it - my goal, 1 acceptance or 30 refusals by my birthday.

9 days until the end of the edit...

and god, do we have far to go.

Rewriting the climax to be more climatic, then going back to edit it to make sense.

Once that's done, I have a special project:

I will go back through my novel and make sure every instance of:

suddenly (31)
then (153)
next (33)
very (66)
the (300+)
! (too many to count)

and all dialogue tags that aren't "said" actually need to be there.

God, it's time to learn to write.

Novel 2 Stats

Started: May 4, 2007
Finished: August 25, 2007
Total days: 113
Total wordcount: 54,654
Average words per day: 484 Waaaay below my 1000/day goal. But, there were many days off and many hardships. Oh well, at least it will be easy to do better next time!

aaaaaaand DONE!

I finished draft 1 of novel 2, tentatively titled "The Spirit Thief" at 10 last night. It clocks in at 54,600 words, which is too short, but I'm not worried. I skipped over a lot at the end, and I'm going to be adding several scenes in the edit. The final word count should be around 65-70k, putting it in prime marketability range.

Now, it's time for two weeks off while I move, plan novel 2, do some world building, and figure out how to solve all the problems I glossed over in this draft. I've got my work cut out for me.

Here's the schedule (Monday to Monday):
8/27 - 9/10: Move in, world build, brainstorm for edits, let the work sit. Brain storm for book 2 to see if I need to add any set up.
9/10 - 10/8: First edit, fix all plot issues, get my word count up, fix characterization, add in foreshadowing, basically turn a rough draft into a finished draft.
10/8 - 10/15: Let draft sit again, write first draft of query letter, synopsis, etc. Put together a spreadsheet of agents to contact.
10/15 - 11/5: Second edits. This is the final sweep, clean up readability, word flow, check pacing, grammar, etc.
11/5-12/3: Print up and hand out reader copies. Do spot edits, revise query letter and synopsis.
12/3-12/31: Incorporate reader comments, do one final read through chapter by chapter, prepare queries for mail out.
1/2: Mail out first batch of queries. After that, mail out 5 queries per week until it sells or I get sick of being rejected.
1/3: Start writing new book.

A nice, spread out schedule, I think. This time I want to be SURE the book is as fantastic as I can make it before mailing it out. For right now, though, I'm going to take a breather and bask in the glow of doneness (and type out some of these ideas that have been poking at me lately).

Two novels down, infinity to go.

Break on through

At last, this morning I finally wrote some new words. The end is in sight!

*BANGBANGBANG*

So here I am, 2 major scenes from the end of my novel and I hit a brick wall. This is the CLIMAX, where all the twists are revealed and everything comes to a head, and my villain refuses to work with me. All I ask is a little evil pontification, why is that so hard? Normally, it's the EASIEST thing to write, but it just won't come this time.

So, here's the plan. I'm going to go through what I've already written and make a road map. Then, I will add foreshadowing and villain development where it is needed (like a literary hotfix). That way, when I reach this current tangle again, I'll have a fully developed, well foreshadowed villain coming up with his own lines, rather than a cardboard puppet I shove lines into. Everybody wins!

Sadly, this pushes the complete date back by another week at least, most likely, but the book will (hopefully) be much stronger when I begin the edit.

I'm well ahead of my September first deadline anyway, so I can afford to do it right. Assuming, of course, that I don't slack off. No room for slacking off this late in the game!