CalandraEsdragon
  • Home
  • Wizard's Destiny
  • Warhorse of Esdragon
  • Extras
  • About the Author
  • Paintings
  • takeupthequest

Finishing Your Novel

6/17/2014

0 Comments

 
This is my writer's group, at Peaberry's Coffee, Canfield Ohio.  This post came about because I couldn't get Voice of the Author on KDP to upload my congrats to the thread of a new author who'd just finished her first book, and I was sick of typing my response over and over. So, Word, then Blog!
Picture
   First, congratulations! Job well done. Job not finished—and that’s good news for the author, because you get to do these celebrations repeatedly as you craft your book. Good books are not so much Written as Re-Written!

   I had several books under my belt when I watched Romancing the Stone, sitting in the theater next to my mother. Great opening—dramatization of book’s romantic ending, then the author typing “The End”. She sits back, sighs, opens a bottle of wine and a can of cat food. Author and author’s cat celebrate, each in their own fashion. Then the wine glass and the cat dish are flung into the fireplace, Russian toasting-fashion. And my mother turns to me and says…”Do you do that?” My reply? “No, I usually just turn off the typewriter and go to bed, because it’s two in the morning.”

   So that’s the grand finish to a novel, if you will. Because writing is a process, you may celebrate the completion of your first draft—and you should—but you should know there is still more process to come. Now you edit.

   Content Edit, Copy Edit, Proofread. Perform these essential steps repeatedly. Get some distance, allow some time. Question everything. Develop fresh eyes, as if you were reading someone else’s book. Because although you should love your creation with all your heart and all your soul as you write that first draft, afterwards you must have eyes and heart of steel—because your work is to ensure that the book in your head becomes the one your reader eventually sees, and shares with you. You can celebrate at every step, because this necessary work is an achievement. Your cat’s not going to complain—she’s going to accept that extra can of food as her due.

       As you maybe can tell, I enjoy editing. I look at it as an opportunity to spend quality time with my characters. I won’t pretend it’s always a breeze—in fact, if you do it too long at a stretch and find you’re enjoying yourself, you might just be reading in an uncritical way, and it’s time to take a break! Come back when you have fresh eyes. If that means you throw your book in a box and shove it under the bed for a month, so be it! Bet you find all sorts of illogic, inconsistency, areas to expand and overdone description that you skimmed over on an earlier read. That’s why editing is best accomplished over time, with breaks. There’s no publisher breathing down your neck. Take the time you need. Do the job right. Don’t see it as drudgery—it’s just one more important part of the process of writing!


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Writer of epic fantasy with a wry twist. Fond of horses, dogs, cats, canaries, falcons and draft cider. Dedicated multi-tasker, I also paint with chalk pastels.

    Archives

    November 2022
    September 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    July 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2018
    June 2018
    December 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    October 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    September 2015
    July 2015
    April 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    Categories

    All
    Book Signings
    Canfield Fair
    Conventions
    Fiber Art
    Food
    Loved Ones
    Love Stories
    New Title
    Writing
    Writing Contests

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly