Monday, August 30, 2010

[Blog] Novel Writing; The Rewrite

Every writing project has it's phases. The draft, the first edit, the second edit, the third edit with the help of your spouse, parent or friend, the fourth edit with more help, the fifth edit, the re-write where you toss out half of what you started with in the first place, the oh-my-god-when-will-this-be-finished-edit, and finally what you call your "finished work" before the the publisher tells you to make it 20,000 words shorter.

I'm in the re-write. I have 120,000 words, but no ending. Which technically means I've got enough wordage for my first book and half of my second book, since 85,000 words is what I'm aiming to submit. After all, it'll be my first-time novel publication, so I can't expect to get away with 110,000 words or something like that. Not unless a publisher falls deeply in love with my writing. Which would be nice... But they can fall in love with it at 85,000 words just as well. It's only a first in a series no matter how I slice it.

I've "re-written" the first 110 pages thus far. (110 of my 193 pages total.) I've added an important plot twist which I believe makes the story much more dynamic and interesting. An obligation as well as a deep claim on the heart of the main character, Eshana.

I just need to come up with a good conclusion to a few of the subplots and create the ending for the first novel. I have my mother (a grammatical whiz) reading and editing. My husband promises to read and help me revise as well. All considered, and at the rate of the re-write, I can expect to have my "finished version" complete within a couple of months. Then my writing focus will turn to query letters, although I'll continue working by working on the second novel, which will already be started since I've already established I need to end the first novel before I finish the re-write of everything I've written thus far.

Tiny teasing snippet (which hasn't been reviewed/edited by anyone and is subject to change):

Instead of the expected crystal-light posts that generally lined a street, there were trees with yellow-light crystals shedding a pale glow on the white marble street. I approached the nearest one and touched the the yellow crystal gingerly. It was inlaid into the tree's truck several inches. I wondered how the tree felt about that.

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