First Love

Look to the right :) Under the hand with the pen. Down a little further, the one in red.

I can't keep the smile off my face, because over the past couple of days I've revisited my First Love--Takwitara. It's the urban fantasy I started writing two years ago, the idea that came to me three years before that and the inspiration for this blog.

I took a long break from it when I burned out at the end of last year during the third draft. Now, after managing to finish Somewhere in the Middle so quickly, the inspiration's back--along with a shiny new plot and a whole lot of mojo!

I'm excited to get back to it, because it's the story I love the most. Even though the market is saturated with urban fantasy right now, I'm going to finish it anyhow. If this one lesson I've learned in life, it's that anything can happen. I'll polish it to the best of my ability, get another edit and go from there.

I think the fourth time's the charm :)

Sharpening My Editing Scissors

It hurts so much to cut out beloved--but useless--scenes. But I've done it! And it's done wonders for my word count problem. If you can believe it, I've cut the first four chapters of my novel and it's added so much more than its taken away!

Stay tuned :)

Word Count Update :)

Remember my vast word count oversight? Well, first of all, it turns out I've jumped the gun..again. I cut a lot out that I didn't need to right away. When it comes to editing for the sake of reducing your word count remember this:

Remove unnecessary adverbs.
There is a rule that you shouldn't use them at all (which I think is a little extreme). A well-trusted birdie told me that you can use them as long as you're breaking the adverb rule effectively. Besides, we can't just let them sit aside and go to waste can we? Just make sure you don't use them in every sentence and every dialogue tag. Allow the dialogue and scene descriptions to speak for themselves

i.e. I sighed frustratingly.

Depending on how you've set up the scene, if your MC sighs, we already know she's frustrated.

Re-word your sentences.
No matter what you say, there's always an easier (and less wordy) way to say. And if you do it properly, it will still carry the same meaning.

Reconsider your narrative.
Now that I've changed my novel back to first-person, I'm using much less words per scene.

And...if all else fails,

If it doesn't drive the plot...
We've all heard this one and it might be the easiest way to turn 100,000 words into 70,000 . Just take out anything that really doesn't have to be there. No matter how cool a character is, if the story doesn't suffer without them, remove them.

I was told by the same trusted adverbs-aren't-the-devil source that word count really does vary depending on your story. So if you're down to 90, 000 from 130, 000 and you've exhausted all other options, don't worry. That's what an editor is for!

I've cut out a lot, changed the narrative and still have a few scenes to enhance so I'm not sure where I'll end up, but in case you're wondering, these are my stats:

End of second draft: 132, 000 (+)

Current: 72, 911

Goal:70,000-90,000

PERSPECTIVE GAINED :)

So it's been about one month since I've blogged...about anything at all...and six weeks since I've blogged about the (exciting) journey of become a published (and respected) author.

In September, I read 7 novels in my genre. It was nice considering it had been so long since I'd had the time to read anything that wasn't a required reading. I guess these were kind of a required reading but in a good way.

I read one four-book series, the first of a book from another four-book series that 'my dream agent' represents, one that covered the same topic and was (very slightly) similar to my plot, and one that was the same topic, entirely different plot.

These readings were very beneficial. They gave me the confidence to continue on. There comes a point in the process of writing a novel that you get bored of your own words and you begin to worry whether or not they are worth anything or good enough.

After reading other work, some good, some very good, some bad and some very bad, you can more easily gain perspective.

This is going to be a GREAT journey!

For the last three weeks, I've been editing my first draft. I'm nearly complete. In fact, I have one more scene to edit so, after today, I will be.

Updates tomorrow!

First Plunge Taken!

I sent the first ten pages of my novel to a friend of mine--a very competent friend (meaning, avid reader and fellow english grad)--for a very critical review. It was quite refreshing to have a new pair of eyes look at my writing--to see the things I couldn't see.

Apparently I have a tense problem, which stems from changing the novel from first person to third-person omniscient...eek! That makes things a lot more complicated :o(

But I'm most definitely not complaining since I asked him to be VERY critical. I also have a thing (like a lot of writers do) with telling instead of showing.

I'm working on it! I'll let you know how it goes.

I'm off now to send him the remainder of the first chapter and the second chapter.

PS
remember what I said about leaving it alone for a month?

Ah well!