Day 5 – Editing Rough Draft

Posted on January 27, 2015 by rachelsparling

Time was on my side today as I was able to edit one more chapter. It was short so I guess that helped as well.

It was entirely descriptive, in the mind of the character, as well as narrative to show the passing of time. It’s necessary though not a whole lot actually happens in the chapter, but it’s needed solely based on the fact that it moves the story along. There wasn’t a lot to fix in the chapter because of this. Which is always a good thing but it felt kind of nice that I didn’t have to sit there, staring at the screen, trying to find a way to fix a sentence that needed to be corrected with no sure way of doing it. I haven’t run into that problem yet, but I know it’s going to happen as I continue with editing. It’s a process of course.

Anyway, I hope to stay on top of this a bit more than I have been.

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Day 4 – Editing Rough Draft (my 100th post!)

Posted on January 16, 2015 by rachelsparling

Well it took a while but I got another chapter edited. It was a short one so it took very little time, but I feel like it’s lacking something. I can’t quite put my finger on it. It’s possible it’s merely the fact that it’s short and that it’s all internal dialogue and discovery. It’s necessary for the course of the story but still… Oh well, I made a note in the “document notes” section so I can see it when I go over it again and again. I bolded some parts of it to come back to later since I can’t think how to fix them just yet. There’s not anything specifically wrong with them, they could just be a bit better somehow.

Anyway, the last few weeks have been busy and trying to re-adapt to a routine where I have time again to edit is growing in difficulty. I am slightly worried that the inconsistency of the editing will not benefit it very well, due to the fact that it will be harder to distinguish specific things like appropriate character consistencies and general flow, as well as any possible plot inconsistencies I missed when writing the rough draft. They’re all relatively big things and while I know the characters really well and the story, there are still some things I might miss. I have a plan though to make sure that doesn’t stay when I finally get it out to publishers, so it should be all right in the end.

I hope everyone is having a good start to the new year!

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A New Year

Posted on January 6, 2015 by rachelsparling

I hope that everyone had a great time ringing in the new year and enjoyed their holidays.

I realize my plan was to start editing in January, but as it stands, I’ve had no time to do so. A number of things have come up that have kept me away from doing such things unfortunately. However, I have been lucky enough to get about twenty minutes here and there to create partial scenes. They aren’t the full scene and it’s merely a small piece of something much bigger, but they came to me when I was going about my day and decided I needed to get it down as soon as I could. The last two I wrote are particularly difficult scenes. I have another one in my mind that I have written for another purpose and recently realized it could fit quite well in book 2, so my plan is to eventually add it into the whole thing. I have the details it’s just not in the manuscript yet. It will be though.

As a separate thing entirely, I have been contemplating and trying to decide the best way to have certain events take place in two characters lives. The most I have is that it’s gradual. Recently, in fact, I have developed a new friendship that has taken a similar course. We have been getting to know each other over the last few months and are becoming good friends. I believe this outline, the way that it has kind of come together, will actually work quite well in book 2. The primary, and most fundamental difference is that, the friendship in the book will become romantic.

Anyway, I am always thinking of the story and everything that must be done with it. I am always mentally thinking about scenes and how to write them. Although I might be failing at editing and getting a proper bit of writing done, I have not, and never will I, give up on the work.

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Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas

Posted on December 24, 2014 by rachelsparling

Unfortunately, the holidays have been jam packed with too many things to do and no time to edit. I worried it might happen, but there will likely be a bit of a lag between Christmas and New Years, so I’m hoping to squeeze in one more chapter.

In other news, it’s Christmas Eve and it’s one of the first years that I can remember where it’s more rainy/hazy than snowy. We haven’t always had snow on Christmas but it’s always been pretty cold. From what I can remember, I don’t think it’s ever been rainy like this. It’s also never been this foggy before. In light of that, I took a photograph and felt it necessary to post quickly before getting to the rest of the things to do today.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday and that those who celebrate Christmas will have a great day full of fun and time spent with the people they love the most. I hope it’s everything everyone wants it to be. For those of you who do not celebrate Christmas, I hope that you enjoy the day off, relaxing, spending time with family, catching up on hobbies, or any other fun activity you choose to do on that day off. I hope that it is a wonderful day as well filled with anything and everything you decide to do.

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas.

Foggy intersection near my house.

Foggy intersection near my house.

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Day 3 – Editing Rough Draft

Posted on December 16, 2014 by rachelsparling

So initially I hadn’t planned on doing any work today. It wasn’t until my brother sent me a message about how his program just suddenly stopped working that I decided I would play around with Timeline. So I started putting in a number of points and events and got up to about chapter 10 of the rough draft of the manuscript. I didn’t go into too much detail for the plot points in the time line, but enough that it told me exactly what had happened so far. I decided that I had accomplished a lot and would leave it be. Well that’s when I realized that the chapter isn’t that long and I might as well edit the next one while I’m at it.

It’s a good thing nonetheless. I did not find too much to add to this one however. I mostly edited the grammar and changed some of the language. They weren’t huge changes by any means, nothing like the other chapters I edited earlier, but they were good enough for a revised draft. I will most likely still have a lot to cover and I’m okay with that. This is, after all, a revised draft.

I am going to try to get another chapter done before this month is over. I can’t guarantee it though given Christmas is creeping up so quickly and there is a lot to do over the next several days. I have a number of errands to run and now that my mom is on holidays, she’ll be asking for help with various things. Never a bad thing, it just ultimately keeps me very busy.

As far as planning goes, it does appear that my brother plans to start editing his manuscript in January, so that will help me to get that going on a more regular basis as well. Once the holidays are over, I am going to try to get some editing done every day. I have also decided, when I have the time, to write random short stories to help build the world more. Hopefully I can get one or two published and it will make it easier to get my novel published when it’s complete.

Anyway, I hope everyone is having a wonderful month of December and that the approaching holidays are not causing too much stress and chaos.

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Time line fun

Posted on December 3, 2014 by rachelsparling

As a winner of the National Novel Writing Month, you get a bunch of discount codes for a variety of different writing and organizing programs. My brother started telling me about one in particular which immediately grabbed my attention, it’s called AOE Timeline.

So far I have mostly been outlining details in my outlines for each individual book. This has been helpful in keeping things organized, however when I mention events that took place prior to the start of the first book, I only mention them where they’re supposed to be mentioned. In other words, I have not designed an appropriate chronological time line that has displayed the order of events prior to and at the start of book 1.

Naturally, because of this, the AOE Timeline program peaked my interest. I started looking into it and then downloaded it shortly after. I’ve been playing around with it for the last day or so (in the spare few minutes I’ve had), and I’ve found it so far very helpful. I can outline the time lines of different characters, the main plot points and events, and everything that happens prior to book 1 with more precise and specific information. I can also associate each time line and where they all intersect at different points. This is so unbelievably helpful and fun that I think everything will start looking better just by me doing this. The specifics have mostly just been in my head, and now I can organize it onto a program in detail.

Anyway, this just made me happy that I felt it necessary to talk about it. I use Scrivener for writing and outlining and the general organization of chapters and scenes (fantastic program by the way, I highly recommend it), and I’m now using AOE Timeline to outline specific dates and details in chronological order. Fun.

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Day 2 – Editing Rough Draft

Posted on December 1, 2014 by rachelsparling

Onto the second/third day of editing.

I have completed another chapter. This is the third chapter in the first book and it is coming along, slowly but surely. There is a lot that I found wrong with it and I added a lot to it, but it still feels….incomplete. I’m not sure how yet. I know what I want it to be, what opportunities it allows for world building specifically, and I did add quite a bit to it, but it still feels like it’s missing something. Granted, this is only the first edit, and I’m sure as I go along, I will figure it out and come back to it and fix it all up. Somehow, it will come together.

Anyway, it went all right, but like I said, it still feels like it’s missing a few things. I’ll figure it out upon further revision and get it flowing better and including what it so desperately might need to feel more complete – at least to me.

I also hope that everyone had a wonderful time with the National Novel Writing Month. I’m sure most of you feel relief now that you’ve reached your goals, and now will realize just how much you have to go through and edit. I’m sure it won’t be nearly as bad as you think though.

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Day 1 – Editing Rough Draft

Posted on November 29, 2014 by rachelsparling

I have started editing!

Well actually, to be totally honest, I started last week and completed chapter 1. I did not have time to post that and I finally got around to doing chapter 2. Chapter 1 and 2 are now officially edited for the rough draft and are now considered a “revised draft”. It feels good to be making progress, and, as I hoped, I have added a few thousands words to their totals. Always a good thing to find areas to add more information and details.

I found, as I went through the first two chapters, that I allowed for detail but I also seemed to get to the point a bit quicker than I did through out the National Novel Writing Month challenge. It wasn’t a point of laziness by any means, it was just a bit less thorough way of writing. I have been able to add a lot more to it, making the chapters fuller and the characters seem better and easier to visualize, same with the overall environment.

Anyway, time is running short and I must run.

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Day 21 – National Novel Writing Month

Posted on November 21, 2014 by rachelsparling

It’s official! I have completed 50,000 words!

I am most certainly excited at this accomplishment and I am very much looking forward to editing everything that I did this month and prior to it.

I found this challenge very rewarding and I definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to take it on. While I was working with a partially completed manuscript, I still found it a great experience. I also found that the more I wrote each day, the faster I was able to get work done, and the better my writing became. Each day I wrote I became a more consistent and better writer. For that reason alone, I am so glad I took on this challenge. In so many ways it has created a very positive experience for me and I will most certainly be doing it again next year.

The next step is to stay in the habit of taking about an hour or so and edit my manuscript each day. I am very much looking forward to this experience and I’ve set daily goals for myself. If I don’t reach them each day (some days they will be a little much to expect from myself), I am just going to do as much as I can in the time I have allotted.

There is still lots of time to finish the 50,000 words for those of you still working away. My brother is still getting it done and he is working hard. Keep it up guys! You’re almost there!

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Day 20 – National Novel Writing Month

Posted on November 20, 2014 by rachelsparling

I don’t have much time to really update but from writing yesterday and today I will likely reach my 50,000 word goal after tomorrows contribution!

Also, book 1 is finished (if I haven’t mentioned that already), and I am working on a bit of a time lapse thing for introducing and explaining some things for book 2. It is all story and plot related so it will work well as a beginning for book 2.

I’ve decided that once I reach the 50,000 word goal, I will be editing book 1. Through editing I will likely be adding a lot. I think I’m going to expand it a bit more and adding in more perspectives from other characters. I enjoy writing through my main character, and a lot will be just about her, but I think I’ll just add in some more things about the other characters to make them more interesting. Also I know for certain that I have some chapters that could use more description and more information so I’ll be focusing on that too. I’ll also be doing all the other technical things that come with editing as well.

Things are exciting for me right now!

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