Horaaay!!
Yay! I completed the third revision of my novel and it’s now ready for the next stage. I’m just so excited I finally got it done. And it couldn’t be better timing for my next project—Nanoing on November, 1 – 30.
What? Wait a minute! Did I just say that? Nanoing on Nov. 1? When I don’t even have a clue of what should my next plot is about? Am I going insane?
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So, where am I?
Can’t you tell? I haven’t updated my blog since last month. This stage, where I’m now, hasn’t left me with much time for my blogging. But hey, I sneak in here to write for this month’s entry.
But, I mean, yeah, I’m still stuck in the revising stage of my manuscript. This is my, oh…third revision so far. I hope this will be the last one before I move on to the next stage.
I hope…
So why does revising take so long? Well, each writer has their own style and preferences. Some writers, who upon completing their first draft revise it once and then boom, it’s done and ready for the publisher. Some writers take time—say five months, a year or even two years to get their manuscript ready. Me? I want my manuscript to be revised once and then that’s it. I’m ready to pounce on agents!
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The novel has been written.
Now it’s time to put it aside for a week and do something you enjoy the most—read your favorite novel, magazines or just get together with friends for a good time. You need to rest as much as possible so when you return to your manuscript, you’ll approach it with a fresh mind. Are you ready?
Go!
“But I’m not ready yet,” you say.
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Indeed.
You need to be alone—just you and the notebook computer in front of you, the cursor blinking faithfully waiting for you to start your first stroke of the keyboard.
You need to be alone. Just you, surrounded by books on writing, as friends and as a portable writing coach—to help you navigate your plot. And you’re dying to be outside, to be with others.
No one but you can get the job done.
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While sitting here editing my manuscript in excruciating pain and misery, I wondered why I wrote this piece of fiction in the first place. And if you’re asking the same question like me, then you’re not alone. Rewriting, editing or whatever you name your revision process for your draft brings out all sort of emotional angst—now that you’re forced to look at your manuscript through a cold eye.
The fun of writing just ended. Now the real task begins.
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For those who are currently writing their manuscript — especially a novel, you know what I’m talking about. Yes, what to write in the middle of the novel. The first several chapters are easy to write and you know roughly about the ending or even have several options for it. Yet, you’re stuck in the middle.
For the first time writer, the novel usually has a beginning, middle and ending. So I’m talking about the middle section.
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I saw him for the first time on TV during the 2004 Democratic Convention in Boston. And only later did I learn that he wrote a couple of books– Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
I just don’t pay attention to politicians who write books. They’re all about politics and I’m not really interested in politics anyway.
Then he ran for President of The United States. My curiosity about him increased. So I decided to get both the books he wrote. I chose to read Dreams from My Father first.
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In my previous post I wrote about Creating a story for your fiction where I mentioned how you can determine what fiction or novel you’re interested to write based on your favorite movies.
In this post, I would like to expand upon that post by exploring how your favorite novels could be used to help determine what type of fiction genre you write.
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Wow!
Time flies so fast. I just realized I have been blogging for almost a year now! Well, I started back in August and it is June now. There are two more months before the first anniversary of being a blogger for The Trendsetter.
While blogging mostly about writing, I admit I’ve neglected the technical side of blogging – yet again.
Sigh…
Well, I’m just lazy to update my blog template or even spruce it up a little bit until I want to display the printable version of each of my individual posts and print it. When I “print preview” one of my posts it just doesn’t look good.
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In my previous blog about “outlining vs. not outlining before you start writing your novel”, I wrote about writing a journal for my characters—especially my focal characters. By having a journal sheet for your characters, you’re able to compile their important background information like the height, weight, eye color, race, age, gender, marital status, etc.
And I have also expanded the journal sheet to interview them about their perception about the villain or other secondary characters after meeting them. However, that was not enough to carry my focal character to 100,000 words.
I solved this problem by using Erikson’s Psychosocial Development and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
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