April Fools: Day 29

So I’m not even done with editing last year’s oeuvre and my mind already suggests a new project for this year’s NaNoWriMo.

I started planning July-ish last year, and I guess that’s ok. Planning a novel takes a while - it certainly takes longer than writing it when you are determined to write it. But April? That’ a little early. Could be due to the fact that the weather in Germany has skipped spring and gone straight to summer, though.

The new idea is the sequel to the novel I am editing. So maybe it’s not such a surprise that I came up with it now. This idea would answer the question what I’ll do with the sub-plot that needs to be cut entirely. It is much to big for a sub-plot, I could make a few changes and turn it into the sequel’s main plot easily.

April Fools: Day 1

In March, aka NaNoEdMo, I edited 24 pages of my manuscript. That leaves me with exactly 200 pages to edit this month - or an average of 6,7 pages a day. Plus 10k of new words for the scenes that need fleshing out.

Today I edited 11 pages and wrote about 200 words. I haven’t typed the additions in yet, so I don’t know how many words I added exactly. I have yet to come across a scene that needs major rewrites, but I know I will once I’m through with the first third of the novel.

Not too bad a start, though.

Ready

Only a little over 8.5 hours until the April Fools challenge begins. Better get into the editing spirit, then.

My goal is to write 10k and, more importantly, finish editing my NaNo project.

Quote for September 18, 2006

“I’m not a very good writer, but I’m an excellent rewriter.”

James Michener

I wish I could say, me too! Truth is, though, that I’m a terrible rewriter. I really need to work on my manuscript revision skills. I plan to edit my NaNo2005 novel in December, you know.

What to do with that first draft

So, writing the first draft may have seemed hard work. But when you’ve done it, you’ll find out that the real work is just about to begin: you have to revise that masterpiece of yours. Here’s what Ernest Hemingway said about the first draft: “All that matters is that you finish it.”

Holly Lisle’s method of novel revision is something I really should try (she has another version online, too, plus lots of other free articles on many aspects of writing). This sounds like the kind of method that could actually work for me. So far, I’ve never revised any of my novel drafts to the point where I’m happy with the thing.

Does I work? Well, it works for Holly Lisle. And Jay Penney used Holly’s method and blogged his revision progress here.