JaNoWriMo - Day 24

There are only six days left until the end of our JaNoWriMo challenge so not far to go. L is busy re-reading her first draft and making notes / changes. Meanwhile, N is still on short story two but is hoping to complete that and story three by the end of the month. As for me, I've been writing an hour plus every day and am now really getting to the heart of my story / characters. Because I'm a 'pantser' I didn't truly understand my character's needs and wants until now. But now their innermost selves and motivations have been revealed, it's given me an even stronger urge to complete the story.

So, the question is, will N complete his third story and will I get my first draft done by the end of January? You'll have to wait until the next exciting installment to find out ;)

One Step at a Time

One of the agents I sent my MS to came back straight away, which was great. But she wants some major revisions. So, guess what I've been doing this past week? I've completely rewritten the prologue and revised the first three chapters. Thankfully I haven't been short of inspiration so far. And I think it's a lot better than it was. But, just like the heroine in my story, I still have a long way to go. Oh well, I've always enjoyed a challenge :)

How to Finish a Novel

To get my novel finished I've decided to enter this competition. The prize is amazing - £10K and a publishing deal. The deadline is a month away. It's good to have a deadline and I like a challenge, but it means I must not only finish my second draft (rewriting at least one chapter per day for the next three weeks), but I also need to pick and polish the best 5,000 words and write a brilliant synopsis - simples!
I've been rewriting the entire first draft from multiple third person POVs into one first person POV as well as tweaking the plot, shaping the structure and tightening the prose. It's not been easy but it's definitely improved the first draft.
Because of family responsibilities I can only write very early in the morning or late at night, creating a steady cycle of sleep deprivation. Add in a few restless nights with R and my poorly tooth and it's quite possibly a recipe for disaster. So I have one month in which to achieve a miracle - let's hope it's worth it! :)

Moving Forward

So, we've finally moved - by this I mean no more interim moves, no more storing things in people's garages and attics - we have moved lock, stock and barrel into a proper family home! It's been a long time coming, and yet, now we're here, I think it will be a while before I feel settled. Over the past 20 years, I've moved house far too many times (I've lost count but reckon it might be around 30) and so have got used to feeling almost rootless (thank goodness my parents never moved or I really would be lost!). So, it feels alien to have reached this point. But I'm looking forward to being 'normal'. The first step was getting R's name down for a good pre-school earlier today.
And, although we still have far too many boxes to unpack and we have to get our 'old' house ready for rental, I'm looking forward to making some headway with the second draft of my children's novel. I've summarised the plot chapter-by-chapter, examined the story arc and begun looking at the character arc. After much deliberation, and a bit of experimentation, I've come to the conclusion that the story should probably be changed from the third person to the first person, or it should be at least mostly in the first person with some in the the third (if I can make it work?!). But it's going to be one heck of a job, especially as the first draft's around 80,000 words. My alpha readers mostly agree with me, but B thinks it's a totally mad thing to do - maybe he's right, but if that's what it takes to write a good book...
Last night I saw John Connolly the crime author at our local town hall. He was highly entertaining and insightful and when I'm less tired I'll try and summarise the evening properly in a blog post. K and N, two of my writing friends, met him aftwerwards and told me later what a genuine and honest bloke he was, which I found refreshing for such an established author.
October is going to be a cracking month for writing/literature festivals with events at Morley, Ilkley, Wakefield and Hebden Bridge. Although why they have to be at the same time of year as each other is a mystery, as surely they would have more attendees if they were spread throughout the year? Just a thought. Anyway I've booked myself onto various workshops at Morley and HB, which will (hopefully) spur me on to finish my second draft during the autumn and winter. Now that really would be moving forward.

Editing the First Draft

It's been about six weeks since I finished the beloved monster that is my first draft. And, for no reason I can explain, it feels like the right time to go back for 'round two'. But where do I start? I'm part-way through reading a good book about editing your work before publication and I've read countless tips on the internet, Twitter and other blogs. And now I'm close to information overload!

It seems the best place to start is to make a chapter-by-chapter outline of what the first draft looks like, with a paragraph of what happens in each chapter. Then I need to work out the theme/message. Next I ought to look at the protagonist (but what if there's more than one?) and how he/she changes over the course of the story. Then I have to write summaries of the subplots. Once I have my story and character arcs outlined, the novel needs to be split into three parts: beginning, middle and end. And then, only then, am I allowed to begin at the beginning and tackle Part One!

It all sounded quite manageable until I read one piece of advice which said: "Expect this process to take at least as long as it took you to write the first draft, and likely a lot longer." What??? Surely there is no way it could possibly take that long? I refuse to believe the second draft will take me longer than the first (which took over two and a half years for reasons which I won't even go into), but then surely there's no way that Life could drop that much dung on me this time - is there?

Anyway, onwards and...editingwards (or should that be 'editing words' - sorry!)