Where I am in the writing process: I've been tackling this writing thing for three years now. I have one completed draft, several WIPs I've put on the back burner, and a new novel I've recently started. Although, that was my status about a month ago. As of today I haven't been doing much of anything related to writing. I've barely even been reading.
My current problem(s): I'm currently on a writing break. Not really feeling very motivated to do much of anything. (Even my reading has decreased to about 1 book per month.) I'm not sure how long this break will last.
1 comment:
I would suggest reading the book called
"Nail Your Novel" by Roz Morris. My writing was put on hold for over two years after I completed the first draft; I did not know how to edit it because it is 80K words long. I tried editing it probably twice or three times but whatever method I was trying wasn't working.
A few weeks ago I read the chapter about how to edit your abandoned WIP/completed manuscript. It promotes making a Beat Sheet, so now I am reading my entire manuscript while making notes on Excel under the following headings: chapter number, time/weather, intended purpose of scene (this is important to know whether a scene is there for a reason -- I had one scene that had no reason of existing), summary of the chapter, emotions (you feel while reading), mood, pace (we want a variety of paces --slow, medium, fast, not just fast pace for chapters and chapters). Make sure not to edit while reading, because it is a complete waste of time at this stage since you may have to make major changes which will make your edits completely unnecessary.
With the Beat Sheet completed, it will be easier to move around scenes, see if things work, delete/insert entire scenes, be able to see the big picture etc. I have yet to read the chapter on what to do after I am done creating a Beat Sheet. I normally gave up reading 25% or so of my manuscript, but this time around I have read almost 80% of it. I am hoping to make it to the finish line and not have to reread it because I will have the Beat Sheet handy to work from until I am ready to make changes.
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