Because it has been a while:
Through 2nd Draft. Yay. The ending is still broken. The plot ends in a satisfying way, but I have not decided on the most satisfying denouement for the primary characters. They both need a little more to wrap up their emotional arcs. The second draft finished up at 57 chapters, and 114K words. Note the symmetry there.
Started a front to back proof-read. This is mostly for consistency, clarity and grammar. Are they wearing the same shoes as they were earlier? Does a comma really go there? That kind of stuff. In this pass, I am also trying to cut fluff, exposition and ‘pause’ words to get the total length to about 100K words, but it is not compressing at the rate I had hoped.
Have a few places where I did major surgery and need to do a more careful edit (maybe 50 pages total).
Then I will pick an ending, probably drafting 1 or 2 new chapters (I will need at least 2 scenes for the denouement).
After that, I plan to produce 1st reader copies through Lulu or Create Space. Still working out which is most economical, will look best, and will be easiest to use. My current analysis is pointing to Create Space, but there are some features I have not played with, and the final page count is a variable that swings the cost quite a bit.
The .pdf formatting (layout for the reader copies) and final edits are done through Chapter 12. Expect to get draft out to readers in October. Probably late October. Thinking about a round of Agent queries at the same time, but I have not fully thought that through.
Monday, September 21, 2009
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4 comments:
I'm looking forward to it.
Hey, I've read your story "Doofus" off Flash Fiction Online, thought it was pretty cool.
Anyhow, to get some good crit. feedback on your novel I suggest trying http://www.critters.org
They crit Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror genres, and have a Dedicated Novel Reader function. You do have to crit someone else's story or novel chapter with the average of once a week, but you can easily get 20 or more critical responses for each part of the work you post. Judging from personal experience, it's a very good crit group.
Hope that helps!
Cheers,
Max
Having browsed your site a bit, I see that you've linked that very website in your Writer's Resources section. My bad. :) Best of luck with the novel, though!
Cheers,
Max
No worries Max, it's good advice. I've had great experience with Critters and have a lot of respect for Andrew Burt for all the years he has put into it.
BTW--thanks for reading the blog and leaving a comment. Hope you find some stuff here useful, or at least entertaining.
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