I'm back, after the best holiday I've ever had, and am almost ready to start querying again. I wrote most days whilst on the ship and found it a great space to be in to drift, quite literally, away into my own world. (For those that are interested I'll post pics of South Pacific in coming weeks.)
I have my MS with two beta readers at the moment. And, after printing it off for the first time in a three months, I plan to sit down and read it again from cover to cover. I've been told reading it in as few a sittings as possible is the best way to get a feel for whether or not the book flows, is cohesive, and the narrative arc bears out as it should.
I spent a lot of time reworking the opening chapters. Now the novel begins where I'd originally envisioned it starting. As I mentioned in another post, I had front loaded it with too much exposition, and realized (eventually) that I needed it starting at a point where there was forward momentum.
More to follow soon.
Keep writing!
Inside a Writer's Mind
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” -- Oscar Wilde
Showing posts with label editing fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label editing fiction. Show all posts
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
Another Writing Update
Have made some exciting advancements recently on my MS.
I had a series of breakthroughs in areas I had been stuck on for months.
I think a change of scenery and circumstance has had a lot to do with it. This has helped me to bring about a change of energy--much more positive of late.
In practical terms I have removed a lot of the back story or exposition from the beginning of the MS and inserted it much later in the narrative. Some of the back story will need to be broken up or condensed further, but on the whole I have been very pleased with the difference this relatively simple change has made.
The narrative now begins with action, and where I had originally intended before I had gone and loaded the opening of the novel with exposition.
For those of you who already understand the significance of starting in action and delaying the delivery of back story until absolutely necessary (something I also knew, but for the life of me couldn't seem to put to into practise in this MS), you may want to go and do something else instead of reading this.
Like Keep Writing!
I had a series of breakthroughs in areas I had been stuck on for months.
I think a change of scenery and circumstance has had a lot to do with it. This has helped me to bring about a change of energy--much more positive of late.
In practical terms I have removed a lot of the back story or exposition from the beginning of the MS and inserted it much later in the narrative. Some of the back story will need to be broken up or condensed further, but on the whole I have been very pleased with the difference this relatively simple change has made.
The narrative now begins with action, and where I had originally intended before I had gone and loaded the opening of the novel with exposition.
For those of you who already understand the significance of starting in action and delaying the delivery of back story until absolutely necessary (something I also knew, but for the life of me couldn't seem to put to into practise in this MS), you may want to go and do something else instead of reading this.
Like Keep Writing!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)