HTRYN Week 7 Update and Free Gift

I am about halfway through week 7 of the How to Revise Your Novel course. I've had a pretty busy couple of weeks and a bit of a hard time getting started on this lesson. It has to do with my chronic February tiredness I think. I go through it every year since more or less forever.

Anyway this is just a little update, and I'll do a full round-up and overview of HTRYN Week 7 when I am done with it. I must just say that I am, as a result of all this dissecting of my manuscript getting to know the story very, very well. I am also falling in love with it all over again.

Oh, and Holly Lisle has recently announced that she will be offering her new course How to Write a Series as a free graduation gift for all How To Revise Your Novel students. So if you're on the fence about whether to take the course, consider this great news and factor into your decision making process. And if you get HTRYN through one of my links, you get the added bonus of a 10% discount!

HTRYN Week 6 Finished

Alright, finally, I am done with this part!  It actually took me 2 weeks, and I worked almost all day yesterday,  but I now have detailed info on all the characters that appear in the book.  Even those little characters that just open a door for one of the main character. And, like, random people that the characters notice passing by in the street.  Well, OK, no, not that detailed. (I luckily don't have any such characters because otherwise I would have to make not of them).  Yup, I was going kind of crazy doing this part of the How to Revise Your Novel course.  But it's done now and I sure as **** hope that it comes in handy down the line, once the real part of the revision starts. (Note:  the first few weeks are just diagnosing the different elements of the manuscript/first draft and seeing it for what it is.)

Week 6, or Lesson 6 of the How to Revise Your Novel course is all about answering the following questions:

• Who is each character?
  
• Why is he/she in the book?
  
• Is he/she Main, Secondary, Stand-in, or Redundant?
  
• Should you keep them, make them work harder...or delete them? 
• How does he/she matter?
  
• How can you get readers to relate to them... the way you WANT them to?

And believe me, it is hard work! It also gets quite tedious after awhile.  But I also desperately needed this lesson.  My characters, especially my main character, are just all over the place, as in cold and unfeeling one minute, and seething with teenage giddiness the next (and I'm not writing YA, nor is my story set in a high school).  And many such similar problems.  So I desperately needed this lesson, but I think I might have over done it, or done it not quite the way I was supposed to.  But, be that as it may, I do now have a much clearer understanding as to the progression of each of the main characters in my novel.  And many ideas on how to make it work better in the story.

And now I am off to start Week 7. I'm still going through the instructions, but it already looks like a lot of work.  I am really looking forward to it, though! 

HTRYN Week 5 Finshed

I have not been updating is blog very much in the past couple of weeks, I know, but I have been editing. I finished Week 5 the previous Sunday and started Week 6 on Monday. but I have not gotten very far with it.  I really should spend the entire day today working on it, but I am not so sure that I will.  I tend to procrastinate in this way and I have had a headache for the past couple of days, not a bad one just an annoying one.

Anyway, Week 5 of the How to Revise Your Novel course is all about conflict.  I had to find all the major conflicts in my novel and decide whether they were deep enough, good enough, barely there, or non-existent.  I also had to focus on whether the conflicts were resolved and whether they even matter to the story.  And CONFLICT doesn't simply mean two people arguing either. And I did notice that I tend to understand conflict as two people arguing, or that's how I end up writing it, anyway. Though I do have the other type of conflict, the more subtle one of the "something standing in the way of what someone wants" kind. 

But my book is, in so many ways, a first draft and all that it entails.  I did not develop the main idea fully, I left a whole bunch of important things out and I will have to rewrite and add a lot.  But at least now I have this HTRYN blueprint on how to go about finding problems. In other words, I have an entire editing plan.

The way the HTRYN course is set up, is that it breaks up the novel into manageable parts based on each important element. in this way you are not faced with a daunting task of editing the entire novel all at once, since you get to focus on only small parts of it.  And eventually, by the end of the course everything gets put together.  I really can't recommend it enough!

HTRYN Week 4 Finished

I am officially done with Week 4 and have already started with Week 5, but that's a post for another day.  Week 3 of How to Revise Your Novel is all about identifying the Plot and various Subplot, as well as the possible NotPlots.  I tried my best, but am still having a bit of a problem wrapping my mind around how the concept of plot applies to my novel.  Could be just that I am not thinking hard enough about it though.  I also have a tendency of wrapping several subplots in with the main plot in most scenes.  But I must say that the theory that Holly Lisle teaches is helping me to slowly unravel and get to the heart of what the important elements of each scene, as well as the novel as a whole are.

The other problem that I am facing, as I go through the novel is that it is only part 1 or 2.  As such, there are a lot of things hinted at, but not followed through on.  I also think that this revision might entail writing the second part as well, and possibly combining the two into one.  But I'm still trying to not get ahead of myself. 

I also might have breezed through Week 3 a bit to hastily and as a result have not really completed that task as I should have.  But I'm not doing it over.  And I sincerely hope that it doesn't become a problem down the road.

Done With HTRYN Week 3

I'm about a week behind (on the How to Revise Your Novel-HTRYN course) but I breezed through the rest of Week 3 over the weekend and am ready to start Week 4.  From the instructions, it sounds like it's going to be FUN.  It deals with plots and subplots and how to differentiate them in order to make you story interesting, readable and frustrating for your readers, by eliminating pointless asides that have no bearing on the main storyline and how it is unfolding.

But my problem is that I am just not sure what my main plot is.  I also really do have two main protagonists and a storyline that I have not managed to really flesh out to its full potential.   But then again, this is the reason why I am pursuing this course, now isn't it?

So, as far as I can make out, the Plot is supposed to be the main storyline without which none of the rest of the story's elements can stand.  This is my working definition as I get going on Week 4 of HTRYN, and I do hope that I am understanding it right.

As for Week 3, I had to go over my entire manuscript and find and describe every single scene.  I also had a slight problem defining what a scene is, but settled on the theatre definition of something that happens in a specific setting, between one or more people.  That's how I write them too, so they're pretty well demarcated and I rarely have more than one important element in a single scene.   Though I perhaps do not have elements to drive the story forward in every one of them.  I also tend to go over the same things in several scenes with different people, which is an annoying habit that I think I have carried over from my academic writings (you know, the ones where you have to hit a certain word count). I am an expert at saying the same thing in at least five different ways, but it does get boring after awhile.

Anyway, this part of HTRYN is still all about the big picture, so for the time being I'm not going to worry about all the stuff that I know I will have to fix, but have no idea how to fix.

Still Here But Not Revising

I've taken a bit of a break from revising, mainly due to laziness.  I'm having the hardest time getting back into the swing of things and as a result I am now a week behind.  But I will be getting back into it, and soon.  Today I think, yes today.  The last week was not really that challenging, so I should just do it. Just get it finished. 

HTRYN Book Revision: Week 2 Days 5&6&7

(*HTRYN=How to Revise Your Novel)

I just finished Lesson 2 of HTRYN, which consisted of reading through the entire manuscript again and noting all the places where I may have veered off course and promised too much.  It was a light read through, at least for me, and has given me a much clearer picture of my whole novel and the story I told (as opposes to, perhaps, the story I wanted to tell).  But I found many other mistakes also, ones that I have missed on my first red through in Lesson 1, or Week 1 of the course.

But anyway, I am starting to see the value of these lessons and so far I am not disappointed at all.  I am also beginning to see that I will perhaps have to write just one book in the end.  Too much fluff in this one, and not enough story to excuse stretching it out over 2 books.  The mistakes that I have noticed already by now will cut the book at least by a third.  But I don't want to get ahead of myself here, I'm sure as I continue with this process I will find many more things to change.  And see the things I want to change now differently too.  So for now, I'll just continue going with the flow of HTRYN.  I'm pretty sure it's going in the right direction.

And now for Lesson 3 ... 

HTRYN Book Revision: Week 2 Days 3&4

(*HTRYN=How to Revise Your Novel)

I've been hitting my goals about the second week read though just fine, I just haven't been finding the time to update this blog. I have taken on extra writing projects to fund my taking of this course and I'm drowning in well, writing. But I still have the energy to read my book in the evenings. That must say something about it, right. Something good.

I must say though, that I am now quite convinced that at least the first 120 pages of my novel are mostly fluff and way too long-winded and repetitive. I'm sure I can cut it by at least half and have a much better opener for it. The same probably holds true for the rest of the book as well.

But now is not the time for that, now is the time for just noticing mistakes. The correcting comes later. And I'm sure by then I will have memorized my book, I'll be reading through it so much.

Book Revision Update: Week 2 Days 1 & 2

I took a long, hard look at all of my main characters yesterday in terms of who they really are and what their true purpose is in the story, as well as whether they were living up to the role I had intended for them to play.  Some of them do, and some of them (especially my two main characters) need some work.  I'm starting to see this whole first draft for what it really is: my own exploration of the story that I wanted to write.  And as such it has many flaws and requires quite a bit of work.  But at least I now know what I want the finished version to be like.  Or at least I have a clearer glimpse of it.

And today I started the second read through. I'm just looking for the "promises" that I have made as I went along and how I later in the story delivered on those promises.  I'm skimming more than reading, well I am reading but not concentrating on the story as deeply as I did last week.  I sure am finding some surprises, stuff I wrote in with no clear goal and no follow through.  Quite illuminating, that. I'm also finding mistakes and errors that I missed on the first read through, but I'm letting those go for now.

Book Revision Update: Week 1 Day 7

OK, so I'm done with the first read through. It was all the way the most enjoyable experience, but I know I can fix the book. Especially now that I have a clearer idea of what I want the book to look like, or rather to read like once I am done with it. It will require some major revision and possibly some rewriting. Well not possibly, definitely. But this is the first time that I actually feel like I know what I am doing when revising. Up until now, all the revision that I have done has been hap-hazard and all over the place. And such was usually also the end result. But this How to Revise Your Novel course is really something else. And fun to follow to. It is a lot of work,though, revision. Don't let anyone tell you any different.

Anyway, I'm off to start week 2 of HTRYN. Wish me luck ;)

Book Revision Update: Week 1 Day 6

I went over another 100 pages. Only 88 to go and the first read thru will be done! I must say that I enjoy the story I wrote a lot in places. But I am getting the sinking feeling that what I have here is not enough to justify the story I am telling to have two parts. Because nothing all that significant happens in this "first" book. Mostly it is just introduction of the characters, some depiction of the world they live in, and of course glimpses of the plot. But really, it is all just drawn out descriptions and repetitive information giving. I have the unfortunate habit of writing the same thing, giving the same information in various parts and spoken by different characters. I also tend to go over the same things only using different words.

I have so far noticed three very big problems with my story:

1. The world I created needs to be shown more clearly, described more clearly. I just tell how it is, I do not show it.

2. My main character is all over the place and needs to be made more linear. His arc of change needs to be more pronounced. Right now it is a zig-zag line and nowhere near what or who he should be.

3. The girl who is like the second main character is too one-dimensional. Or not characterized enough.

So much for now. Tomorrow I'll finish it and then see where I stand more clearly.

Book Revision Update: Week 1 Day 5

I managed to get through 100 pages yesterday. I'm supposed to do 100 more today to stay on schedule, though I don't know if I'll manage it. I think the main reason for the progress is the fact that have stopped noting down every little thing that I find. I'm just reading through and stopping only when something really jars me. Like a big problem, not those smaller, more detailed editing problems.

I hope I didn't mess up too much reading the first third of the manuscript with such a keen eye for smaller mistakes. I'm afraid I might have not gotten the real feel for the characters and the story because of it. Or maybe that was due to the fact that I was still catching my stride story-wise in the beginning. And now, about halfway through, I'm actually enjoying the story. And it's a great feeling. There's still a lot to fix, but more and more of it is already rendered very well.

Book Revision Update: Week 1 Day 4

I only did 20 pages yesterday so this will be a short update, because I need to get to it. Especially if I am to finish with the first read-thru by Monday. I'm still struggling with the big picture and the urge to note every single small insignificant to-be-fixed-later mistake. Book revision seriously confuses me and I hope I am doing the exercises and worksheets correctly. Like in the sense that they will be useful later....

...OK, I know. I need to just relax and do it to the best of my ability. Like back in middle school and high school. You'd go to the lessons, do the work, do the homework, study some and learn something in the course of all this. Right?

Book Editing Update: Week 1 Day 3

Just a quick update. I did the 70 pages, just as I planned, but it did keep me up until almost 2 AM. On the plus side though (or like the + + + + side), this is the first time that I have done a revision of any one of my writings and lost track of time doing it. I revised for almost 5 hours straight and an hour or more would go by without me even noticing. I find that pretty amazing, since up until now I have always watched the clocked or counted the remaining pages while revising. Sometimes even while writing, but that's different.

And on the not so plus side, I am not entirely sure that I am doing these first worksheets correctly. I either find too many mistakes (i.e. I want to note every single instance of showing and telling) or I don't find any (i.e. telling myself that I will fix the instances of too fast or too slow progression of storyline or character later on in the revision). So hard to hit that middle ground. I also tend to realize that there's a problem with a character or scene only after I'm like 20 pages past the occurrence. This is why I am so bad at revision and why I absolutely need this course if I want to learn it. I lack the ability to look at my own work critically. (Some would say it extends into my personal life as well, but again, that's different). But am I going to learn how to revise if I do the course work wrong?

I'm a little worried about this last. But I'm just going to go with the flow, trust the process and hope that stuff I miss now will come up again later during the full length of this course. Which is 5 months, btw. Flowers will be blooming and the days will be longer by the time I am done with this. Wow.

Book Editing Update: Week 1 Day 2

I skipped day one as far as the update goes, since all I did was read the How To Revise Your Novel (HTRYN) Lesson 1 and do the first set of worksheets. Now there's just something about worksheets that just makes you want to fill them out. And fill them out correctly. Just like at school. And this course is just full of worksheets. I love it.

Yesterday I printed out my manuscript. All 388 pages of it. I can hardly lift it. But that's okay, I'm going to be doing it in installments anyway. Each day I will go through about 70 pages and I should be fine. It's all about the big picture in week one, as I'll explain in the upcoming How To Revise Your Novel Week 1 post. It's also about finding out what you really want your book to be. Personally, I'm having a bit of a hard time staying focused on the big stuff and disregarding the smaller stuff, so I need to keep reminding myself that that's how it's got to be. For now.

So far I've only read the first 25 pages or so, and I must admit that the book really needs a revision or editing job. I suppose that writing a novel in 30 days does sacrifice quality for quantity. In a big way. Especially if it's a 90 000 word thing. But I'll get there. I just need to keep the forest as a whole in front of my eyes, and not the individual trees. No matter how much attention they may need. That comes later. For now, I need to look at the book as a whole.

And that's all I have to say for now. I'll keep updating this blog with my progress and hopefully help some other aspiring writers to get revising.

Introductions

During NaNo 2009 I tried to write a fantasy novel. My first fantasy novel. And I succeded. Only that after NaNo ended, I was left with over 70 000 words of a (very) rough draft and the story nowhere near completion. From the first grem of the idea for the story I had planned to make it a series, but after reading the scattered advice for aspiring fantasy writers, especailly the part about no one wanting to publish a multi-part series from a first time writer, I began to reconsider my plan. So I ploughed on through December and wrote and wrote and ended up with over 90 000 words of a very rough draft and a clear realization that there is no way I can tell this whole story and do it justice in 120 000 or less. So what did I do?

I shelved the project for almost an entire year. Yes, insdecisevness, fear and insecurity led me to abandon my book halfway through, though I do beleive that as a story it might have potential. So now, after a year I have picked it up again and am determined to revise it. I have also decided to disregard all advice and just follow my heart on this one. I will do 2 books. I will try to sell it as 2 books. And if no one wants to buy it as 2 books, I will either combine them or self-publish.

To achieve my goal of revising the novel, I signed up for the How To Revise Your Novel by Holly Lisle. I will be following this course to revise the novel, at least for as long as I can afford it. And I will be using this blog to document my progress.

Oh and, I almost forgot, my debut novel is tentatively titled Protector.