Beautiful Books: December 2015



It's the last round of this year's Beautiful Books linkup. Hosted by Sky and Cait, Beautiful Books offers ten questions for writers to answer about their WIP. To find out more and to join in the fun, stop by their blogs! 

This month is about the editing process.

1.) On a scale of 1 (worst) to 10 (best), how did the book turn out? Did anything defy your expectations?
I’m still writing Songbirds, but I’d say it’s probably a 6. It’s definitely not at its best, but I think it holds promise for being a pretty decent book one day. :)

2.) Comparative title time: what published books, movies, or TV shows are like your book? (Ex: Inkheart meets X-Men.)
I have no idea…

3.) Do you enjoy working with deadlines and pressure (aka NaNoWriMo)? Or do you prefer to write-as-you’re-inspired?
I like writing with deadlines because it gets me in the mindset of writing even when I don’t feel like it. On the other hand, I do like letting some stories unfold at their own pace. If not for NaNo, I don’t think I would have written so much of Songbirds so quickly though,

4.) How do you go about editing? Give us an insight into your editing process.
My editing process varies by project. They all usually involve the following:

*A break from the project (anywhere from a few days to a several months, if I have other projects I want to focus on first).
*Printing out a copy of the manuscript.
*A read-through, during which I write down loose notes for things I like and things I don’t in the MS.


5.) What aspect of your story needs the most work?

The plot of Songbirds will need quite a bit of cleaning up. Plus, the pacing is kind of weird.

6.) What aspect of your story did you love the most?
The friendship between Kady and Tiergan. It’s been a challenge to write but it has also been incredibly fun.

7.) Give us a brief run down on your main characters and how you think they turned out. Do you think they’ll need changes in edits?
Kady: Headstrong but kindhearted.
Tiergan: More secretive than planned.
Channah: More confident than I thought.
Artemas: Surprisingly reserved.
Caswell: Erratic.

This group surprised me quite a bit once I started writing the story. I think they will keep the same general characteristics, but they definitely need some refinement during edits.

8.) What are your plans for this novel once you finish editing? More edits? Finding beta readers? Querying? Self-publishing? Hiding it in a dark hole forever?

Before I have anyone read it, I want to make sure it has been improved. Eventually, I’d probably look at publishing, but that wouldn’t be in the very near future.

9.) Share a favourite snippet!
This one is from Kady’s POV.

    A dull ache creeps up my neck and lodges itself in the back of my skull. A tiny hammer beating around in my head. “I honestly don’t know what to say about this.”
    Tiergan takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “I wish you could say that I’m wrong,” he says. “I wish you could tell me this is in my head—that it isn’t even remotely possible—because I really don’t want to find out my suspicions are founded in truth.”
    In the silence that follows his words, I wish I could tell him the same things. Because it can’t be true. I don’t want it to be true. But there is nothing at I can say that will ease either of our fears.


10.) What are your writing goals and plans for 2016?

I haven’t determined all of them yet. I’m thinking it will involve finishing at least two first drafts and two rounds of revisions, though.

Comments

  1. Ooh this was super cool to read!! And awk huzzah for revisions!! That's my goal for 2016 too *nods* ALL THE REVISIONS. (I get caught up in shiny new ideas way too much and ignore the need for revisions. xD) I love deadlines too. :D
    Thanks for joining in the linkup!! And all the best with your rewrites!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love shiny new ideas! It's doubly cool when they can also be used toward revisions. :)


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  2. I like your character's names and the excerpt is cool! I wish you the best with editing. ^ ^

    I did Beautiful Books too! http://storitorigrace.blogspot.com/2015/12/beautiful-books-editing-process.html

    ReplyDelete

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