Once Upon Draft Five

So I'm gearing up for Draft #5 now, and I'm actually SUPER EXCITED about it! Mostly because I'm fairly certain the grueling start-from-scratch stuff is OVER, and I just can't wait to make this book what it was meant to be in the first place!

Stuff I'm working on in this draft:

1. Stream-lining the novel. I want to cut AT LEAST 10,000 words
2. Make character motivations clear.
3. Work on pacing.
4. MAKE THE BEGINNING AWESOME
5. Condense/simplify my myths
6. Delete one of the character's POVs.
7. MAKE THE WHOLE NOVEL AS AWESOME AS I CAN.

So. We'll see how long this takes.

And GO!

I FINISHED!!!! Ahhhhhhhh!

One week ago today, I woke up early and wrote for five hours, determined to at least try to finish my draft before the end of the month. And you guys?

TODAY I FINISHED.

I am so deliriously happy. :-D :-D :-D

There's definitely another draft to go—I am determined to make this novel the absolute best it can be—but for tonight at least I'm resting on my laurels!

And now some word count stats, because I always find that interesting:

Rough Draft: 104,000 words

Third Draft: 118,000 words

Fourth Draft: 106,000 words


I'm hoping to get my final draft at least down to 100K, but I'm dreaming big (small?) and shooting for somewhere between 90 and 95K. We shall see!

Anyways, basically…

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D

Writing by Writing

You know what? You sure do learn a lot about writing by… writing.

Kind of an obvious thing to say, I suppose, but it's true. I've been rewriting a novel I first drafted back in 2006, and I have learned and grown as a writer SO MUCH since then. Why? Because I keep writing books. You get such a feel for plot and pacing and character development when you keep doing it, over and over and over again.

I'm not saying I can pop out a completely perfect first draft these days (hahaha), but I'm learning from my mistakes. I'm getting better. And I'm also not saying that every word I wrote in earlier novels was crap—I'm reusing a healthy amount of prose in my current rewrite from the previous draft, plus the main plot and most of the original ideas. I just feel better equipped to properly bring this story to life now, as I've written three full books and parts of another three since 2006.

I'm still learning how to revise, but you know what? I think I'm getting better at that, too. Because I keep doing it.

I guess that's the main point of this post. Like anything—music, sports, cooking, paying your bills on time—you only get better at something by doing it over and over again.

And that means I'd better stop blogging and go write.

Rewrite Update

It's been a long road since I started the Most Massive Rewrite Ever in April 2013. I'm not done yet, but I'm slowly getting there—the end of this draft is finally in sight. Eight and a half chapters left to get through, some rewriting of old material, some brand new scenes, including a completely different ending (unless I change my mind!).

Trying not to despair that I've been at this for over a year, because 1) It's so vastly different from the original it's like writing a new book, 2) I took time off to write 50K of something else in November for NaNoWriMo, and 3) I spent March and April revising an entirely different novel. It's not been QUITE as long as it seems, but it's still pretty grueling.

I'd love to finish this draft by July so I can start the next draft, which will hopefully go much faster because I'll have existing material to work with. We shall see!

Also, this novel is kind of having an identity crisis. It's definitely fantasy, but I'm not sure it's as Young Adult as I originally thought. I don't know what it is. But I'll figure it out. Probably. :-)

We wants it, precious!

You guys, I want a Nook Glowlight. For reals.

Generally I'm a you-can-pry-my-paper-books-from-my-cold-dead-hands kind of a person, but it's just so cute and has rubbery edges and the screen lights up so you can read it at night and it holds 2,000 books and has e-ink and a ridiculously long battery life and I JUST WANT ONE, OKAY???

Revision Process

So I've been thinking lately about my revision process—probably because my writing projects for the last year and a half have consisted of revising two different novels, but what can you do?

I'm a fast first-drafter and a long reviser. I adore first drafts. Apart from the initial onslaught of brainstorming new ideas (which is always awesome), first-drafting is my favorite part of the writing process. First-drafting is generally pretty easy for me. Revising is HARD. That said, there's an amazing sense of accomplishment when you make it through a really tough revision. It feels good to be able to turn your novel into what you meant it to be in the first place, no matter how agonizing and arduous the process.

I'm a Big-Picture-First reviser. I revise first for PLOT. Despite my detailed outlining, my plot always needs help when the dust settles from my not-as-shiny-as-I-thought first draft. My second draft usually involves Very Drastic Changes. This is where I'll flesh out characters, delete minor characters that aren't doing anything, work on my pacing, rearrange scenes, delete whole chapters and replace them with completely new ones. There's a lot of metaphorical blood and guts on the floor when I'm working on my second drafts.

I've mentioned this before, but I usually re-key the entire book when I'm rewriting. This helps me get into the flow of the story when I write new scenes, as well as forcing me to rethink everything as I go. It takes a while, but it works for me!

When I've finally finished retyping the book and making all the changes, I'll print it out and go through line-by-line and fiddle with the prose. That part's easy and fun.

Depending on the novel and feedback, I might do another revision after that, usually not nearly as extensive as Draft #2.

So really, I end up not going through a ton of drafts, because my initial revision is so extensive. Which is maybe why it takes so long, and definitely why it's so incredibly painful.

Currently I'm back revising THE WHALE AND THE TREE. This is my third major draft (technically Draft #4, but I really don't remember what Draft #3 even was; probably just a light revision?), and the revision is extensive. I've changed a lot as a person and a writer since I first wrote and revised it (in 2006 and 2007/08, respectively), and this new version will (hopefully!) reflect that. There will DEFINITELY be another draft after this one, and I envision it involving a ton of hacking. I'm sort of feeling my way through this draft and there will be a lot of things to sort out when I'm done. I'm hoping to finish in the next few months, but we'll see!!

So anyway. That's some rambling thoughts on my revision process.

I'll leave you with some pictures we took in Glendora, CA this weekend of THIS AWESOME AND ENORMOUS TREE:

Isn't it amazingly BIG???

I'm standing between ROOTS, people!

A Tale of Four Drafts

And now, ladies and gents, I give you SEER: A Tale of Four Drafts

The Four Drafts, from bottom to top, in all their glory.

Initial Idea: December 23rd, 2009

Outlining: 10 days (January 7th—17th 2010)

First Draft: 7 weeks (January 18th—March 7th 2010)

Word Count: 70,018

Revision Outline: 3ish weeks (March 25th—April 18th 2010)

Second Draft: 6 months and 3 weeks (April 19th—November 8th 2010)

Word Count: 81,937

Third Draft: 4ish months (January—April 2013)

Word Count: 88,819

Fourth Draft: 2 months (March—April 2014)

Word Count: 70,242


So. Four years, four drafts. The word count rise and fall is really interesting to me—I ended up about where I started, adding and deleting completely different words along the way.

(For anybody wondering about the long gap between November 2010 and January 2013, I was busy working on other projects, querying, and falling in love and getting married. :-D)