Gonna Need a Montage

The good news is, I’ve finished the first draft of a twenty-five-thousand-word novella and I’m pleased with how it’s shaping up.

The thing is, I love doing all the stuff you have to do to get to that point: the character creation, the historical research, the plot outline, the writing, etc. What I’m not so keen on is going back to my story and hacking it to pieces. In other words, I don’t like editing. I’m not saying it doesn’t have to be done—of course it does. It just hurts to go back and mess around with writing that I worked so hard on in the first place.

So this is where I wish I could fast-forward through time. I’d like to flip open my iPhone, select the miracle app called ‘montage’, enter the task that needs completing (i.e. edit novella from first draft to publishable quality) and hit ‘go’.

Immediately inspirational music would blast out and I would be propelled through time in a series of flashes, starting with me tearing my hair out over my MacBook and ending in me punching the air as I read through my final draft.

At that point, I’d fire up my synopsis and pitch letter montage…

(In case you're wondering, the title of this post comes from the montage song in the film Team America. Look it up on YouTube if you don't know what I'm talking about.)

The inspirational effect of wearing rubber gloves

As painful as it's been, writing my synopsis has been a valuable experience. It's really made me get to grips with my hero and heroine's conflicts.

Towards the end of the story, there's a scene that I felt wasn't moving the story forward, so I was going to delete it. However, I kept hesitating to do it, because I had a nagging feeling that it was necessary. I just couldn't put my finger on why. Doing my synopsis - in fact, I was doing the washing up after a spell of working on the synopsis - it hit me why the scene is important. It's the moment where the hero lets go of the toxic emotion that's kept him from the heroine; I just hadn't realised it myself. A bit of tweaking later, to make the moment more obvious, and now the resolution of the conflict is more convincing. All thanks to the synopsis.

I'll never moan about synopses again. Well, not until next time...

Ahead of schedule and but pruning

I've finished all the alterations on my list, so I'm two days ahead of plan. Yay! Tomorrow I've got to do some but pruning. Although that might sound like some kind of drastic form of male grooming, it's actually down to my extreme overuse of the word 'but' at the start of chapter one. I don't know how I managed to miss that until now.

Another update

I didn't get much done this week, but that was in my plan - I've had a busy week both in my day job and preparing for a visit from a cousin and his family. Now that's over, I've gone through my first three chapters and made notes on all the things that need changing.

I'm encouraged that there's nothing too major on the list. I've already made a start - I rewrote the all-important opening paragraphs this morning and it's a big improvement.

I've got to get the changes done by Wednesday - I'm off on another holiday after that. This time to sunny Pembrokeshire. I don't want to have unfinished work hanging over me whilst I'm away.

Learning by my mistakes

It's funny how things that jump out at me as obvious flaws in someone else's writing, I completely fail to see in my own. Today, as I finished yet another revision of my first chapter, it finally dawned on me that I wasn't allowing the reader into my heroine's head; there were far to many 'she thought that...'s or she wondered if...'s, rather than communicating her thoughts directly. Using too many phrases such as 'she thought that...' puts a barrier between the reader and the character, distancing the reader from the story.

Now, I've known about that for some time - I've read How To books and articles that have explained it in great detail. So why couldn't I get it right first time?

I think the answer lies in me being someone who learns by doing. Knowledge only really sinks in when I make a mistake, puzzle out what I've done wrong and then correct it. Unfortunately it means that I'm having to spend far longer on editing than it took me to write the first draft! I had a moment this afternoon when I was tempted to chuck this story in and just start on another one, but thankfully that didn't last long. I'm determined to get this ms to the stage where I can send a partial off to M&B just to see if I've reached the standard that at least merits some feedback along with a rejection! So I'm carrying on.

I'm going to have to revise my submission date, though. I'd wanted to submit by Easter, but as I'm off on holiday for a fortnight next Tuesday, there's no way I'm going to achieve that. April's an incredibly busy month for me, so I'm going to move my deadline to the end of May. Wish me luck!

Kindle as editing aid

I've just found something else I can do with my kindle - I saved the first three chapters of my ms as a pdf and sent it to my kindle. It was fun reading it as though it was a published book! But wasn't just an aid to fantasising about being a published author - it also gave me a way of reading an over-familiar text through fresh eyes. I picked up things that grated and pulled me out of the story that I hadn't noticed before, even though I've read it through loads of times. Definitely a useful exercise.

Confession time

Okay - I'll admit I haven't done much writing this week. The trouble with having a long weekend away is that it's so hard to get back into a routine afterwards. Also I got a kindle as a belated birthday present and I've been busy downloading all the free books that I can find, including several Mills and Boons. I suppose I can put it down to research...

I'm still mulling over what to do with my opening chapter. I think my task for tomorrow is to read through the first three chapters again and see if I get any fresh inspiration.

More computer problems

The day after I made my last post my laptop started playing up again. It completely stopped registering clicks on the trackpad, which made it impossible to do very much at all. I could open a document and read it, but without being able to select text, editing was too laborious to contemplate.

What I was able to do, however, was read my ms from start to finish. I didn't make any notes, I just wanted to get the feel of the whole thing, as if I was reading it for the first time. The verdict? I'm much happier with how the conflict evolves in this draft. I also think the writing gets stronger in the later chapters - I was almost able to forget I'd written it and was just enjoying the story while I was reading it. However, the earlier chapters feel a bit rushed, as though I'm too desperate to get to the good bits to give the reader time to catch her breath. I also don't think they have a well developed sense of place. When I wrote them I was wary of swamping the story with too much description, but I think I went too far the other way. Also, on re-reading Kate Walker's excellent 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance, I think I'm short on sensuality in my writing - i.e. engaging all the readers senses. So my challenge is going to be to rewrite the first three chapters, throwing in glimpses of the world my characters are moving in using not just sight, but scent, texture, taste and sounds. Only I mustn't overdo it - it's a precarious balancing act!

My biggest problem is Chapter One. I completely rewrote it for the New Voices comp, and as it didn't get so much as an honourable mention I clearly can't leave it as it is. I'm still looking for inspiration on that one...

Anyway, back to the laptop - after spending hours at the weekend, I managed to find something called 'mousekeys', which are a set of keys that can be used to replicate the mouse functions. So although my trackpad button still doesn't work, I now have a way of selecting text etc, making my laptop usable again. Halleluia!

Milestone reached

I'm feeling very proud of myself today. I'd set a target of having my continuity/gap-filler edit finished by the end of the week, and I finished it today with two days to spare. Go me!

So now I have the story set out how I want it, with conflicts that evolve and are resolved in a logical sequence. Next I need to work on making each scene come alive on the page. I get the feeling that that's going to be the toughest task yet!

I'm going to stick my neck out now - I would very much like to get to the point where I can send off a partial (first three chapters plus synopsis) by Easter. I don't know if that's a realistic aim yet, but I should know by the end of next week, once I've read the whole thing through in one go - something I haven't done in a while. I'll have a better idea of the magnitude of my task when that's done. Listen out for the wailing and gnashing of teeth...

Tomorrow's my birthday, so I'm taking the weekend off. Then it's back to it on Monday.

I haven't updated for a while, but actually I have been writing every day, and made good progress. So I'm feeling quite proud of myself. That means I can go away for the weekend without feeling guilty that I won't be able to do any more work until Monday.

Revising earlier chapters, I've found that I now have a much clearer idea of my characters than I did when I wrote those parts. In places I've had to completely rewrite sections because my hero and heroine were doing and saying things that now strike me as false. In my rewrites I'm now finding that the tension between them is building more naturally. Before, it all felt rather contrived. When I start my next story I'll spend much more time getting to know my characters from the outset. It's advice I've read many times on other blogs and how-to guides, but I'm one of those people who only seems to be able to learn by doing...

I'm back and I'm writing

Finally! After weeks of feeling like I'd had my brains scooped out and replaced by porridge, I seem to have regained my motivation.

I think it helped that I was forced to take a complete break over Christmas. With my new niece arriving early, and my brother having to work the week before Christmas, I ended up going down to stay with them, to help out my sister-in-law while my brother was at work. Although it wasn't the most restful of breaks, I had a wonderful time. My niece is such an adorable little baby!

Maybe my subconscious was ticking over while I was running around and cooking meals, because since New Year I've been making steady progress with the editing. I've also come to the conclusion that I was trying to do too much with this edit, so now I'm focusing purely on gap-filling and changes to earlier chapters necessitated by plot changes in later chapters. I think that by simplifying the aim of this edit, I'm less terrified of it, and therefore I'm finding it easier to get writing each day.

Also I feel more positive about what I've written so far. I was rereading a scene yesterday and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It gives me hope that even though I doubt this story will ever find a publisher, I will make it with the next one...or the one after that...or the one after that...