By:
Samantha Bryant
What
I Learned from Rewriting my Novels
Writing
a novel is a learning process. Rewriting one, even more so. Whenever I am
working on a rewrite, I get mad at my earlier self for not being more careful
with continuity and pacing. "What idiot
wrote this gobbledygook anyway?" I shout to the heavens. Oh yeah… it was
me.
I've
been through the writing/rewriting cycle a few times now: for two, as yet,
unpublished novels, for Going
Through the Change, a novel which is being published right now, as I
write this (Release date: April 23, 2015 from Curiosity Quills Press), and for
a fourth book (a sequel to Change) that I'm working on right
now.
Here's
what I have learned in all of this work:
1.
Each novel is its own specific puzzle. You can't put this one together the same
way you did another.
I felt like I learned so much from writing and rewriting my first novel, His Other Mother (unpublished). For example: how to structure a novel that featured a lot of internal conflict in such a way that the reader is still engaged. Or how to stick really well to the point of view in a particular chapter without accidentally slipping into another character's head.
I felt like I learned so much from writing and rewriting my first novel, His Other Mother (unpublished). For example: how to structure a novel that featured a lot of internal conflict in such a way that the reader is still engaged. Or how to stick really well to the point of view in a particular chapter without accidentally slipping into another character's head.
And those lessons served me well when I sat down to write Going Through the Change. The first draft of Change was ten times better than the first draft of Mother.
But that wasn't the be-all-and-end-all. In reworking Change, I had a different kind of puzzle to solve. Much of the conflict was external. There were physical fight scenes in which logistics had to be clear, but I still had to maintain the emotion and excitement of the fight. Nothing I'd written in that first novel helped with
2. When you write with the end in sight, the first draft holds together better.
.
. .
Read the full
article HERE!
~*~
If
you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they
are again:
- Insecure Writer's Support Group: 5 Ways to Recover from Writer's Fatigue http://ow.ly/OkiAp
- Writing...Just because!: What I learned from Re-Writing my Novels - guest post from Samantha Bryant http://ow.ly/OkiEz
- Updating Your Ebook After Publication — The Book Designer http://ow.ly/OkiMm
- Anne R. Allen's Blog: REALITY CHECK: Mixed Martial Arts For Writers http://ow.ly/Okkgl
- Blood-Red Pencil: How Long is a Chapter? http://ow.ly/Okkkf
- Marketing for Writers How to Set Up an Inviting Author Website that Converts and Builds Loyalty - Marketing for Writers http://ow.ly/Oklrr
- How
to Use Facebook Mobile Apps for
Marketing Social Media Examiner http://ow.ly/OklDU - The
Essential 10: The Synopsis |
YAtopia http://ow.ly/OklJP - Everyone’s A Winner! 9 Tips for Hosting Fun (And Successful) Book Contests | Your Writer Platform http://ow.ly/Okm1F
- Writer Unboxed » A Call to Pens–Writer as Social Activist http://ow.ly/Okm6J
Writability http://ow.ly/Okmew But here’s the truth with any and all writing tips,dos anddon’ts : there are almost always exceptions.- Five Free “Must Use” Tech Tools for eBook Authors — The Book Designer http://ow.ly/OkmoT
- New AAP Figures Show Ebook Growth Mostly Flat | Digital Book World http://ow.ly/OkmuE
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