celesta
Junior Member
Author of Inspirational Science Fiction
Posts: 66
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Post by celesta on Dec 29, 2011 23:03:01 GMT -5
The part I hate is looking at a sentence and thinking "this doesn't work... and I have NO IDEA why..." Ok, yeah, maybe this is what bothers me the most, too.
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celesta
Junior Member
Author of Inspirational Science Fiction
Posts: 66
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Post by celesta on Dec 29, 2011 23:11:01 GMT -5
The editing was going fine yesterday until I started thinking that no one is going to like this story because it's basically a fairy tale. So no I feel stuck again
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Post by dragonlots on Dec 30, 2011 0:49:10 GMT -5
Just a FYI - 'Winter Awakening' was revised/edited about six times before it went to my publisher and one more time after that before it went to print. Don't get discouraged.
@celeste - There's nothing wrong with a fairy tale. I took one by BTS for 'Of Fur and Fire', the first anthology I edited.
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Post by Kessie on Dec 30, 2011 11:24:56 GMT -5
Robin Hobb has some of the finest fairytale adapts I've ever read. So don't beat yourself up over that. People like fairytales.
I tell myself that people will hate every single thing I've ever written. It's the self-doubt that goes with editing. Push past it and keep going. It'll go away.
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celesta
Junior Member
Author of Inspirational Science Fiction
Posts: 66
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Post by celesta on Dec 30, 2011 11:50:12 GMT -5
Thanks, guys! I'm going to try to see if I can get through with editing this thing today.
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Post by yoda47 on Dec 30, 2011 13:36:02 GMT -5
One of the best pieces of writing advice I've ever read is: "Don't write for the market, write a story that you want to read."
I write sci-fi (mostly...), which isn't terribly popular, but hey, I'm having a blast...
As for those moments when you get stuck editing, it helps to have someone else read it.
For example, I finished "A New Threat", edited it 5 times, and it was as good as I could get it, but something about the ending bugged me, but I couldn't figure out what.
Kessie read it, and pointed out what was wrong, and I slapped my forehead.. it's so obvious now, and how to fix it.
(Now I just have to finish another first draft I'm working on, and actually fix it...)
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Post by Kessie on Jan 8, 2012 10:59:29 GMT -5
I just hit a brick wall in my editing attempt.
I was about halfway through this story when I realized that the story as a whole just doesn't work. The main character is my hubby's self-insert and the story is just too close to his life (but with superpowers). I need to distance it from him a little, but I'm not sure how. Either way, it demands another rewrite from scratch, just when I was halfway through draft 5.
I think I'm going back to my dragon story now.
Also, I reread another story that's been resting for a while. Aside from the usual housekeeping edits, the story is too short. (About 60000 words.)
What do you do with a story that's too short?
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Post by yoda47 on Jan 8, 2012 13:48:16 GMT -5
What to do with a story that's too short?
I put in a "B-plot".
For example, if the main story is about a character trying to defeat the evil bad guy, and it's too short, I might insert a romance sub-plot, or the main character's sister or best friend or something is getting married and he's supposed to be the best man at the same time he's supposed to be fighting the bad guy.
The nice thing about this approach is that it adds depth to the world, and it adds conflict.
The bad part is making sure that the plots mesh and intertwine.
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Post by Kessie on Jan 8, 2012 14:46:26 GMT -5
I suppose I could. It already has two subplots, though. I guess I could expand those a bit. I really need to throw it up on the sandbox and get some feedback. I just don't know if I'm ready to throw my baby to the wolves. Also I don't know if I'd get much feedback at all. It's been slow in there. Anybody interested in reading a story about an assassin on the run from her brotherhood, and the bounty hunter hired to find her?
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Post by Divides the Waters on Jan 8, 2012 15:06:18 GMT -5
Kessie,
PM me.
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celesta
Junior Member
Author of Inspirational Science Fiction
Posts: 66
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Post by celesta on Jan 8, 2012 18:04:44 GMT -5
When I need a story to be longer I just make more things happen in the story.
My editing has been going a little better lately. But now I have to look over the proof of my novel just sent to me from createspace. Last time I found about eleven mistakes/things I needed to change. I have a feeling with this story there might be more. Hopefully I'll be able to get started looking it over tomorrow.
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Post by Divides the Waters on Jan 8, 2012 23:47:59 GMT -5
In this day and age, is there really such a thing as "too short?" My wife and I have both had our manuscripts dismissed out of hand because of word count being too high. My personal opinion is that a story is as long as it takes to tell, and no longer. Trying too hard to stretch a story may feel like padding.
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Post by Kessie on Jan 9, 2012 0:26:43 GMT -5
See, I'm running up against my own bias because I could spend hundreds and hundreds of pages with these characters and this world. But somebody else might be bored to tears because they don't have the emotional investment. I just need some fresh eyes, I think.
Must ... resist ... urge ... to head-dip for pages and pages and pages ....
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Post by metalikhan on Jan 9, 2012 2:32:39 GMT -5
There are presses willing to look at stories too long to really be novellas but shorter than what other presses consider novel-length. You have to shop around a bit and look at the word count ranges different publishers consider. But as for the characters you like spending time with, you can also write their stories as collections of linked shorter stories/novellas so you don't have to try to tie them all together in one massive tome of a gazillion plots, sub-plots, parallel plots, and counter-plots. Just a suggestion to consider.
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