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Post by beckyminor on Aug 31, 2009 22:53:25 GMT -5
So, I'm 17 chapters into an in-depth edit of my WIP, which puts me a little better than halfway through. I see some mighty still waters up ahead though, where I suspect my sails are going to start to hang slack. I haven't lost momentum on this edit yet, but I'm starting to see the signs that I'm slowing down. So, other than just the discipline of saying "I'm going to work on this thing every day as a ritual, whether I feel like it or not," anyone got any tips on how you "keep on keepin' on" with an edit?" I've been at it hard core long enough that I'm getting a little fatigued, but I'm not close enough to the end to have that final frenzied burst of creative fuel. How do you guys keep at it? Your ideas would be a great help.
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Post by morganlbusse on Sept 1, 2009 10:47:52 GMT -5
Hey Becky, I know what you mean, I started losing momentum around the same chapter on my own WIP. Something I did is jump a couple chapters ahead and wrote those chapters (I know what's basically happening throughout the entire book, so I was able to do that). Then I went back and filled in the space between. Doing this helped me know where I was going and how to get there. Something else I do is just start writing the scene I'm trying to create. I know I'll have to find a way to begin the scene because I usually start right in the middle of the action, but at least I'm getting the scene down. And sometimes looking back I realize that was a better place to begin the scene, right where the action is And lastly, if I'm really slagging, I stop writing, get some paper out and start brainstorming again to figure out why my story is losing momentum. That or put it away for a week ;P
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Post by beckyminor on Sept 1, 2009 13:43:43 GMT -5
Hey Morwena...thanks for the peek into your creative process! I have done that skip, write, fill in method when I am drafting the story too. I find the story building process much more envigorating that the story dissecting stage I'm in now, but I figure I had better learn to stop worrying and love the edit if I'm ever going to have this MS as spit-shined as it needs to be. Thanks for the input, and blessings on whatever projects you have going.
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Post by tonylavoie on Sept 1, 2009 18:59:23 GMT -5
Anyone who LIKES the editing stages is either insane or a masochist. Probably both. Whenever I feel my enthusiasm flagging, I ask for help, and He hasn't let me down yet. Sometimes it takes a few days (sometimes more), but always I eventually get back to thinking of the overall story, and manage to find the strength (or the breeze, to use your sailing metaphor) to get back into it. The trick, I found, is not to try to make myself feel like I should want to get back into it, but rather to let the story fill me up again, if that makes any sense. Anyway, I'll pray for your continued enthusiasm, patience, strength, and a jolly stiff sailing wind for you, Becky. Never doubt that you'll get through the doldrums, should you even encounter them. It *will* happen. -T
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Post by beckyminor on Sept 1, 2009 19:20:43 GMT -5
Thanks for the perspective, T. Imagine that...praying over the motivational issues! How many times have I prayed for inspirtation, clear vision, etc.? Of course momentum fits in there too. It's so simple it's genius.
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Post by Christian Soldier on Sept 1, 2009 20:39:13 GMT -5
Erm... I like the editing phase...
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Post by beckyminor on Sept 1, 2009 21:50:53 GMT -5
See? I knew there were people who like editing...and I wish I were one of them. I like the "fruit" of the process, but the doing of it is where I falter.
Obviously, CS must not be the only one, since there is an entire book industry that employs more than a few people who edit for a living.
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Post by Christian Soldier on Sept 1, 2009 23:20:24 GMT -5
I almost prefer editing to writing to be honest. There's something fascinating to me about reading a persons raw work. It is so much easier to crawl into the head of an author who hasn't had a whole bunch of advice from bunches of people. Sounds wierd, but it's true.
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Post by morganlbusse on Sept 2, 2009 9:54:37 GMT -5
I always knew I was insane! Yeah, I like the editing process a lot more than the rough draft writing phase. I actually encourage myself to finish my manuscript with the promise that I can then edit it (hang on, I just saw beefy guys dressed in white walk by my window, I think they're here for me...)
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Post by tonylavoie on Sept 2, 2009 13:10:28 GMT -5
I love the writing phase, tolerate the editing phase, and really get a kick out of (you're all gonna think I'm more insane than Morwena, though I'm not distracted by the guys in white. As long as they bring my meals and let me dance with the toaster once in a while, I just ignore 'em.) - the layout phase. After the writing part, laying out and formatting my book (and creating the cover for it,) were the most fun and satisfying parts of the process. I decided early on that if I reached point X (being a point somewhere after the Nth rejection) that I'd at least think about publishing it myself, so I started seeing what I could to do make it look professional. Decided that MS Word wasn't going to fit the bill there, and didn't have a lot of spare time to learn Scribe or another layout program, but found that OpenOffice was surprisingly complete and more than adequate. ...and it looks far better than some of the other self-pubbed books I've seen. Turns out I have a friend who's starting a small publishing company, so it looks like all that layout and cover design work won't have been in vain. (Okay, well, actually it was sort of vanity that pushed me to do it...I just wanted to have a smart-looking product. I'm picky that way.
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Post by beckyminor on Sept 2, 2009 13:16:45 GMT -5
It's a good thing there ARE people who like to do all these other phases of the process, or else there would be an awful lot of unrefined, ugly, confusing junk with a million typos out there in the world, and nobody would read out of sheer frustration.
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Post by tonylavoie on Sept 2, 2009 17:19:31 GMT -5
Ah! So our collective insanity actually HELPS the world. That's a relief!
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Post by beckyminor on Sept 2, 2009 18:41:08 GMT -5
We can keep telling oursevles that, I suppose.
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