Anju Gattani's Blog - Posts Tagged "rewrites"
Connect
My first author talk and signing last week, Saturday, taught me a lot about what it means to be a professional author.
Readers can get the story from the pages of your book. What they are interested in is the author as a person, a real human being, and why he/she wrote the book in the first place, what will follow and what they can look forward to in the read.
Sitting in a circle with the readers, was a moment to remember... it was like coming 'full circle' to the journey that had started 9+ years ago. The rewrites and rewrites... not for me... but so that the characters on the page are clear, coherent and concise to the reader. So that I deliver the best product I can and finish with a promise.
Readers can get the story from the pages of your book. What they are interested in is the author as a person, a real human being, and why he/she wrote the book in the first place, what will follow and what they can look forward to in the read.
Sitting in a circle with the readers, was a moment to remember... it was like coming 'full circle' to the journey that had started 9+ years ago. The rewrites and rewrites... not for me... but so that the characters on the page are clear, coherent and concise to the reader. So that I deliver the best product I can and finish with a promise.
Feedback
Hi,
It's Friday again... and somewhat a relief. With kids out of school summer weather it's ideal to be outdoors - when the sun isn't out in full bloom.
But something interesting came up earlier this week. I got back the edits on Bk II from the copy editor and read her overall feedback. Then we had a lengthy phone conversation and I listened to what she had to say about scenes that needed to be tweaked, rewritten and revised.
At first I tried hard to understand. Then I heard her feedback about my characters, their relationships and their inner fears... and I stopped to think hard. How could I not have known these things about my characters when I'd lived with them for 10 years? How could I have not seen it coming.
Obviously I haven't. And the beauty is that others who do, can tell me more than I thought I knew.
It's Friday again... and somewhat a relief. With kids out of school summer weather it's ideal to be outdoors - when the sun isn't out in full bloom.
But something interesting came up earlier this week. I got back the edits on Bk II from the copy editor and read her overall feedback. Then we had a lengthy phone conversation and I listened to what she had to say about scenes that needed to be tweaked, rewritten and revised.
At first I tried hard to understand. Then I heard her feedback about my characters, their relationships and their inner fears... and I stopped to think hard. How could I not have known these things about my characters when I'd lived with them for 10 years? How could I have not seen it coming.
Obviously I haven't. And the beauty is that others who do, can tell me more than I thought I knew.
Multi / Cross - Cultural
Hi,
I've had some great responses on the recent blog post about defining multicultural fiction. Some suggested international, some referred to the phrase as a shelving term and someone came up with the idea of cross-cultural!
Here's the link:
http://booksbywomen.org/fitting-in-a-...
All the responses were wonderful! What really hit home were some elements of truth. A writer begins writing a story the best way he/she knows how to. What happens after are rewrites, revisions and reevaluations of the manuscript followed by queries, agents, editors - if you are lucky to get that far... and it goes on....
Multicultural is just another shelving term for bookstores and libraries to know where to shelve these books. And of course lead the buyer, in turn, there.
But characters usually tend to follow one set of cultures or two or three (if you're Eurasian I'm guessing?) and form their opinions, values and systems of belief on their experiences and understanding of the world around them.
It was one blog post. Just one. But I learned a lot in turn.
I've had some great responses on the recent blog post about defining multicultural fiction. Some suggested international, some referred to the phrase as a shelving term and someone came up with the idea of cross-cultural!
Here's the link:
http://booksbywomen.org/fitting-in-a-...
All the responses were wonderful! What really hit home were some elements of truth. A writer begins writing a story the best way he/she knows how to. What happens after are rewrites, revisions and reevaluations of the manuscript followed by queries, agents, editors - if you are lucky to get that far... and it goes on....
Multicultural is just another shelving term for bookstores and libraries to know where to shelve these books. And of course lead the buyer, in turn, there.
But characters usually tend to follow one set of cultures or two or three (if you're Eurasian I'm guessing?) and form their opinions, values and systems of belief on their experiences and understanding of the world around them.
It was one blog post. Just one. But I learned a lot in turn.
