Karen GoatKeeper's Blog - Posts Tagged "writing-drafts"
Too Close?
I've heard many times the advice to set a draft aside then come back to it to rewrite it. This is supposed to give the writer some distance from the draft making the writer more objective.
How long should the writer wait? For some it's a week. Others wait a month for the story to dim in their memory.
Capri Capers sat waiting for a year. Yet the first paragraph made the story come back to life as though I had written it the day before.
But the second rewrite is done. I managed to find several places I had changed before but missed related areas. The characters are more alive to me now. The epilogue isn't a series of four word sentences anymore.
But was I objective enough? Was I objective at all? I don't know. I know i was too busy laughing evilly through one section to even glimpse objectivity let alone practice it.
So I am positive I am reading what I expect to read in places instead of what is actually written. How can I obtain some objectivity?
This time I will farm that out. After all, if this crazy romp of a book can make others laugh, I can consider it a good book and do a final edit.
Anyone want to read through Capri Capers? It's about 50,000 words.
How long should the writer wait? For some it's a week. Others wait a month for the story to dim in their memory.
Capri Capers sat waiting for a year. Yet the first paragraph made the story come back to life as though I had written it the day before.
But the second rewrite is done. I managed to find several places I had changed before but missed related areas. The characters are more alive to me now. The epilogue isn't a series of four word sentences anymore.
But was I objective enough? Was I objective at all? I don't know. I know i was too busy laughing evilly through one section to even glimpse objectivity let alone practice it.
So I am positive I am reading what I expect to read in places instead of what is actually written. How can I obtain some objectivity?
This time I will farm that out. After all, if this crazy romp of a book can make others laugh, I can consider it a good book and do a final edit.
Anyone want to read through Capri Capers? It's about 50,000 words.
Starting a Book
No, this is not a new project. It is one started and abandoned due to a major plot glitch. The glitch is solved so now the project is on track, maybe.
Perhaps I am odd but the most important part of writing a book or paper for me is coming up with that first sentence. I jot down plot ideas. I make out character sketches. I map out settings. [And I didn't know I was a plotter? A bit dense perhaps.]
From these I can write a first rough draft but it feels flat. It struggles. Something is missing.
But my reading is that way too. The first paragraph is critical. It sets the tone for the entire book for me. If I like it, if it fits, I slide into the book and roll on through it.
This third book in the Hazel Whitmore series has the first half of a draft written. The opening is flat, dull. It's interesting and eventful but doesn't grab me, it doesn't fit.
Where do good first lines come from? I don't know exactly. Perhaps that is why they are so hard for me to come up with.
My first lines seem to require me knowing the plot outline, the characters and the settings. Somehow these meld together becoming a story. And there is the first line.
The one for the third Hazel book? "You will pay." Hazel held the note she found in her locker in her hand reading and rereading it.
Perhaps I am odd but the most important part of writing a book or paper for me is coming up with that first sentence. I jot down plot ideas. I make out character sketches. I map out settings. [And I didn't know I was a plotter? A bit dense perhaps.]
From these I can write a first rough draft but it feels flat. It struggles. Something is missing.
But my reading is that way too. The first paragraph is critical. It sets the tone for the entire book for me. If I like it, if it fits, I slide into the book and roll on through it.
This third book in the Hazel Whitmore series has the first half of a draft written. The opening is flat, dull. It's interesting and eventful but doesn't grab me, it doesn't fit.
Where do good first lines come from? I don't know exactly. Perhaps that is why they are so hard for me to come up with.
My first lines seem to require me knowing the plot outline, the characters and the settings. Somehow these meld together becoming a story. And there is the first line.
The one for the third Hazel book? "You will pay." Hazel held the note she found in her locker in her hand reading and rereading it.
