Read Through at One Third Done – What Did I Learn?
Since my daughter didn't have school on Monday, I knew this long weekend would throw off my writing schedule a bit. The timing was good, though, because now that I'm about 22,000 words into the novel, I wanted to step away from it briefly and then sit down and read the entire manuscript start to finish to see how it flowed. It has been about three weeks since I sat down to write page one, and if there were going to be any problems with continuity or flow, I wanted to catch them early.
Today was the day for me to do my read through! I settled into my favorite spot at my favorite coffee shop, opened my ring binder to the first page, and started reading.
Two hours later I was finished and I had learned a couple of things. First, the flow and interplay of the three separate story lines was working well. I was feeling the anticipation of picking up each story line as it was presented, and sensing the appropriateness of the gap since I'd read it last, in other words, there wasn't too much or too little time between episodes in each story line. The continuity worked.
Second, the difference in mood and tone of the storylines played nicely off of each other. Ae-Cha's storyline is tense and dangerous. Max' storyline is active, humorous at times, and anticipation builds as his journey to find Ae-Cha progresses. Faye's storyline is engaging, unusual, and exciting, and is totally unlike and seemingly unrelated to Max and Ae-Cha's. Bringing all three together is going to be fun as a writer and hopefully rewarding as a reader.
Third, reading everything all the way through gave me a better sense of timing and flow, and I was able to correct sentence structures to contribute to that flow rather than distract from it. This polishing, done at each reading of the manuscript, just makes the work stronger and more presentable to agents when the time comes.
I will write another 20,000 words or so, and then do another reading like this. Getting this familiar with the story is absolutely critical to making the read effortless for whoever takes a look at the work. It shows you in the best possible light as a writer, and maximizes your chances of selling your work when it is complete.
This afternoon, I wrote Chapter 16. I'm going to transcribe that to the computer now, and hopefully be able to write Chapter 17 by Friday.
Have a terrific Wednesday! Read something today that shocks you! Thanks for reading. -Jon
