More Editing...

*Sighs* At this point, editing is not something I enjoy doing.  That got old very quickly.  But, I think I am close to being done!

So, on with the steps!

3. Work On Your Characters
The next step that I did was make my characters consistant throughout the book.  I found a lot of things my MC said or did that was out of her personality.  I have had to change dialogue, actions, and sometimes switch something she said to another person saying it.

4. Do a Line Edit
I am probably not editing in the most efficient way.  At this point in my editing, I had no idea what to do next.  So, I did a line edit.  Of course, being the person that I am, I missed a whole bunch of simple mistakes I should have seen.

5. Have a Friend Critique It
I have been having one of my dear writer friends help me with this.  She has been so kind to catch typos, grammar issues, plot holes I missed, and general suggestions.  Google Docs is amazing for this step.  :D  And I have been adding scenes as needed here too.

6. Line Edit...Again
Now, I am doing another line edit.  I am rewording things, taking out phrases, and all out butchering my book.

A Month of Editing

This month, a group of my writing friends and I are editing.  We call it JaNoEdiMo, short for January Novel Editing Month.  :) And on January first, I began the adventure of editing my first novel.  All this month, as I am learning, I am going to post about editing.  I don't believe that there is a right or wrong way to edit, so if your editing process is different, don't think that you have to change it to do it the way I do it.  And today, I am talking about the first two steps I took!

Step One - Reading Over the Rough Draft

This can be a painful part of the process...very painful.  I saw some pretty ugly, choppy, corny, and all out ridiculous stuff.  Especially in my first chapter.  As I read I was cringing and asking myself how I could have written that in the first place.  But, I had to tell myself it is for the good of my novel and keep going.  I did not take notes while doing this.  I did mental note a couple of things, but that is about it.

Step Two - Breaking the Rough Draft into Scenes

Now that I am actually changing stuff, I realize that I didn't really need to do this step.  However, it does make it seem less daunting when I am rewriting and changing.  I colored each scene a different color to make it pretty.  :). I wanted to put a picture in, but I would not get all of the pages to go really small.  :(

Updates, Updates...

It's a new year!  And that means new things are happening!  Oh my, so many things are happening!  It seems like 2014 just flew by!

But now on to the updates!

Death Like Sleep - I have begun the editing process!  It is exciting and nerve wracking.  I am scared to cut things out and change them. But I am just forcing myself to do it for the good of my story!

The Clockshifter - On hold while I edit the first book.

In just a few days, it will have been a year since I first watched The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and got into Lord of the Rings.  On top of that, it will be a year since I became serious about writing!

Just another fun fact: so far, I have spent a total of 127 minutes editing!

Happy 2015!

My year has been made.  The Kings Scrolls, the sequel to Resistance (my favorite book), is coming out on February 17th!  Isn't that a great New Year present?!  Yes, I know you are probably thinking, "Oh...there she goes fangirling again..."  And it is 100% accurate.  I love this book series.  :D

Anyways, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

If you haven't read Resistance yet, you have 48 days to read it before the second one comes out!