Alpennia Blog: This and that
Mar. 22nd, 2016 07:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hrjI'm halfway through the first editing pass. (This means I'm behind schedule again, but the schedule included sufficient padding that I'm not panicking.) For all that my New Writing Method Experiment that began the Alpennia series involved writing start to end (rather than jumping around), for the first two books I did a fair amount of going back and cleaning up after plot changes while I was still writing the first draft. For Mother of Souls, I drafted straight through and did nothing more than tuck in some notes in previous sections when the fabric of space-time had shifted due to things that came up in later chapters. So the main thing I'm doing in this first editing pass is that clean-up: aligning events and people with how the story eventually developed, removing redundant passages (because it was easier to write the same bits in multiple places than to realize I'd forgotten to include them at all, thinking I'd already done so). Beyond that, there's the automatic re-wording that happens every time I read through a text, and a certain amount of adjusting the balance between "too much telling" and the need to fill the reader in on background from previous books.
The next editing pass is earmarked for three major functions: making sure I have enough descriptive material, making sure the viewpoint is clear and consistent for each chapter, and making the writing dynamic, streamlined, and vivid. In my pottery metaphor, the initial first draft is making the clay. This second draft is throwing the pot on the wheel. The third draft will be painting the glazes and designs.
After that, the next step for me is a very persnickety detail-oriented read-through, but I think I'll send it off to the beta readers before that. I'd originally projected I'd have it to them at the beginning of March, which obviously hasn't happened yet.
I'm halfway through the first editing pass. This one's being done on paper in the traditional red pen, because it involves a lot of massive deletions, additions, and rearrangements of text. I find it easiest to visualize that way. The next editing pass will be done directly in the Scrivener file, because I'll want the instant responsiveness of "see it; change it". The third editing pass will probably be done by marking up a pdf on my iPad, because for that one I'll want to feel the flow. So I briefly highlight problem text (or scribble a brief note) but I don't stop to actually change it.
Oh, and I have a scheduled publication date: November. This means I'll have copies available at Chessiecon and it will have appropriate timing for Christmas presents (or other winter holiday presents), as well as making my one-book-each-calendar-year schedule. (Or rather, delaying the possible break in my book/year rhythm until 2017. Depends on how quickly I can get Floodtide written.)
I've also seen the first cover concept and really like it! It's tricky to do a series of strongly thematically-connected series covers without having them all look like cookie-cutters. I think Mother of Souls will have its own clear visual identity.
The next editing pass is earmarked for three major functions: making sure I have enough descriptive material, making sure the viewpoint is clear and consistent for each chapter, and making the writing dynamic, streamlined, and vivid. In my pottery metaphor, the initial first draft is making the clay. This second draft is throwing the pot on the wheel. The third draft will be painting the glazes and designs.
After that, the next step for me is a very persnickety detail-oriented read-through, but I think I'll send it off to the beta readers before that. I'd originally projected I'd have it to them at the beginning of March, which obviously hasn't happened yet.
I'm halfway through the first editing pass. This one's being done on paper in the traditional red pen, because it involves a lot of massive deletions, additions, and rearrangements of text. I find it easiest to visualize that way. The next editing pass will be done directly in the Scrivener file, because I'll want the instant responsiveness of "see it; change it". The third editing pass will probably be done by marking up a pdf on my iPad, because for that one I'll want to feel the flow. So I briefly highlight problem text (or scribble a brief note) but I don't stop to actually change it.
Oh, and I have a scheduled publication date: November. This means I'll have copies available at Chessiecon and it will have appropriate timing for Christmas presents (or other winter holiday presents), as well as making my one-book-each-calendar-year schedule. (Or rather, delaying the possible break in my book/year rhythm until 2017. Depends on how quickly I can get Floodtide written.)
I've also seen the first cover concept and really like it! It's tricky to do a series of strongly thematically-connected series covers without having them all look like cookie-cutters. I think Mother of Souls will have its own clear visual identity.
