ROW80-3 11/08/2019 When does an edit become a re-write?
August 12, 2019
I finished another editing pass on a novel; basically a review of the plot and characters. It's a good story, but what do I do next.? I wrote it in 2013, as my fourth NaNoWriMo and I have drafted three novels since then. And I have also finished about 160 Flash Fiction stories. So, I assume my style has improved, with all that.
I usually start NaNoWriMo after a top down design of story, the plot, the characters and their issues, the various arcs, and then a quick line or two on each scene. Then basically I write every day and fill in the blanks.
I can see now some structural flaws in this novel, as well as scenes that are redundant, or misplaced, or just missing. Some are well-written, some not so much so. Characters need to be tweaked, or added, or deleted, also . I'm tempted to basically start again, working top-down, rather than try to re-write. Any suggestions??
Is this a good time to also try out yWriter? And some sort of MindMapping tool?
Status (progress shown in italics):
- Write - Because I enjoy it.
- Write new material - one Flash Fiction a week.
- Did another one for last Friday, the prompt being to include six pairs of adjectives. Mine was An Unhappy Customer.
- Edit existing material - to send in for publication. 2h/d. I've selected one of my stories, The Ghost in the Machine. Okay, doe this pass. Now what? See above.
- Write new material - one Flash Fiction a week.
- Write better - Read about how to write, and get constructive feedback.
- Series of writerly blogs. Objective -stay current. Yup.
- Write regularly - set a FF challenge a week. Yup, the challenge this time is a story with location, the cottage, and listening to a random tune.
- Other - Still need to do workbooks for MasterClass on Storytelling, by Neil Gaiman. It might help my editing. And the James Patterson one looks intriguing.
- Publish/market
- Amazon Marketing Services Campaigns on KDP -Some sales, have all the bids to a tenth of former value.
- Give away print copies of Flash Fiction Stories. Still doing this, mostly at my local. Good feedback.
- Send in one story a week to a publication. Nope.
- Read with purpose
- Objective - read and review a book a week. Working my way through A Farewell to Arms. Doesn't seem that great to me. Here's my review so far. Still churning through my Guardian Weekly though.
- Health
- Fitbit step Objective - 7 day average 3500. Consistently below this.
- Set sleep target to 7 hours, starting at midnight. Doing well at this. Early construction in my building helps.
- Stay social - That's a given, what with walking about, visits to local cafes and bars, and all my grandkids being in Ottawa. Yup.
- Have fun - Gaming, Netflix - both indoors. Outdoors?
- Netflix/Amazon - Lots of Derry Girls now, as well as Grey's Anatomy, etc.
- Gaming - 8:30-10:30 schedule. Too much. Oh well, it's relaxing and fun, and I am retired!
- Vacation - Do at least mini-trips. Thinking. Would have to be solo.
- Chores - Occasional vacuuming. Started loading up my "new" bookcase. Need more books!!
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