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"THE END"...now what?

post #1 of 5
2/2/09 at 1:24pm
Thread Starter 
I finished! I typed THE END at to my 1st draft...but it isn't leaving me elated...instead I feel as though I'm at only the beginning of a very long, long road...and of course I had to blog about it

THE END!

Should I print it out? Let anyone else read it? How many times did you edit your 1st draft before you let anyone else touch/read it?

I'm so excited to start editing...any tips on how to go about it?
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post #2 of 5
2/4/09 at 2:13am
Hey, that's GREAT!!! Congratulations! Do a victory lap around the living room!

I'm just about halfway through the FIRST pass at editing my current book, and I can relate. I'm not even ready to print it out yet; I know there is so much I'm going to change right away. I have fantasized about taking it to Kinko's to print up some day, though.

I'm cringing as I read and then I take a big breath and type more drivel to fill in plot holes and flesh out characters. Then I get to cringe some more thinking about asking people to read it eventually. I'm thinking about fleshing it out as much as possible, then getting one or two kind readers to take a pass. I feel like getting to this stage has completely destroyed my ability to see what might be good and what needs to change.

Mostly, I fear that my writing is just all wrong, and I'll need to go in paragraph by paragraph and rewrite. But I'll do it, and it will help to have specific pointers from a few readers.

It's not helping that I am also partway through the sequel and have the third in the trilogy outlined. I'll probably edit this one just for content mostly, and then have people read it while I try to get the next one done. I'm not sure if having feedback is going to help or hinder writing more in the trilogy.

But I love my characters and their stories. I just love them. I love closing my eyes and thinking about them, not even doing much of anything, just loving them. So that makes it a little exciting to see if anyone else likes them. Just a little bit?
post #3 of 5
2/16/09 at 4:49am
Thread Starter 
I just printed out the beast...took more than a reem of paper!....hmmm....I'm thinking a good novel should be no more than the size of a reem of paper...guess I'm onto editing now
post #4 of 5
2/16/09 at 4:52am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by St. Margaret View Post
Hey, that's GREAT!!! Congratulations! Do a victory lap around the living room!

I'm just about halfway through the FIRST pass at editing my current book, and I can relate. I'm not even ready to print it out yet; I know there is so much I'm going to change right away. I have fantasized about taking it to Kinko's to print up some day, though.
Do that instead of staying up all night, feeding your printer!!! And if they're black ink runs dry, they can change it right there instead of you running out twice! (at least my title printed out ok, just not my name on the title page...I'm trying not to take that as an omen...)
post #5 of 5
2/16/09 at 4:54am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by St. Margaret View Post
But I love my characters and their stories. I just love them. I love closing my eyes and thinking about them, not even doing much of anything, just loving them. So that makes it a little exciting to see if anyone else likes them. Just a little bit?
Ok, so I'm not the only one I love my characters too and have had such a long relationship with them over the years of thinking about this book that I had to dream up a sequel just to keep them around!

I'm glad I have somewhere to say things like that and no one looks at me cross-eyed (well, you can, we're online, I can't see you)...but, you know what I mean