The Long and Winding Editing Road—It Begins Again.

~I've been inspired by Katie at Spiral-Bound's "Editing Diaries" posts to do my own editing series. Currently, I'm in the process of editing a fairytale-fantasy novel I wrote in 2014, and I want you to join me on this journey! Maybe, together, we can learn a few things about writing along The Long and Winding Editing Road.~

I figured that Christmas break would be the ideal time to begin the fourth draft of my fantasy novel. Despite a number of major changes to my characters, I had the fanciful idea that I would be able to finish the fourth draft during my three week break. I made excellent time through the first third of the novel; but, the second third took me by surprise. It has always been the most difficult part of the novel as the characters are between quests and nothing much happens. It is a time for character development and a time for me to lay the foundation for things to come later in the story. In past drafts, I have taken out much content from this middle section. This draft has been no different. In fact, I took out two chapters, and allocated their necessary parts to different chapters.
I've never had to make big cuts like this before. It's liberating to highlight several thousand words, hit the backspace key, and see them disappear (don't worry–I have them saved somewhere else!). It's fun to make these cuts, knowing that I am streamlining my story and making it better! I feel like a real writer.
I did, however, run across a roadblock. This roadblock has come in the shape of a character. Surprisingly—nay, miraculously!—the character who is giving me trouble is not Finn. Finn is behaving himself (for once). No, King John is giving me trouble. He's my villain and I've never felt solid with his characterization. During the last draft, I had a better handle on his character; because I was focused on my main characters, though, I couldn't devote as much time to him as he deserved. Over the summer, I wrote part of his backstory in short story form. That helped me understand him better.
Now, I have printed out the fourteen chapters that make up the middle section of my novel. I plan to go through them very carefully so that I can...

-Continue streamlining this part of the story so that the audience doesn't get bored. I want every scene and every character interaction to have purpose.

-Fix King John's character. I want to write him in such a way that the audience feels exactly how I want them to feel about him. This is going to be tricky, since I want them to go from despising him to sort-of liking him to despising him again. Since this is how my main character, Rozella, feels about him, I am hoping that the audience will follow her feelings.

These two goals are going to take precision to complete, which is why I printed out these chapters.

I don't know how much I will be able to work on them during the first eight weeks of school because I have a lot of classwork. My workload drops significantly during the last eight weeks, however, so I hope to work on my story then! I will keep you updated.

Are you writers out there working on anything exciting at the moment?

The Long and Winding Editing Road—Emptiness

I've finished the third draft of my novel. I've sent it off to a few readers. Now, I sit at my computer aimlessly clicking from my email to Twitter and back to my email again.

I expected to be a little dazed after I finished this draft, but I didn't expect to feel so empty.

How do I return to normal life after working so hard on one project for several months?

When I finished the second draft last November, the same thing happened, only I didn't have the advantage of hindsight to recognize it then. Now, at least, I can make an effort to fill the emptiness with useful activities, unlike in November and December, when I filled the emptiness by wasting time.

In my last post I outlined a few things that I wanted to do to fill my time, but none of them hold much appeal to me (except applying for college, though that's more of a necessity than an appeal). All I can think about is writing. So, though I had planned to save outlining stories for a summer project, I will probably start outlining now to save myself from wasting time. Idleness is the mother of all vices, as they say.



When you writers finish a new draft, do you feel emptiness or relief? Do you jump straightaway into the next project? If not, what do you fill your time with?

The Long and Winding Editing Road—Fanfare for the Uncommonly Happy Writer

~I've been inspired by Katie at Spiral-Bound's "Editing Diaries" posts to do my own editing series. Currently, I'm in the process of editing a fairytale-fantasy novel I wrote in 2014, and I want you to join me on this journey! Maybe, together, we can learn a few things about writing along The Long and Winding Editing Road.~

Usually, when you come across writers, they are sullen with a far away look in their eyes, contemplating wayward characters and gaping plot holes.
But, hark, do you hear the resounding BOOM of drums? The clash of the gong? Do you hear the lone trumpet line swell as French horns, trombones, and other brass join the fanfare? They play a fanfare for an uncommonly happy writer. An uncommonly happy writer named Abbey.
Why this fanfare, you may ask?
Because I finished the third draft of my fantasy novel!

I expected the final third of my novel to be the hardest to edit due to the character that I was taking out, but, I was enjoying the story so much that I finished the last twenty-one chapters in five days. The last thirteen chapters I finished yesterday by staying up past midnight. Please don't let me do that ever again.

The character I removed didn't end up being as difficult to delete as I had anticipated. Most of his scenes were in big blocks of text so I could highlight them and press the backspace key. All of his important dialogue I was able to delegate to other characters.

Now, I am going to take a month-and-a-half off from this story while I let some friends read it. What am I going to do while my book is away? Several things:

1. Read a lot. I have three books out of the library that have to be returned soon. Hopefully, I'll be able to speed through them now that I'm not consumed with editing.
Also, I'm still making my way through The Silmarillion and enjoying it very much. I just started Beren and Luthien's tale. Did you know that when Thingol accuses Beren for entering his land and falling in love with his daughter, Beren holds up a ring with two serpents with emerald eyes as protection? This ring is, in fact, the same ring that Aragorn owns in The Lord of the Rings! It passed from Beren through the generations until it reached Aragorn.

2. I might outline a few short stories. I was going to save this project for the summer, but these stories have been nagging for my attention. Who will win: Abbey's schedule or the plot bunnies? Find out during our next WWE (Weird Writers Entertainment) match!

3. Apply for college.

4. Writing blog posts. There are several exciting things coming to the blog in the next few months (unfortunately, a WWE match is probably not among them), so stay tuned!

5. Probably watch some Star Trek. Does it count as research if I'm drawing inspiration from it for one of my plot bunnies?

The brass play a final triumphant note. The drums fade into the distance. The fanfare ends.

The Long and Winding Editing Road—Movin' Right Along

~I've been inspired by Katie at Spiral-Bound's "Editing Diaries" posts to do my own editing series. Currently, I'm in the process of editing a fairytale-fantasy novel I wrote in 2014, and I want you to join me on this journey! Maybe, together, we can learn a few things about writing along The Long and Winding Editing Road.~

In my last editing post I talked about the struggles that my main character, Finn, has been giving me. I was trying decide if I wanted to go back to the beginning and fix his character, or if I wanted to continue editing from where I was.
I decided to go back to the beginning and fix him. I only looked at the chapters that feature his point-of-view. It was interesting to focus so intensely on one character for one week, ignoring everything else in the story. I found that, by focusing on Finn, I got a much better view of his character arc as a whole. Because I had so recently read where he was at the beginning of the book, I could easily pick out discrepancies and character growth. In the end, I was able to move through Finn's chapters quickly and fix him to the best of my abilities at the moment.

Now, I'm moving into the final third of the third draft. This is going to be the hardest third of the novel. The last few chapters have only been through one draft because I didn't write the ending during the first draft. And, I've decided to get rid of a character that joins my characters on their quest in the final third. He's been in the plan for the story longer than Timone (Timone is the one who showed up randomly halfway through the book). I named this character after two special someone's. It's going to be sad to cut him out of all but one chapter. It's going to be hard, too. It's going to be hard to delegate his lines and his actions to the others. Yet, I know I'm doing the right thing. This character has no purpose in the narrative. I can't think of a single reason to keep him around because he adds nothing to the plot. So, as sad and as hard as it is to let him go, I have to do it. And he won't be gone forever. He'll still have a significant informational role in Chapter 39. Maybe I can transfer him to another story in the future.

Have you writers ever had to take out a deadweight character from your novels?

The Long and Winding Editing Road—Finn

~I've been inspired by Katie at Spiral-Bound's "Editing Diaries" posts to do my own editing series. Currently, I'm in the process of editing a fairytale-fantasy novel I wrote in 2014, and I want you to join me on this journey! Maybe, together, we can learn a few things about writing along The Long and Winding Editing Road.~

Finn, oh, Finn, oh, Finn, oh, Finn! Where to begin?
My novel has two point-of-views. One is Rozella, whom you met in my last Editing Road post. The other point-of-view is Finn, and he has given me trouble almost since Day One. I wanted him to be a mysterious, private, slightly brooding hero that makes fangirls swoon, but he ended up being too secretive, slightly whiney, and a know-it-all. It didn't help that I wasn't secure in his past or in his present situation.
Because I was uncomfortable with the original background I had created for Finn, I focused on that instead of Finn as a character. I decided to change his past and he became so much easier to write!
But then I started focusing on the present... What had Finn been doing for twenty years in the dungeon of the king? Why hadn't he tried to escape? I decided to change twenty years to five years and, again, Finn became so much easier to write!
After writing out his character profile, I figured that it would be easy to write Finn in the third draft. And it has been... until I realized two night's ago that it isn't.

Rozella is easy to write. She has a lot of the same insecurities that I do, so it's easy for me make her relatable by writing her thoughts for the reader's to see. To me, she feels like a real character because we see her inner struggles and her decision-making process. Her chapters are usually longer than Finn's and full of character development, while Finn's chapters usually advance the plot. I suppose that should have alerted me that something was wrong. I want to have balanced chapters, or else my readers will get bored with one of the points-of-view.
What made my chapters unbalanced? I thought it was that Finn wasn't getting as much character development as Rozella, so I started adding some. I used the same stream-of-consciousness approach that I had used for Rozella, but it felt wrong for two reasons:

1. If I'm writing both Rozella and Finn's character development the same, they will cease to have separate voices and will meld into the same person.
2. Men don't think the same way as women.

My dad was telling me about THIS video and I realized my problem. I was trying to make Finn think the same way as Rozella, because I knew that method worked. Well, it worked for Rozella, but it wasn't working for Finn, because he's not a woman!
How do I write male characters? I didn't know, so I asked my dad what he would do and what he would think about if he were the main character in my Fantasy Novel. He gave me some helpful comments and also a book to read on how guys think. I read the first chapter this morning and I'm already full of ideas on how to make Finn into a better character. Hopefully, this change will make Finn a lot easier to write! At least, until the next problem pops up.

There's only one last problem... Should I go back to the beginning of the story and work on Finn's character from there, or should I continue on from where I am now? Maybe I need to do some additional research before I mess around with Finn's character. Maybe I should experiment and see what happens. Maybe I need to rewrite his profile. I can't decide, and it's halted my editing, which is too bad because I was really enjoying this draft!
Maybe I'll go fix myself lunch. That sounds like a good idea.

The Long and Winding Editing Road—Characters II

I've been inspired by Katie at Spiral-Bound's "Editing Diaries" posts to do my own editing series. Currently, I'm in the process of editing a fairytale-fantasy novel I wrote in 2014, and I want you to join me on this journey! Maybe, together, we can learn a few things about writing along The Long and Winding Editing Road.

In my last post, I talked about how two of the characters in my fantasy novel were giving me trouble because I didn't know who they were. One thing that helped me get to know them better was to write outlines of what happened to them before they entered my story.
Just like it's important for nonfiction writers to know background information on their topic, it's important for fiction writers to know the history of their characters. Past experiences make people into their present selves. If you don't know where your character has come from, how can you know where your character will go? (Please tell me that I'm not the only one singing "Cotton Eye Joe" after that last sentence.) If you don't know what has molded your character's worldview, how can you know how your character will react to the events in the story?

After finishing the second draft of my novel last November, I took December off. In January, I began working on my character arcs. A character arc is a character's "inner journey" (says Google) within the main storyline of a book.
So, on note cards (I like note cards, okay?) I wrote who each character was at the beginning of the novel, their transformation, and who they are at the end of the story. Here's an example using a character from Star Wars The Force Awakens:

Finn
Who he was at the beginning: Scared, unhappy with his life choices, wishing he were somewhere else.
Transformation: Finn takes the first opportunity to escape life as a stormtrooper and keeps running away until he realizes there is something worth fighting for in the galaxy. He sets aside his selfishness and helps his friends.
Who he is in the end: Willing to sacrifice himself for his friends, loyal to friends, in a much better place than where he was at the beginning:

For minor characters I wrote out their purpose in the narrative and a summary of their character arc.
Here's an example using another Force Awakens character.

C-3PO
Purpose in narrative: Comic relief, information.
Character arc: Originally created by Anakin Skywalker. He and his counterpart, R2-D2, helped defeat the Empire. When Luke Skywalker went missing, R2-D2 shut down, but C-3PO continued to serve Princess Leia. Somehow got a red arm. No character growth because he's a droid.

At the beginning of February I decided that I should probably add physical description, personality, and motivation to my character profiles. So, rather than write new cards for everyone, I typed what I had already written into the computer along with a few additions.
For an example, it is my pleasure to introduce you to my female protagonist, Rozella:

   Rozella

   Appearance: 5’4”. Rib-cage length dark brown curly hair. Blue eyes. Oval face. A little bigger boned/thicker, but not fat. Curvy. Inspired by Barbara Kent and Lucy Griffiths.

I'm not great at seeing my characters (or anyone else's, for that matter) in my mind's eye, but I was inspired by another blogger to make an effort to describe my characters better. It's easy to decide hair and eye color, but what about height, body type, face shape, and type of hair? It's important to know these things for, if you're writing a character with long hair, long hair is less likely to do this:

and more likely to do this:

Pictures courtesy of this Buzzfeed article.

If you want to be realistic while writing, remember that your character's hair won't be perfect all the time, especially if they are adventuring. It's also helpful to know your character's height (can they reach the tomato soup on the top shelf at the store? Does their height give them back problems?) and body type (are they self-conscious or confidant in their body? How does that effect how they interact with other characters?).

Personality: Predisposed to be timid and worry if she’s doing something right or wrong, but when she knows what she’s doing, she’s very confidant. Sweet. Kind.

I wrote three or four basics for each character's personality. When I'm working on the story, I try to keep these basics in my head so that I can ask myself, "Is Rozella too confidant here or should she be more worried? Is Rozella too mean? How can she say that in a nicer way?"

History: Kidnapped by Witch and raised by Witch.

As you can see, I didn't expound on Rozella's history much. This is because most of it is described in the first few chapters of the novel. Other characters have fuller histories.

Growth: Starts out afraid and timid and nervous. Ends confidant, knows she’s loved. Smart and optimistic.

I'm just about to start the second third of my novel, which is where a lot of Rozella's character growth happens. From this point on, I have to watch her very carefully to see if she is gradually becoming confidant, or if it's an instant change. I want it to be gradual, but I'm worried that what I have now is instantaneous change. I guess I'll find out as I continue to write!

Motivation: She wants to belong and feel loved. Also, her natural tendency to care (for animals and, later, people, too).

Just like it's important to know your character's appearance, history, and worldview, it's important to know what motivates your character. Why are they trying to achieve their goal? What motivated them to go on a quest, or to sign up for an online dating service, or start a prank war with their neighbor? Did the prank war spawn from a happy-go-lucky sense of humor, or from the childhood need to prove themselves better than their prank-master father, or from the desire to escape adulthood and regress back to childhood?
Rozella's actions nearly all come from either her compassion for others or from her desire to be loved. She was kidnapped by a Wicked Witch when she was a baby and endured the Witch's torments until she was thirteen. The Witch never loved her, so Rozella longs to be loved and accepted by someone. Her desire to belong makes her worry if people are judging her for her actions.

For each of my characters, I described appearance, personality, history, growth, and motivation. As I've gone through the first third of my novel over the past month, I've been pleasantly surprised with how well I was able to incorporate characterization in the second draft. It's way better than I expected and I haven't had to do much. The next two thirds, on the other hand, I'm expecting to be a mess. Which is why I'm writing this blog post instead of working on my story.

If you're a writer, what kind of character profiling do you do? If you're a reader, do you notice character development, description, and motivation?

The Long and Winding Editing Road—Characters

I've been inspired by Katie at Spiral-Bound's "Editing Diaries" posts to do my own editing series. Currently, I'm in the process of editing a fairytale-fantasy novel I wrote in 2014, and I want you to join me on this journey! Maybe, together, we can learn a few things about writing along The Long and Winding Editing Road.

In my last editing post, I talked about how I outlined my novel and then rewrote it, focusing on the plot.
Now, I'm working on the third draft of the story. This time, I'm focusing on character development, which is something I've never focused on before.
In my novel After the Twelfth Night, I don't remember doing any character edits, and the extent of my character-building was to write out my character's names, ages, descriptions, and one or two random facts about their personalities and hobbies on a piece of paper.

In the first draft of my fantasy novel, I didn't write anything down about my characters. I had a few vague ideas in my head about who they were, but mostly let them develop on their own. Surprisingly, this worked rather well. By the time I finished, I knew who most of my characters were, and they've stayed relatively the same since then.
There were exceptions, of course. Namely, my main male protagonist and a random character named Timone who showed up halfway through the story and decided to stick around.

Finn, my main male protagonist has gone through the most changes since the beginning of the story. I intended for him to be a mysterious and brooding hero, but he ended up being a secretive and slightly-annoying know-it-all.
He started the story in the king's dungeon and had been there for twenty years, which made me ask, "What has he been doing in the dungeon for twenty years? He's best friends with his guard. Why doesn't he use that to his advantage and escape?" I couldn't answer these questions, and it caused Finn's whole character to crumble under my fingertips. His motivation and personality didn't match his past. I had no idea how to write him.
It wasn't until I was at least halfway through the second draft that I came up with a solution. Why did he have to be in the dungeon for twenty years? Wouldn't five years be better?
"I've made an executive decision," I declared to my parents. "Finn has been in the dungeon for five years, not twenty."
"Okay," they probably replied, unsure what I was talking about, but used to my random outbursts.
Suddenly, Finn was much easier to write.
Funny how one tiny detail can change the way one writes a character.

Timone also gave me a lot of trouble in the beginning. Here is an excerpt from a post I wrote on NaNoWriMo's forums, shortly after Timone first showed up in my story:

"...instead of saying 'Guard, take them to their cell,' like any normal leader, he said, 'Timone, take them to their cell.'

I know, I know... once you name something you get attached... I wasn't going to get attached, but now Timone wants to join my two main characters on their quest and I don't know what to do! I have no clue who this character is! What's his background? What's his personality? What are his motives? Is his name even Timone? I don't know!

What do I do? Should I let him tag along and see if he reveals himself to me later on? Should I tell him to 'stay!' and hope he doesn't follow me home? Should I kill him?

Sincerely,

Someone-Who-Doesn't-Do-Well-With-Unexpected-Characters-Showing-Up-Halfway-Through-The-Novel."

During outlining, Timone decided to reveal his secrets to me. Knowing who he was made him easier to write.

Something else that helped me to understand Finn and Timone was to outline what happened to them prior to my novel. I wrote out their childhoods, teen years, and adult years in chapter synopses [side note: I just found out that "synopses" is the plural of "synopsis"! Who knew]. Now, I have outlines of their pasts so, if I want to, I can write novellas about them to complement my novel.

After writing the second draft, I knew I needed to develop my characters outside of the novel, so I decided to write character profiles.

But I'll save that for the next post.



The Long and Winding Editing Road—What I've Done So Far

I've been inspired by Katie at Spiral-Bound's "Editing Diaries" posts to do my own editing series. Currently, I'm in the process of editing a fairytale-fantasy novel I wrote in 2014, and I want you to join me on this journey! Maybe, together, we can learn a few things about writing along The Long and Winding Editing Road.

In December 2013, I had the first idea for this story (since it is still title-less, it shall hereby be known as the Fantasy Novel). When I started writing in January 2014, I had no outline and only a vague idea of where I wanted the plot to go. I love outlines, but I was curious about where the story would take me if I didn't have a plan.
Three hand-written notebooks and twelve months later, the plot had changed so considerably that I was lost. I needed to go back and plan; so, I spent much of 2015 re-plotting my novel.
I wanted to write a summary of every scene on separate notecards so that I could rearrange, add, and subtract scenes at will, but I soon discovered that writing out every single scene would lead to and overwhelming amount of notecards. Instead, I decided to write out a summary of each chapter as it appeared in the novel at the time:

Much more manageable, as you can see!

Then came the hard part: fixing the plot problems! I rewrote and rearranged countless cards until I was satisfied with the story.
Cait from Paper Fury says that when she rewrites, she starts from scratch and every single word is different. That astounded me—until I began rewriting my Fantasy Novel in the Fall of 2015. Though not every word is different, I changed almost the entire book!
My only previous novel-editing experience—with my first book, After the Twelfth Night—was completely different. With After the Twelfth Night, I wrote the first draft on the computer and the second draft on paper. With my Fantasy Novel, I wrote the first draft on paper, and am working on subsequent drafts on my computer. With After the Twelfth Night, I had an outline from the beginning. When it came to rewriting, I only had to add scenes to make the story better. With my Fantasy Novel, nearly the entire plot had to be rewritten, which is why I changed nearly every sentence.
I finished the second draft in November 2015. I needed to distance myself from the story, so I put the book away during December. I've only just started working on it again, but let's save that for another post, shall we?

If you are a writer, what does your editing process look like?