Blogging A2Z Challenge, B is for...

 

    BACK UP YOUR NOVEL, BACK UP YOUR NOVEL, BACK UP YOUR NOVEL. – IT MUST BE DONE FOR EACH AND EVERY SINGLE DRAFT.

    Beginning:

Okay, do you have the notebook ready? The review tab open for making comments in the sidebar that you will use in your second draft? Good, now we begin, with beginnings, these can be very difficult to get right, just as endings can be (see ‘E’). Pay attention to whether it is an intriguing opening, full of action and motion, or is it dull and flat? If the latter, you may have some work to do. As yourself, have you begun in the right place? Would your second chapter be a better first chapter? Or should you have just gone for a prologue? 

    Bullet Pointed Lists:

This is when you start your bullet pointed lists, and comments in your notebook, or in the comments section of your document. You list what doesn’t feel right, what needs to change, and any further ideas you might have such as…

    Best Solutions:

These are the solutions to each and every point you have made in your notebook, and in the comments section of your online manuscript. Now remember with these lists and solutions, you need to make sure that they don’t contradict something later on in the chapter, or novel. Some sites say that this particular step can take a while, a few weeks to a few months. 

    Better Reading / Editing Practice:

The better you get at reading through your own work, the better that work will be. This process a few of the sites state, is done by going slowly through the piece you are editing, this helps you the editor pick up on things that may be wrong and you may have otherwise glossed over on, such as something a character does that they shouldn’t do just then, a forgotten description, or even the entire time line has been thrown out of whack.

Don’t have a character walk through a door without describing the room they have entered, or building for that matter. If you plunge them into action straight away without this your reader won’t be very happy with you, especially if they thought your character was in a dust strewn, box filled, drafty warehouse instead of a drawing room filled with oil paintings, ancient artifacts with an inch of dust on them, and a carpet that has seen better days.

Don’t hold back on information either, unless it is absolutely necessary to the plot. The moment your reader realizes they’ve seen your world or character all wrong they loose faith in you and the story that you are trying to tell. You could end up losing them.

    Boring Content:

When editing your novel, please circle any area that you skimmed over, or thought boring, mark as to reason why and that you were bored, because dear writer if you are bored, then you can rest assured that your reader is bored as well. Try to figure out how these can be made more interesting, or if they are necessary to the plot, if they are not, can you cut them, and if you can do without them…then cut. (If you are uneasy about this, see ‘C’ for ‘Cutting Things Out’.

    Beta Readers:

Just a word here on beta readers, these are people that offer to read your work for you, you will find them on various websites, and some might even be followers of your blogs, or websites.

Personally I feel that it is too soon to call on them to read your work. You have only after all completed a first draft, the so called ‘vomit’ draft, where you just upchucked everything, and are only now checking it out to make sure that it’s forming into something more palatable. At least give yourself another draft, or even two before going in search of them.

When you do reach that stage, make sure you have a list of questions for them to answer in regards to your work. I do have one that I use, if you would like a copy, mention it in a comment, and I’ll upload a link to it here.

Don’t panic when you eventually hand out the draft to be read by the beta readers, try not to think of it, once again you are going to be seeing it with fresh eyes once all the feedback comes in. Change small things that have been commented on, but leave the bigger items until they all arrive back, then if more than one person has pointed the item out as problematic, then by all means see if a solution can be found.