Revision Hell, Anyone?

If you remember, last year I rewrote the ENTIRE manuscript of Bleed For Me, my second suspense novel. I've learned a lot since that complete rewrite and I've just received the MS from two critique partners.

...sigh...

I'm back in Revision Hell, but this time, it's not so bad. I have some major elements to fix, mainly character development and it's a start. Up next, paranormal romance with angels and demons.

Block Yourself

I'm on a deadline, one that I made myself, but still a deadline. I'm determined to finish these major revisions on the WIP by the end of this year. As long as I block out my calender, I think I can do it.

So that's what I did. I blocked out a calender for this novel. I also made one for LET ME OUT that is with the critique group. With these tools, I just might keep myself motivated to finish!

Take a look:

Yellow is Round 1 of revisions (where I'm currently rewriting the entire plotline)
Green is Round 2 of revisions (where I will make sure tension, flow and holes are pulled together)
Pink is when I send it to the critique group

I'm a very visual person when it comes to keeping goals. I love to track and color code.

What helps you keep updated with your goals?

Cut the Fat

I have cut over 90 pages from my current WIP... and I'm only at Chapter 5.

I fear it's only going to get worse.

I have to be honest. At first, I cringed at the thought of rewriting the entire book. I even stopped writing because I am one of those people who has to finish a project I start before moving on. My entire brain shut down, my muse abandoned me and I tried not to think about it. Then I realized, I had to cut all the bad writing in order to bring back my inspiration. I had to cut the fat.

I still cringe when I cut a giant chunk of the book out, but after fixing so many pages, after making my book 10x better, I realize that I have grown as a writer. And that's what counts.

How do you deal with cutting the fat from your manuscript?

Hell. Hell. Hell.

Yes, I'm still in Revision Hell with my third novel. I've never had such a hard time writing. It could be because of school. It could be because of work. Or even lack of motivation/inspiration. The entire novel is being rewritten.

That is sad in itself so I feel like this:

But I am making the manuscript better. I am taking one more step toward publication. I am making pages, even if they are just revisions. I made it all the way to Chapter 8, but realized I had to start over again because I wasn't happy with the way certain scenes were arranged and the way I had written them. So now, I'm in Chapter 2 :)

It's slow, but sure. One day I will finish these revisions and my critique group will see it. One day I will submit to agents and publishers.

Where are you with your summer writing? Making progress?

The Write Way

If you haven't had a chance, go check out this post from Jenna Wallace (Writing in a Dream State) to check out ways she visually maps out tension in her MS. It's very inpirational for me to see how other writers edit and revise. I'm always willing to learn a better technique and I'll definately be paying this post a few visits once I get through this major round of revisions on The Next Suspense.

Speaking of The Next Suspense...todays post consists of how I track my progress through revisions. You've already seen my detailed outlines for each chapter. Now, you can see how I bookmark myself when I need to pick up where I left off. Because unfortuneatly, a Word document does not save your place like Excel does.

Uhh...viola? Obviously I have more bad days than good, but those days highlighted in grey are Super Days. I reward myself thost days, by taking the next few off...maybe not such a good idea. But if you have a personality like mine and are interested in keeping track of your project, seeing your failures motivates you!

Are you motivated by failure? Does seeing other writers techniques urge you to try something new?

I Need Your Help

So you remember when I said I was getting back to writing after the end of my break on Saturday? Ha! It hasn't happened. I have finals, and Mother's Day and vacation and...blah blah blah.

I'm still taking notes on the revisions. So I need your help.

So farin The Next Suspense, I have 3 POVs: both MCs and the bad guy.


If I have two MCs running from the FBI and the bad guy, should I make a POV from the lead FBI agent?

I know this is more of a personal question considering this is MY story, but how many POVs is too much? I'm currently reading The Passage by Justin Cronin (suspense) and he has nearly ten POVs so far. Suspense isn't Romance, as far as I know there isn't a set amount of face-time each character needs to have, but will it be harder to follow the MCs journey if I add another character to the mix?

Need serious help. Please comment!

Focus On What's Important: Me!

Nap time's over people. Back to work!

My break from writing is over. The world came crashing down on my shoulders last weekend when I realized I would need to rewrite the ENTIRE MS I'm currently revising and received 2 rejections the same day. These are things that wouldn't normally bother me separately. Rejection happens and I've grown as a writer so much, that I deem my book crap :) Together? Not such a good combination.

I wasn't physically working on the book, but I still made a lot of notes to figure things out.

Welcome to my way of getting things done. It may look like a mess, but this is my outline. I keep very detailed step-by-step outlines so I can review them quickly if I need to go back. Of course, Tracking Changes is on because what I think will work better may not actually and I'll need to revert to the old. I hear the newer OS X.7 Lion will have a feature called Versions (I use a Mac), but not for Microsoft (I use Word for Mac). The program will automatically save "versions" of your work like a backup. Until then, Tracking Changes it is.

The book is kicking my ass. I have come up with a lot of solutions, I hope, but I have a lot of work to do! Sent out a few more submissions for LET ME OUT after revising the letter AGAIN! I'm on...4th round of submissions? Still have 9 queries open.

Are your outlines horrendous like mine? Or simple? Where are you at in Revision Hell?

Death

Revisions are killing me.

The End

I Am Better Than I Used To Be

I don't have some prolific post for you today. I am deep in revisions on The Next Suspense, constantly thinking over the next scene, integrating GMC into the MS. I didn't think there was so much wrong with the MS, but it has been a long time since I've looked at it. I've grown so much as a writer that I've literally ripped this book apart, kept the best pieces and deleted the rest.

After such a grueling experience (mind you, I've only revised up to Chapter 4) this post from Anne Gallagher (a.k.a. The Piedmont Writer) uplifted me. If you need some motivation and inspiration go to her.


What cheers you up after such hard work?

5 Steps to a Perfect Submission

NOTE: This article has now been published in 7 different chapters across the US and Canada for Romance Writers of America, is now being considered for Mystery Writer's of America SoCal chapter newsletter and is on submission for Writer's Digest's October 2011 issue.

As fiction writers, we strive to perfect our submission process to catch our dream agent’s attention and this can only be accomplished by using the basic pattern of submission rules that each agent has constructed to suit them individually. Following these five simple steps, even a novice writer will be ahead of the game when taking their masterpiece out into the world.

Finish the book.  DO NOT submit to an agent unless you are able to use the word “completed” (with word count) in your query. This doesn’t mean first draft material either. Not only do you take that final plunge in writing “The End” at the bottom of that last page, but you have to take your book a step further. Edit and revise several times, which may include several man hours, weeks or years depending on your life and your idea of revisions. But the most important part of this step is that you do it. Your manuscript (MS) is an extension of you and will be the deciding factor in catching an agent. Make it into a masterpiece and then hand it over to someone else.

And I don’t mean your mom. Getting your work critiqued can be daunting. Your work is going out into the world, you’re nervous, you’re not sure if your trusted friend will like your characters or the world you’ve built for them, but here’s the hard truth: you want to be an author. You’re going to have to get over those nervous jitters and accept that not everyone has the same taste. Besides, moms lie. Use your loyal writing community. Don’t have one? Start by reading other writer’s blogs. Befriend them and they will welcome you with open arms. They might even teach you something. The online writing community is always willing to help and know what agent’s are looking for. They will BETA-read for you. They will give you feedback and you will consider every word because you want the best chance of getting noticed by an agent. Of course, you have to use your own judgment in their suggestions as well. This is your work and you know it best.

Because your MS is an extension of yourself, you want it to look professional. So format. This will tell your chosen agent just how serious you are. There are many different opinions on what your header should contain, to bold or italicize the title page and what font to use and a nice tool to answer all these questions is Formatting and Submitting Your Manuscript by Chuck Sambuchino.

Synopsis. Nicknamed the “dreaded synopsis”, the synopsis is your second step in the submission process and unfortunately required. Some writers believe writing an entire novel is easier that consolidating it down to a few pages and I’d have to agree. Contrary to popular belief, the synopsis is NOT a play-by-play of your MS. Instead, think of it as the summary on the back of your book when it’s published, only two to five pages rather than a couple paragraphs. Summaries don’t tell the entire story and neither should your synopsis. You will have the main points and the ending, of course, but the synopsis should be emotional rather than physical. Who are the main characters? What’s at stake? What are their goals, motivations and conflicts? Tell the agent why your readers will keep turning the page, but in a brief summary.

Write the Query Letter.  Easier said than done. Trust me, I know. Just like the synopsis, the query letter is required. This is how you’re going to catch an agent’s attention and make them want to represent you and your work. Further consolidating your MS into two or three paragraphs seems impossible, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Start with a hook line. You’ve already done this in your actual MS. Your hook line is the first sentence that keeps your reader wanting more and you have to do the same in your query letter. Make the agent keep reading your sales pitch. Make her eager to request more material. Because that’s all we as fiction writers really want: a chance to share the real masterpiece.

Two to three paragraphs is plenty to express the goals, motivation and conflict of your protagonist(s) and antagonist(s). Keep it simple. Give the agent the basics, just as you’ve done in your synopsis, but keep them wanting more with conflict. Agents receive thousands of submissions each month and more than you’d think take up more than one page. Two hundred and fifty words is usually the maximum agents are willing to consider for each submission.

Once you’ve got your query cleaned up, send it off to your trusted critique partner or submit it to The Public Query Slushpile (http://www.openquery.blogspot.com/), hosted by Rick Daley. The site is an excellent resource to get free critiques and feedback.

Comprise your list of agents. Your list of agents needs to compliment your work. Genre, for example, is the most important factor in selecting your agents. You don’t want to submit your thriller to an agent who only represents romance. An easy way to sift through the thousands of agents is to obtain a copy of Writer’s Market or subscribe online for about $5.99 a month, check out Agent Query (http://www.agentquery.com/), or head over to Preditors and Editors (http://pred-ed.com/). With these valuable resources, you can weed out agents through an advanced search of genre, website availability and much more. Once you have a basic list, it’s time to research.

Researching your agents. Besides the query letter, researching your agents is the most important step in the submission process and the most time consuming. You will need to read up on every single agent on your list in order to tell the agent why your MS is going to fit them personally in your query. When I say “fit”, I mean you need to know which agent you will be submitting to (some agencies house more than one agent and yes, you need to know the agents name. None of this “Dear Agent” crap), what their submission guidelines are, how to submit to them (snail mail or email), and finally, and what book sales of theirs might compare to your MS. It’s hard trying to compare someone else’s work to yours since yours is so unique, but it can, and must be done. This little tidbit of information gives the agent confidence that you’ve done your homework and tells them just how serious you are about being published.

These five steps will put you ahead of the other two thousand submissions a single agent receives every month and may even lead to that call or email you’ve been waiting for. I wish you the best of luck!

Madness

Ah! I'm falling behind...on everything! This break between semesters is kicking my butt. I have a whole list of things I'd like to accomplish before the only books I'm reading are the ones I'm forced to for a grade, but sadly, this is not the case! I have yet to finish revisions on ALL BECAUSE OF YOU and I'm only a chapter and an epilogue away! Grr.

However, I have completed my New Year's Resolution for 2010 in reading 52, never-before-read, books. :)

I have a post in mind for Friday that will, hopefully, help those of you in the writing world put Microsoft Word Grammar Checker in perspective. My research came as a surprise, considering I use the program EVERY DAY.

Until then...I will miss you - my followers. Sorry I've been away! I'm hoping to get back in the swing of things soon :)

Almost There!

REVISIONS are almost complete for ALL BECAUSE OF YOU! I'm so close. Right now, I've just started working on the last chapter. After that, there's the Epilogue and then I'm done. Done! There haven't been any major plot revisions - thank goodness! - but, as I said before, my first chapter was originally back story. Those scenes within that chapter are now spread out throughout the book and the "biggest case of Marcus' career" is now emphasized. The revisions are mostly small, but have made the MS so much better!

Being that I'm almost done - BETA readers PLEASE! Let me know!

Mmmm...Turkey

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends! To those of you who don't celebrate Thanksgiving, I'm still grateful that you are a part of my journey and hope you have a wonderful day!

I'm getting a lot of work done on the current revisions and hope to send out another round of queries beginning in December. On a side note - I read a post (sorry, I can't remember where) that explained most agents and agencies shut down queries for the holidays. Is December not a good time for querying?

Sloooooooooow

There is not enough time in the day. My revisions are suffering! Chapter 8. That's where I am. Last week I was in Chapter 7. Of course, I didn't expect to have to rewrite so many scenes. A LOT of my content was from other character's POV that aren't my main characters. I'm rewriting them and it's taking a long time! I just have to remember it's for the best.

This weekend Hubby and I are jetting off to Utah for the holiday. I'm praying I can get a chunk of rewrites done and read, and snowboard, and relax, and...oh you get the idea...

What are you doing for the holidays?

Hell

 

This is round 3 of revisions on ALL BECAUSE OF YOU and I've never been so frustrated. The shark above is an accurate description for me, but I thought it was funny when revisions were referred to as "Revision Hell". I'm quickly learning that this is true! I've always been able to shoot through revisions without problems, and that's probably why I'm not published yet. I started this round about 2 weeks ago and I'm only in the middle of Chapter 7! I can honestly say the MS is getting better, but so far I've removed over 70 PAGES of filler. 70 pages. That's a lot of words. This is a suspense. I'm not sure what the general word count is, but I started with 87,000. Hopefully a lot of work can be done this weekend.

What do you consider Hell?

Keeping It Cool

Revisions are grueling and I know many of you can relate. I feel as if I'm rewriting the entire thing, but I can definitely tell you that my MS is getting better and better!

Since this MS, I've written two others and all writers know, the more you write, the better your craft. I've learned a lot since finishing ALL BECAUSE YOU and am happy to incorporate that new knowledge into the revised MS. A short list of items include using backstory through dialogue and cutting down POV's (I had a problem with this, having over six points of view in this MS - now down to just protagonists and antagonist). I've also spiffied (not a word) up my first page and the first chapter to hopefully catch the reader's attention. No major plot revisions so far. Thank heavens. But I have a feeling they're coming!

What is your best advice/knowledge you would like to pass on to novice writers?

In Which I WAS Finished

So...my first draft of MY DEMONIC LOVE is done. Yep, my first Paranormal Romance is complete (for the time being). I need some distance. I will come back to it in a few weeks to start revisions, but that is not what this post is about.

My second novel, ALL BECAUSE OF YOU, is going out to another handful of agents and although I didn't have any takers for beta-reading, I decided to be proactive and read through it one more time before sending my brand spanking new query out into the world.

This is what happened...

I am revising. Again. I realized the entire first chapter was back story. I've saved each segment of that chapter into separate files and will redistribute them throughout the book. They're memories and should be placed accordingly. What was I thinking? Duh! So, as you can see, I'll be busy for the next few weeks. The picture above is just the second page. I'm in for the ride of my life and looking forward to how much better my MS is going to get!

How are your revisions going? Are they simple or a mess like mine?

Another Down

Revisions for All or Nothing are complete! Yay! I love this story. It was fun to write, fun to edit and revise and now my final product is finished. Such a good mood lifter. Now it's time to move onto the paranormal side of things.

Starting Again

Well, I finally printed out All or Nothing and am starting on revisions all over again. I'm hoping within the next week I'll have a huge portion revised so I can finish up my research for my new novel, My Demon of Life.

What I Learned Today: Part I

Revisions aren't going very well with All or Nothing. I got up to about Chapter 2 and decided to start all over again then made the decision to leave it alone for a week. As you can imagine, it's now been two weeks and I haven't even thought about revisions or starting on my paranormal romance. Getting used to working again has its downside and for me writing is one of them. No worries though. As of two days ago, with the news of my membership in RWA, I've revived a little of my motivation. Starting Monday, it's back to revisions on All or Nothing, but today I worked on my paranormal. This is where my post title comes in. Today I learned a lot about my main character in Demon of Life. I knew little bits and pieces about her then turned to the character questionnaire I posted a few weeks ago. I've only toyed with the questionnaire AFTER my characters have a life of their own, but this time I started with it and was amazed by what I discovered. Not only does she now have siblings, she's had a miscarriage that burdens her every day. I didn't know either of those facts this morning. The novel is coming into view and I'm even getting some ideas on the second in the series. Yes, I plan ahead.
The reason this post is titled Part I is because this weekend will be my first meeting with the local chapter of RWA: the Cactus Rose. I'm a little nervous. I have no idea how old the local members are, whether they'll be interested in anything I have to offer or whether I'll like the group at all. Part II will come on Sunday and I'll let you know.