Elizabeth Drakes's Site

Fantasy Romance

editing

Writing: Finished!

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I finished Siegfried and Sarah.

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Let me celebrate a little!

Yes, the story is only forty-thousand words, but this is how stories work for me.

My first draft are skeletal. I will not be killing my darlings, as frankly, I don’t have many darlings to kill.

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He has some really good advice, but I would NEVER let him read me a bedtime story. Ever. I like sleep too much.

But I will later. I will layer on all the things that make the story come to life. Character motivation. What they are thinking and feeling. Maybe even a description of where they are and what they are wearing.
Yes, my first drafts are pretty bare, but they have a beginning, middle and end. They are a complete story, even if they are a very hurried, very incomplete story.

I have come to terms with my methodology of writing. I have learned to trust my inner muse, to let her have free reign on the first draft.

There is only one way to account for stock comp expense, but I believe there is a myriad of ways to write a book. I sometimes think the writing community’s obsession with outlining stems more from our society’s obsession to control things, to understand the process, and then sell that process.

If it works for Stephen King, it must be the correct way!

Except I am not certain this works with creative endeavors the same way it works for accounting. I also think it’s a lot harder to sell the pantsing methodology. You can’t really put together a class on trusting your muse and letting her see you through. And most writers have seen more than our share of classes on how to plot a novel.

I am rambling a bit about process here to hide the sense of loss I am feeling right now.

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Siegfried and Sarah’s story is done. After the hours and hours we have spent together, I have their first draft complete.

It is with great sadness, and more than small feeling of loss, that I say goodbye to them.
I always feel such loss when I finish a first draft. I feel a certain sadness as I complete later drafts, but never as much as I do on this first one.

As I bid them farewell and allow them to enjoy their happily-ever-after, it’s time to turn my focus to revisions.

I can’t wait to introduce you to Sarah and Siegfried, but first, Sir Matthias needs his happily-ever-after…

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NaNoWriMo 2019

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I will not be doing NaNoWriMo again this year.

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And any love from your family.

To those that are doing it, I will once again cheer for you from the sidelines.

I set my goals last January, and I am trying to stick to them as well as I can.

At the moment, I am working on my February 2020 goal because that is what has me inspired right now and because I managed to finish my October goal earl. Which happened to be the first draft of Thomas of Claudia. So maybe that means I already finished Nano?

Okay, so not really.

I just can’t complete so much in a month, especially not a month when I am already so busy at work.

Thomas and Claudia’s story is currently only fifty-five thousand words, but it has a beginning, middle and end. I like the characters, but clearly the novel needs more robustness.

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Will always be how it is for me.

Not surprising as that is how I write.

I have given up on trying to do what I am “supposed to” do. I don’t outline. Yes, it means more rewriting. So be it. In my defense, my editor says my first draft is like a very chunky outline. All the pieces are there, but they are stripped down to their bare bones. Not that she has ever seen a first draft, but she has seen how my revisions work. And she knows how spare the third draft she receives from me is. So, instead of paring down and killing my darlings, I tend to start by writing a skeleton draft and layering on from there.

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Actual footage of my first draft.

This is what works for me. It may not be the best thing, but it works.

To everyone out there taking on Nano, I wish you well!

I will be writing this year along with you instead of revising as these new characters just won’t hush, but it will be at a much slower pace.

My family thanks you, especially as I need to keep that day job!

And so does my cat.

 

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Yeah, he’s cute. Until you want him to move.

 

Writing: What I’m Working On

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You hear me bemoan my lack of time quite often, but I thought I’d let you know why I want more time and what I’ve been working on the last four years.

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Time is such a balancing act

I took the keyboard back up in 2015. There are two novels I wrote that first year that will never see the light beyond my hard drive.

Other than those two, I have:

Published:

Deep Into Editing – Hoping for a 2019 Release

  • Knight of Valor
  • A Knight’s Redemption

Sent to My Beta Reader

  • Pirate Captain’s Daughter
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Of course she does. It’s why I send it to her!

First Drafts in Need of the Hard First-to-Second-Draft Edits

(These don’t have title’s yet. I think of most of my books by the names of the hero and heroine, sometimes even after they have a title)

  • Rita and Logan – Rita may get a new name before this is launched
  • Gabriel and Chelsea – introduces elves!
  • Leikar and Annabelle – yes, the same Annabelle as from Seducing the Ice Queen
  • Alexander and Rebecca – yes, the same Alexander mentioned in Knight of Valor
  • Alor and Evie – Set in the same world but well beyond Tamryn. Alor is actually from a dragon clan that survived the purge.
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The editing may even be worse than this.

Future Stories

I have story ideas galore, but ideas in the world of writing are only slightly more valuable that pebbles on a beach.

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Lotta pebbles

But, I do have an idea for one of Rebecca’s brothers from Alexander and Rebecca. Her other brother could also use a story.

Alor has four brothers, all who need stories.

I am currently pondering the people in two small kingdoms that are part of the eastern provinces. There’s at least three stories there – one for the crowned prince and each of his two younger siblings. Possibly stories for those from the rival kingdom as well.

I’ve heard people would like to see Sir Leopold get his happily-ever-after as well as High-Knight Freya.

And one of my beta readers wanted to know if I would at least write a novella to get Marcella and Pike together from A Knight’s Redemption.

This is before we consider the handful of other stories I have planned involving a death knight, a kingdom plagued by insanity, and the elves.

Yes, there will be elves!

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So yes, I need more time.

Now, where to find it…

Writing: The Slog

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I have gone from the euphoric high of new characters and fresh beginnings to the slog.

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Yep, just fine.

 

So I decided to procrastinate do some research, and curl up with a couple of good books.

Which may have made the situation I’m currently in with this WIP worse as now I am yelling at myself not to compare my first draft with a New York Times best-selling author’s final finished product.

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Easier said than done.

I know this. Mentally. But the reptile brain is less easily convinced by reason.

And it doesn’t help that my characters are not behaving. They are not doing what my notes said they should do. The hero is not at all what I thought he would be like. He’s a dark and powerful mage that…likes puppies and kittens?!?

Wait, what?!?

Leikar, you are supposed to…never mind. You do you, and let’s see if that gives us a story.

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What I’m doing with all my notes for this story.

And this is what happens in the middle of my stories. My characters are off doing things they weren’t supposed to do until later in the story. Acing in ways I’d never intended.

I have to slog through it and find my way to the end.

Usually, writing the ending is much more like writing the beginning. At that point, the characters have tossed my ideas aside and just run toward their own ending.

But, I have to get to where they are taking me.

Let them show me the path even though its not the path I chose.

So, yes, the writing is going much slower. I am in the soft morass of the middle where things happen that I know I’m going to have to go back and add foreshadowing for in earlier chapters. Where I know a ton of things are going to need to be tidied and cleaned up.

But that’s for later.

The middle is where I most need to silence the internal editor as every word is a struggle to get on the page anyway. The last thing I need to do is quiet the ideas that are coming because I started three sentences in a row with the same word.

Still, I am getting there. Perhaps in another few weeks, I will have another completed first draft.

To add to my pile.

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My editing pile isn’t this bad. Yet.

 

I need to figure out how to edit faster. But that will wait until I get through this journey.

First, Leikar has to show me how he’s going to get out of the mess that found him.

*evil author laugh*

 

 

Writing: March Goal Update

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Things are messy.

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March Progress Report

It’s the end of March. As you can tell, February and March aren’t complete, but April is. That’s because February and March involved a great many thing related to a new book release in April that is not happening in April.

Two more months’ worth of things have been added, so I really have fourteen months of work to accomplish in twelve.

Sounds like my day job.

Still, I am making progress.

I am trying to decide if I quit working on the brand new story I’m writing and go back to editing Knight of Valor, or if I should finish this fresh WIP then settle in for a long bout of editing. Not only does Knight of Valor need editing, but Pirate Captain’s Daughter is rough.

Really rough.

Even for a second draft. I need to work on the heroine in that a lot more before it goes to a beta reader.

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I *really* want to avoid this look

And, I can’t edit and create new at the same time. I’ve tried. It doesn’t work for me.

Originally, May’s goal was to finish the WIP I started in April. I know how hard it is to drop a WIP half-way through and try to pick it back up again. I’d love to say I always finish. But I don’t.

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Not the kind of person I want to be, but best to know yourself

 

My current plan to finish this WIP, then I will be spending a great dal of time editing. First, Knight of Valor. That may mean pushing off the other edits as you can only spend so much time editing before you need the rush of creativity that comes from creating new.

Yeah, I know, the rainbows, unicorns and butterflies of a writer.

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Yep, about like that!

But if my writing journey has taught me anything, it’s to trust my own process. It might not work for Nora Roberts or Stephen King, but so far, it works for me.

Their processes may be better, and their processes certainly create best-selling books, but we all have to start somewhere.

How about you? Are there things you just can’t do together no matter what the experts tell you? Can you finish something half way, put it down, and pick it back up again?

 

Revisions, Revisions, Revisions

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I am swimming in revisions right now.

I received the latest draft of Knight of Valor back, and it looked like a field of poppies with the amount of red comments on it.

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Amount right.

Sad, really, for an eighteenth draft, though most of the comments revolve around letting the hero’s personality shine through and maybe showing a bit more of the broken side of his character.

He, of course, wants no part of that. He wants to be the strong silent type that you can rely on. Which he is, but he’s also been through hell and back and survived. He’s not the naïve and idealistic youth he once was. And that’s okay. Both he and I need to be more comfortable letting some of those broken pieces show through, at least for the reader.

So, yeah, this has been an exhausting rewrite.

But, I will say, the story is better for it. I feel like the changes I am making help better convey Sir Marcus’s character and explain why he is my favorite of all the heroes I have written to date.

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Or the eighteenth

It will probably take me at least the rest of the month, maybe longer, to finish the rewrite. Then, I need to walk away for at least two weeks.

Four would be better so that I can look at the manuscript with fresh eyes.

Okay, all right, sort of fresh eyes. After nineteen revisions, I’m not sure I’ll ever have truly fresh eyes for this piece again.

I have updated my goals in Wunderlist to track the extra revisions I need to put in.

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Not exactly what I wanted to show you, but it’s real.

Yeah.

It’s basically two more months’ worth of work.

And yes, my OCD would really like to call February finished, except it isn’t. There were things in that month to accomplish to launch Knight of Valor in April. Just as there are things in March I was supposed to do to get ready for a book launch as well.

But, you can see if you add the progress of February, March and April together, I am a little father ahead than where I had planned to be this time in mid-March.

I am not sure I can do the extra things needed for Knight of Valor and stay on track with my other writing goals this year. Plus, I still don’t know what else will throw me off schedule.

And that’s okay.

I am making progress. I can see that.

There may be unforeseen things along the journey, but I am still traveling it.