M. K. Theodoratus, Fantasy Writer, blogs about the books she reads--mostly fantasy and mystery authors whose books catch her eye and keep her interest. Nothing so formal as a book review, just chats about what she liked. Theodoratus also mutters about her own writing progress or ... lack of it.

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Saturday, January 12, 2013

Polishing Apples, or Is That Revision? Does Revising Your Manuscript Paralize You?


How do you write? Make a mad dash to the "end" and then revise? Or, do you revise as you write? I'll confess I revise as I write, especially at the beginning when I'm still figuring out my characters. One thing's for sure though. No matter how or when you revise, revision is the key to good writing.

Everyone has their own way of keeping track of how they revise. Every writer should know their weak points ... better than anyone else, including your editor. One fault-finding list I found helpful was a guest post at Pen & Muse by Dahlia Adler. Her check list will help you get the most out of your critiques. Maybe even help you clean up your manuscript so your critiques are more gentle.

Brownie points with Glitter go to the people over at Operation Awesome. They published a guest blog by Gennifer Albin on how she revises. Why the glitter? She mentioned a technique I had never heard before. Using  the text to speech function on Word. Now I have to get up the gumption to try it. -- [I'm scrunching up thinking about sitting at the stupid computer longer.]

I can't wait to get my other desk cleared off so I can start working through the above with an actual manuscript in front of me. Probably one of the shorts festering in my computer.

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Progress? Well, yeah ... sort of. Did get another chapter finished on Hag Stone Magic ... but then realized I had to go back and revise to make Mac more wary and aware of her surroundings. She's not a paralyzed scaredy-cat... Will probably wait until my critique group tears apart my draft though so I can go back and revise all the pieces all at once.

Then, The Pig Wars are still being fought. Not wrestling too much with the revisions though. Have decided to send the novella out to some e-publishers to reject before I self-publish. Then, Troublesome Neighbors will be free.

You can get Troublesome Neighbors for free now if you are willing to read a PDF file ... and hopefully give me a review on Amazon, B&N, and/or Goodreads. All you have to do is send a request to mkkaytheod[at]yahoo[dot]com.

Oh, I'm working hard on getting an author website up. The copy is about half done ... but I haven't quite decided on the template yet. Found one I liked ... but it's way too dark and can't be lightened.

2 comments:

Patricia Stoltey said...

Hi Kay -- I try to finish an ugly first draft before I start revising and editing. I need to know where I'm going before I can fix the places where I've wandered off track.

Unknown said...

Oh ... my drafts are ugly ... but I'm not going to fight over who's draft is ugliest. It's just when I add a new plot element or new character, I need to go back and change text before I forget where the idea belongs. -- Usually, my draft chapters have all sorts of notes to myself in different colored inks that this or that needs to be done.