Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Tuesday's Links to Writing & Marketing Blog Posts


By: Samantha Bryant

What I Learned from Rewriting my Novels

Writing a novel is a learning process. Rewriting one, even more so. Whenever I am working on a rewrite, I get mad at my earlier self for not being more careful with continuity and pacing. "What idiot wrote this gobbledygook anyway?" I shout to the heavens. Oh yeahit was me. 

I've been through the writing/rewriting cycle a few times now: for two, as yet, unpublished novels, for Going Through the Change, a novel which is being published right now, as I write this (Release date: April 23, 2015 from Curiosity Quills Press), and for a fourth book (a sequel to Change) that I'm working on right now. 

Here's what I have learned in all of this work:

1. Each novel is its own specific puzzle. You can't put this one together the same way you did another. 

I felt like I learned so much from writing and rewriting my first novel, His Other Mother (unpublished). For example: how to structure a novel that featured a lot of internal conflict in such a way that the reader is still engaged. Or how to stick really well to the point of view in a particular chapter without accidentally slipping into another character's head.

And those lessons served me well when I sat down to write Going Through the Change. The first draft of Change was ten times better than the first draft of Mother.

But that wasn't the be-all-and-end-all. In reworking Change, I had a different kind of puzzle to solve. Much of the conflict was external. There were physical fight scenes in which logistics had to be clear, but I still had to maintain the emotion and excitement of the fight. Nothing I'd written in that first novel helped with those new problems.

2. When you write with the end in sight, the first draft holds together better. 

. . .

Read the full article HERE!
~*~

If you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they are again:
  • Insecure Writer's Support Group: 5 Ways to Recover from Writer's Fatigue http://ow.ly/OkiAp
  • Writing...Just because!: What I learned from Re-Writing my Novels - guest post from Samantha Bryant http://ow.ly/OkiEz
  • Updating Your Ebook After Publication — The Book Designer http://ow.ly/OkiMm
  • Anne R. Allen's Blog: REALITY CHECK: Mixed Martial Arts For Writers http://ow.ly/Okkgl
  • Blood-Red Pencil: How Long is a Chapter? http://ow.ly/Okkkf
  • Marketing for Writers How to Set Up an Inviting Author Website that Converts and Builds Loyalty - Marketing for Writers http://ow.ly/Oklrr
  • How to Use Facebook Mobile Apps for Marketing Social Media Examiner http://ow.ly/OklDU
  • The Essential 10: The Synopsis | YAtopia http://ow.ly/OklJP
  • Everyone’s A Winner! 9 Tips for Hosting Fun (And Successful) Book Contests | Your Writer Platform http://ow.ly/Okm1F
  • Writer Unboxed » A Call to Pens–Writer as Social Activist http://ow.ly/Okm6J
  • Writability http://ow.ly/Okmew  But here’s the truth with any and all writing tips, dos and don’ts: there are almost always exceptions.
  • Five Free “Must Use” Tech Tools for eBook Authors — The Book Designer http://ow.ly/OkmoT
  • New AAP Figures Show Ebook Growth Mostly Flat | Digital Book World http://ow.ly/OkmuE
Happy running and writing, Kathy

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