Poison First Edit Phase

I finally finished the first Phase of editing for Poison. Now I have to redo an outline and then begin on the second draft. I think I'm up to the fun part now ^_^.

Again I have found out more about my own personal ways of doing things through editing Poison. When I'm writing first draft, I have to finish a whole scene, rather than trying to get a certain word count. When I'm editing I have to give myself a certain amount of time to do so. Like an hour. I get more done that way.

Anyways, tomorrow is a new day, and I can begin on the Edit outline. And then on April 1st I begin on the first Draft of Blood Donor, which has me really excited. Though I haven't done much with the outline. Which reminds me, I really should catch up on both my HTTS Assignments and my 2Yn Assignments. I'm really getting behind.

Progress Update

First on the agenda is Blood Donor. So far this story is continuing to surprise me, and I am having a lot of fun. So far I have 40 scenes of the 250 that I need. They are all very specific, and the story is simply filled with twists and turns that keep me surprised even as I write the outline. It is going to be very difficult for me to get bored with this novel. It just doesn't stop.

Haven't really been doing much on Pirates, but I have all of April, May and June to worry about that outline. Then I can start on Runaway Thief.

Yes, I have the story Idea for my `09 NaNo project. It's going to be rather smaller than my two current projects, half the size in fact. As it will only come out at 100,000 words. And it is going to focus more on romance than anything.

Last but not least, Poison. I've only editing one more Chapter, but I am continually more and more optimistic about this story. The editing process is just going so well. I can see places where I need to change things, and I can see scenes that just have to go. But I can also see scenes that need to stay. As I'm getting closer to the end of the book, there are more scenes that need to be kept. They get more specific. I'm enjoying this process a whole lot. ^^

Poison progress update

Well today has been the most productive day on Poison edits I have had since I began. I have now completely dissected the first 5 chapters. Which means I only have 7 chapters left. Then I can get into the nitty gritty of line edits -- which I'm really excited for, because that way I will be working scene by scene and making this novel sing.

Now I'm going to bed, so in the morning when I wake up, I can do a few edits!

I'm actually getting somewhere...

So edits on Poison haven't been going as well as I hoped. Well until, in a last ditch effort I cracked open, Holly Lisle's Plot clinic, and decided to give her note cards revision a go. I did the first chapter last night with this method, and Hello, something happened! I got somewhere. I was able to figure out which scenes need the most help, and which ones can just plain go.

It no longer seems like such a large task. If I can just do this for every scene in every chapter. I'll be all good. Which also means that I'll have an outline to work from when I eventually do begin plotting. Which is always good. ^^

On to editing. No more procrastination.

Poison Edits

So I really haven't edited much of this novel. But I want to have it finished by the end of next month, that is my goal. So Tomorrow I will slog it out and get the first reading under way. I only have 8 more chapters, and if I read one tonight that only leaves 7 left tomorrow. That's easy enough. Then I can get down to the nitty gritty, and figure out which scenes need to go, and which ones are to be added, and which ones just need to change.

So much to do!

On a lighter note though, Blood Donor planning has been going good. I am really enjoying it so far, and I can see the story beginning to pan out a bit. Though there are a few twists there that I never would have guessed at. It's a whole lot of fun.

The Editing so far...

I've got to Chapter 4 in Poison. I love the story line, but I hate the way that I've written it. I can see so many ways to better the sentences, and even expand on the scenes. A lot of it is just useless drabble, and I have told not shown a lot of the time. It's more like an extremely comprehensive outline of each scene, showing every move. But that is easily fixed. I can also see places where I have dropped subplots, and where I can change things to make the beginning of the story more exciting. For some reason I always have boring beginnings in first draft. Oh well, that's what second draft is for ^^

Right now I'm loving the editing process. Poison is so much easier to edit than Beneath Ice, probably because it is actually coherent, and Beneath Ice will pretty much have to be re-written from scratch. That is going to be a big job.

Anyways, 4 chapters down -- 8 to go. Well at least in the first pass of editing.