It's time to report back about the status of my novel. First of all, I'm happy to say I've completed revision nine. The purpose was to cut out unnecessary words and bring my word count more in keeping with the number agents and publishers suggest. After I added a lot of needed new material, as suggested by my critical assessment editor, my word count grew from 85,000 to 103, 052 words. So, my goal was to cut at least 5,000 of them. I'm happy to say I exceeded my goal, and cut 5,675 words. Hopefully I didn't cut anything that I'll have to put back later. My next job is to break up several long chapters into smaller ones. That is an easy fix. And now I feel I'm at a point to think about getting my book published. The question is, should I shop around for an agent or publisher or should I self-publish? That's a question I never thought I'd be asking. I've always said I didn't want to self-publish. I didn't self-publish my memoir, so why go that route with my … [Read more...]
Traditional or self-publishing: that is the question
Revising and editing are like sculpting
Here's a piece of advice from Samuél L. Barrantes in his article, 7 Things I've Learned So Far, by Samuél L. Barrantes, for Chuck Sambuchino's website: Guide to Literary Agents. It came at exactly the right time. I am in the very nitty-gritty editing and rewriting phase of my revision process. Barrantes says: Writing = Re-Writing. I used to have a romantic notion of writing as a frenzy of creativity, where the words poured out of me, the Muses singing by my side. But the truth is writing is as much about editing and re-writing as it is about creation. You really have to love what you're working on to stick with it. I think of the first draft as the sculptor's block of cold stone there is something there, buried within, but the sculptor spends years chiseling away. For example, I cut approximately 35,000 words between the first and final drafts of Slim and The Beast, with countless rewording and revising throughout. My goal is to cut 9,000 words from my manuscript … [Read more...]
