This post is about editing a first draft. Anyway, about the way I do it. You can compare the product of the first edit (this post) with the unedited first draft (last post). Note: as with any of my other posts in this section of my blog, it may contain spoilers to my writing. So proceed at your own risk. In my last post I discussed my routine of reading
I now tend to write scene by scene rather than chapter by chapter. I imagine each scene as something from a television show or film. What is cohesive? What sticks? What camera angles? Who do I focus upon? When do I shift focus? These thoughts tumble into a rough plan in my head. I play with this plan, not yet having started to type. When I do eventually type I
So I sit here with Scrivener open, contemplating writing (contemplating writing is always so much easier than actually writing) and my mind falls to my world of Shade and maps. Should I map my world? Then I remember that I had contemplated this three years ago and even written some posts in which I used Bryce and Photoshop to create a maps of the chasm city of Shade. Wow! So
So I am writing. Typing away furiously. I’ve just hit 180,000 words. And then it all comes crashing down with a single realisation – I’ve stuffed a part of my world-building. So how did I do this? I’ll try to answer that in a spoiler-free manner, just in case I ever finish this novel or you ever read it. I have a race of magic users (well, kind of). They
During my months of vision impairment I spent a lot of time frustrated by my inability to write each day. During that time, now many months past, I found myself listening to podcasts on the topic of writing. All these months later a few things stand out. Firstly, a lecture by Stephen King. Oh – I listened to lots of his lectures and talks and interview – but yes, one stood out. In it
It was painful, but I finally listened to advice provided by many writers upon writing – I deleted several chapters of my novel. Well, technically I just cut and paste them into another document, but it still hurt. The problem was not that the chapters were no good. I actually felt that they were fine. It’s just that they did not take my characters on the journey that I finally
Following excellent feedback I have tried to make the dragon’s textures bumpier. I did this by painting textures by hand on the previous image using
I my last writing post, Jasne as me a whole heap of really good questions (a big thanks Jasne 🙂 ). I was going to respond to his comment and then realised that my response would make a really good (or at least average) post. So here we go. I will put Jasne’s comments in blue italics and my responses in Klingon plain text. Note that there will be some
Hi folks, A big thanks to the people who provided feedback on my digital work “Upon the Battlements”. I have thought deeply about those comments and also about my own feelings on the work. So here is my second attempt 🙂 Notice the mountains and the sky have been changed. (i.e. no more mountains and a clear sky) Feedback appreciated. 🙂 Greg
OK – be aware that if you are likely to read my novels (when they are done) that some spoilers will be appearing in this post. But I need to think things out and maybe get feedback for you, my few but loyal blogmates. I have finally worked out a series of ideas that seem to gel as the background and overall story arc. Here they are. Background Set hundreds
