A little help from those in the know?

jared86

Dear Writing Boardsies!

Can someone please tell me how, ah, the general book writing process works? I've finished my first draft and it's about 90 odd thousand words. I'm now halfway through editing it as best I can.

Is there anything I should be focusing on while editing and what do I do once I've finished editing it?

I'd love to try and get it published but I don't know anything about the process. If no-one likes it and no company will print it are there people out there who will publish just one copy of your book if you paid for it independently?

Thanks for any help

pickarooney

To answer your last question first - yes, there are a few websites where you can upload your finished book and order a couple of bound copies for yourself, I think lulu.com is one of them.

Second, congratulations on finishing the first draft!

Thirdly, you'll probably need a good few drafts before it's ready for submission.

Fourthly, if you want some feedback on what to look out for in rewrites, what's good, what's less good etc., post some excerpts up here. If you don't feel like posting it publicly, there are usually a few posters around who are in a similar position to yourself who you could probably get to read some of your book in exchange for the same.

I've never tried to publish anything so I can't help with that part, but most people seem to have more luck going through agents than independently.

What's the book about?

EileenG

Read out loud when you are editing, that will help you catch mistakes and repetitions.

Give your reader credit. Don't over explain things, they can always go back if they get lost.

I know it sounds obvious, but keep it interesting. If you have long passages that you find dull, see if there's some way of cutting them or rewriting so they become interesting.

Getting just one copy of a book published would be shockingly expensive, but possible.

cinnamon

Hi Jared

Before you start editing you should save your work as 2nd draft and this is the one you edit. Therefore you have an untouched 1st draft if for some reason you're unhappy about the editing. It also means you're not deleting anything, which you should never do, because whatever is cut out of your current work is gone forever. It could be useful in another book.

When you first edit you big picture edit first of all, i.e making sure plot makes sense, characters go through their arc, everything is consistent, flow, etc. This can mean rearranging chapters, cutting out stuff that slows down plot, etc. It usually means printing out your manuscript (90k words will be a few hundred a4 pages!) and rearranging. This editing stage makes sure your plot and characters are polished to how you want them.

Then when you are happy with the flow of the book, do you line edit. This is the 3rd draft. This is where you check spelling, grammar, make beautiful your phrases and sentences. This can take a few drafts actually.

Have a look at the Nanowrimo website. I have joined them for the last couple of years and if you win (i.e. you write a 50k novel in November) you are entitled to a free draft copy of your novel. I received my copy last year and it was a proper perfect-bound book. Create Space are the company that offers this.
The Nano website are also very helpful on all stages of the writing/editing/publishing process.

Good luck

pickarooney

cinnamon wrote: »

Have a look at the Nanowrimo website. I have joined them for the last couple of years and if you win (i.e. you write a 50k novel in November) you are entitled to a free draft copy of your novel. I received my copy last year and it was a proper perfect-bound book. Create Space are the company that offers this.
The Nano website are also very helpful on all stages of the writing/editing/publishing process.

Good luck

Is there nothing to stop you cheating (ie. copying and pasting an already written novel) and getting a free bound book?

desolate sun

pickarooney wrote: »

Is there nothing to stop you cheating (ie. copying and pasting an already written novel) and getting a free bound book?

No there is nothing to stop you cheating. But you are only cheating yourself.
The whole idea about Naowrimo is to throw caution to the wind, and write like the devil for 30 days. This is from the website:

Do I have to start my novel from scratch on November 1? Can I use an outline?

Yes.
This sounds like a dumb, arbitrary rule, we know. But bringing a half-finished manuscript into NaNoWriMo all but guarantees a miserable month. You'll care about the characters and story too much to write with the gleeful, anything-goes approach that makes NaNoWriMo such a creative rush. Give yourself the gift of a clean slate, and you'll tap into realms of imagination and intuition that are out-of-reach when working on pre-existing manuscripts.

You could use your previously written novel for the free book but you should defintely write another book for the month of November. It is a complete rush trying to write so much in such a short time!

bigsmokewriting

Also keep in mind that you may need more than one round of edits/revisions before you move on to the line edit stage - especially if it's your first book. And don't be afraid to make significant changes like cutting out entire subplots or characters, or adding in entirely new things. No one's looking over your shoulder insisting that you need to stick to everything you intended in that first draft.