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Saturday 28 March 2015

#WIPMarathon: March Update

It's time for another #WIPMarathon update, hosted by the lovely Ifeoma Dennis!

Last report wordcount: I'd finished drafting the final Alliance book!

Current report wordcount:  I did the read-through of the entire Alliance series to see how much needed fixing. I reassembled the jigsaw of Book 3 and managed to get it into the right order without breaking the book (YES!). I fixed some of the major issues in the other books.

WIP issues this month: Lack of focus.  Being done with a series made it difficult to focus on planning something new when I was still emotionally tangled up in the Alliance series.

Four things I learned this month in writing:
  • I will never get everything right the first time. Or the second time. Or the third... well, it takes me 6-10 drafts to have a book I'm happy with, including multiple rounds of feedback. I probably rewrite at least 60% of each draft, because I have a tendency towards telling, filter words, repetition, excessive use of adverbs, and basically everything you're not supposed to do. :P So I have to rewrite every other sentence. (This is why I infinitely prefer editing other people's books to editing my own...)
  • Keep an over-used words list for line editing. Mine's two pages long now, and includes all those useless filler words, unnecessary adverbs, and repetitive phrases that crop up in my writing when I'm power-drafting.
  • Starting a new project is hard. Outlining is hard, but always worth it. (Evidenced by the fact that I just wrote a series in six months! O.O)
  • Some projects need more time than others. Alliance was better-planned from the beginning, so I could draft the series back to back, but I have a few projects from last year that went completely off the rails and need re-planning.
What distracted me this month when writing:  Adamant being published! 

Goal for next month: Finish proofreading Nemesis. Complete another revision round on Alliance 3.

I've also signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo, and I'm planning to revisit the book I wrote a year ago (my YA post-apocalyptic sequel!). I'm hoping to re-plot it as a longer series. :)

Last 200 words:

No new words this month, but there will be teasers from Nemesis coming soon!

13 comments:

  1. You're as busy as ever ^_^ Best of luck with Camp NaNo!

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  2. I still can't believe you wrote a whole series so fast! ;) Congrats again on publishing the first one and good luck with everything!

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  3. I totally feel EVERYTHING you learned this month! As many times as I've edited my last story now, I found a plot inconsistency this last time that was sticking out so much I can't believe I didn't see it before!

    Best wishes with the rest of the series!! And good luck with CampNaNo! I signed up as well, but I think it'll be a week before I get started.

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    1. I always spot new errors in every edit!
      Thanks! :) I'm still not sure I'll be able to keep up, but I'll try!

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  4. Sometimes my books take 5 or more drafts, too. Good luck with Camp NaNo and yay again for ADAMANT! :D

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  5. The over-used words list sounds like a really good idea. I'm also surprised at how quickly you can start working on a new series after finishing one.

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    1. It's helpful to keep a list like that handy! I normally wait longer between series, but this one's already partly planned. Time will tell if this is a good idea! :p

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  6. As impressive as always! That over-used word list is a good idea. I definitely need to start something like, maybe for over-used descriptions. I have a tendency to repeat myself from one book to the next.

    Good luck with all things writerly for April - I'm sure it will all go splendidly! :)

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    1. I do that, too. I keep notebooks for descriptions as well!
      Thanks! :)

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  7. Re-assembling the jigsaw of your Book 3 without breaking it is definitely a feat I would love to boast of one day! I don't know how you do it!

    And you're so right on never getting any draft right the first time. Somehow, you- the superdrafter- saying it even makes the likes of us feel so much better for endless rewriting our work ;)

    Keeping a list of overused words sounds like a great idea.

    Good luck this month!

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