Edit five chapters. (Originally this read "edit all of the chapters", but then I realized that would leave me 2 days per chapter. haha, no.) Right now I am using a technique where I read all of the text aloud to myself to see where things get awkward. It's time-consuming, but it helps. I'm currently about a quarter of the way through the first chapter. (There are fifteen in total.)
I'm also trying to use some of the other strategies described in Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King, which I highly recommend if you, too, wish to edit your fiction.
Get the word count down by at least 5k. I'm going to shoot for less than 110k words by the end of August. Of course, that's still probably too long. I'm not going to stress too much about it, though.
Research how to write a good summary. I am totally dreading writing the summary for this thing, because the plot is... let's not use the word complicated. It's really not that bad. It's just... okay, so it's kind of involved. I'm going to put this off by telling myself I'll read some articles on the topic. Yeah!!
Write a pitch. A pitch is a short pithy attention-grabby paragraph about a novel that you use for your cover letters and stuff. Ghhh. So, at one point in the past, I took a seminar for entrepreneurs through the Kenan-Flagler School of Business at UNC. They made a big deal about the "elevator pitch"-- basically a verbal assault you need to make at all passersby informing them about your business idea whether or not they care to listen. Somehow this is eventually supposed to result in venture capital, or something. I don't know, I hate business and I hate self-promotion. My total lack of interest in marketing has been the Achilles heel of my bellydance career (more on this later) but I am NOT going to let it cripple this endeavor! NO! I am going to force myself to LIKE writing the pitch and I am going to make everyone who hears it need to read my novel lest they perish. At least that's what I'm telling myself now.
Blog regularly. I'd like to think I can do it every other day but I will be happy with myself for doing it once or twice a week.
Read a novel about vampires. I must admit, I have read shockingly few. Anyone have any suggestions?
Hi Sara! Saw your blog on my facebook news feed. Congrats on the book, that's awesome- I can only support writing books. I can also only support blogging, and I can ESPECIALLY only support playing tabletop roleplaying games.
ReplyDeleteHave you read Anne Rice's stuff? I'm reading through "Interview with the Vampire," "The Vampire Lestat," and "Queen of the Damned" right now. Decent books, to be sure. Of course, there IS always "Dracula..."
Novels about vampires! Have you read "Lost Souls" by Poppy Z. Brite? How about Kim Newman's "Anno Dracula" and sequels? "Sunshine" by Robin McKinley is pretty good. I can lend you a few next week - I think I have Lost Souls and I have a couple others. Standby - will email you a list. Umm, I have a thing.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget - you don't have to do this stuff on your own! Your friends (like me!) are happy to help. I'm serious - when you are ready, I will happily copy edit/read for plot/help with a summary, whatever you want.
Christopher Moore has written a few books about vampires; Bite Me, I know is one, although I can't remember the sequence of the books. It might be the first one. Since you like RPGs, what about I, Strahd ;) Of course, I haven't read it since I was probably 15, but I remember liking it ;0) I'd be happy to test read, also. I've done this for friends before, nothing professional.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your suggestions, everyone! I have not read ANY of the books that you guys have listed (which is kind of shameful, but that's why I asked).
ReplyDeleteThe second draft of the first chapter will be ready soonish, and I'd love to send it to anyone who is willing to read it and give me some feedback. I will post when this happens.
thanks again!
If you are a history fanatic and want to read a great vampire story from the 1800s, I'd recommend J Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla". It's even online for free! http://www.sff.net/people/doylemacdonald/l_carmil.htm
ReplyDeleteOoo! I love the nineteenth century!!
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