Journey Of A Novel

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I’m clueless

Tanya V 25 November 2022

I have given my 3rd draft to a published writer and a PHD academic for feedback on how it reads, what is and isn’t clear, what they want to know more about, and any other input that they are happy to share. I’ve told the both that I have no expectation on what or how they respond to reading my work. For both of them I’ve let them know that if nothing else I hope they enjoy the read.

I received notes from the writer, and along with being grateful I am pleasantly surprised at how well it was received. Yes there are suggestions and questions and feedback pointing to sections in need of improvement, but there’s fewer than I expected. In my mind the first and last chapters are the problem children in my story, only one of these two chapters was pointed out as needing development. I’m a bit dumbfounded that there isn’t more suggestions and questions about the draft than what was returned to me.

There is still feedback to come from the other reader which I hope to have by the end of this week.

While I’m waiting I’ve been reading ancient tales to keep my head in the realm that I’ve taken my story structure from. I’ve been thinking about the feel of the novel, the bigger picture. It’s been a relief to have some breathing space while I come to terms with the next steps.

Before sharing my work I wasn’t committed to the idea of publishing. The feedback that I’ve had so far has encouraged me to take the leap in that direction. I’m clueless about how to proceed, but that sums up this whole journey and I have managed to get this far.

The waiting game

Tanya V 11 November 2022

Much to my surprise I’ve completed my 3rd draft. I reached this point by creating one double spaced file of my 2nd draft. I printed it, then sat with pencil in hand and read it through all in one sitting. When I was done I made a copy of the file, called it the 3rd draft, made the changes, then printed and repeated the process. With each reading I had a different focus. The first read through was for structure, consistency and punctuation errors. The next read through was with an eye on theme, imagery and any obvious doubling up of phrasing or words. The result is a file that serves as my 3rd draft.

My word count is just under 26 000 words. I thought that I’d written more. When I printed the 2nd draft the word count was closer to 30 000, but I was ruthless with my pencil and the delete key when I read and reread. Maybe I’ll write more. I’ll wait for feedback and insights from a few people that have kindly agreed to read it for me. This input will be invaluable because at this point I feel like I’m standing in front of a huge painting so close to it that the tip of my nose touches against the canvas, and I’m trying to see the whole picture from that up-close perspective.

It all makes sense in my head which doesn’t count for much when others read my work.

So now it’s a waiting game before I proceed. I’ll wait for feedback, I’ll wait to assess how and if I should change, edit, add, or better my draft. I’ll wait to see if I have written something engaging for others or only for myself to engage in the sense of purpose that the creative process facilitates.

A numbers game

Tanya V 26 March 2022

Today I completed the 2nd draft of chapter two, and I have three people reading to give me feedback which is three times more than I had for my 1st draft. The word count is dropping as I slash away superfluousness with a flurry of backspacing, and I’m now frowning half as much when I read back over what I have written.

My love of words has taken a turn from wanting to keep them all to trashing every attention stealing syllable that could distract from story, narrative, or the focus of a reader’s imagination. After many years of adding more words, more ideas, and more story it’s time now to start taking away.

So, my writing journey seems to have shifted from the words to the numbers.

Getting it all out and getting it all down has worked a treat for me with room to play with my words on this second pass of my work. To do this I have made copies of my 1st drafts and named them as 2nd drafts so that I can edit away indiscriminately with only the story in mind while still having my 1st draft copies untouched.

The other main focus while writing the 2nd drafts is to restructure each chapter with an idea that I have for story formatting to assist with the flow between characters, settings and story stages – well, that’s the plan.

I can feel a new rhythm setting in now that I’m into 2nd draft territory and it is a relief. As I reached the end of my 1st draft journey I was beginning to feel disconnected from my work, I felt a kind of creative limbo caught somewhere between nearly done and ready to begin again afresh.