Tips To Help Shape Up Your Manuscript

This is some of the hardest work any writer confronts - Rewriting and Editing, but there are some methods you can use to help you stay focused and work through with a continuous hand.  First off, I am not a teacher or a paid professional coach, I just know what works best for me, and used advise I was given from various sources.

Most of us do free writing on the first draft.  This is when we let our imagination go wild, and we let our 'muse' do its best.  Many writers use NaNoWriMo for this first draft, and it helps to keep focused on result.  You can do this yourself anytime, by setting up word count objectives each day.

After we finish the first draft we have a mess of jumbled up ideas.  You can at this point go to an editor to make sure your story thread rings true, but you still have to do the rework yourself.

Now pull up your sleeves and work through your draft.  If you went to an editor consider all their points as you rewrite.  Don't be afraid to delete where appropriate, and add where more information is needed.
Here are some steps I try to follow:

• Read your entire manuscript through once without stopping, and then set aside for it to incubate a day or so.
• Go back and make a complete outline of each character - know who they are and how they react, what they like, dislike, do and say.  If you did this already with the draft's outline, revisit to make sure you caught everything.  Some things may have developed as you wrote the draft, and need to be added.
• Go back to manuscript and read it out loud, one chapter at a time, to make sure it sounds correct, especially when it comes to dialog, and fix wherever needed so your true character rings through.  Make notes where you need to change things.
• Go back again, and make sure each chapter has the correct tension, using a set goal with actions that lead to a disaster or some form of hook to keep the reader wanting more.
• If you do not use Scrivener or some form of software with outline capabilities, use the board approach for this part.  If not, then consider creating an excel sheet to track each scene, and list the main idea for each scene - by doing this you can see how the entire piece works and flows.
• When you have the scenes outlined by goal - reactions - disaster/hook, look it over and see where you might need to add tension or details to keep the flow smooth, and the tension correct.

Go back to manuscript again, this time looking for offenses some of us (including me) most often have scattered throughout:

• Watch out for head hopping (jumping from one person's thoughts to another) and make sure the POV for each scene is only one person.
• Correct verb tenses, make sure everything is consistent.  This gets tricky if you are using flashbacks etc.
• If you have used a spell checker in your document, go through again manually.  Sometimes a word is spelled correct but its the wrong word, (like of instead of off).  Some say this works best if you go backwards and start at end - I think you just need to proceed slowly and don't read, just look.

This so far has gotten you to a pretty good place, and you hopefully have read through your manuscript at least half a dozen times by now.  - This is the point where your may want to go to an editor again.  Put it aside for awhile - and then after a week or so.

YOU GUESSED IT - go back and read your manuscript again, this time with a highlighter and pencil, if you have it printed.  I like to do a quick conversion to an eBook format, and then I read in my reader and use the highlight feature of my kindle or Ipad.  (anyone can do this with Calibre or similar software)  Highlight anything that sounds out of sorts, make notes (you won't remember).  Then go back to your manuscript and make the changes.  For this part I like to do it chapter by chapter...

By the time you have finished editing you should have gone through the story at least half a dozen times, but most likely closer to over a dozen.  The last part, I actually repeat many times over.  Maybe some can get this all done in one sweep, but I know for myself, I read my manuscript at least fifty times (I lost count).

The thing is, as you set your work aside and incubate, you may come up with some new ideas to add.  If you do - go for it.  This is how we get the extra twists and turns, the symbolism, the ideas that are threaded throughout.  These writing techniques don't just happen with our original idea, they take time to turn over.

One more suggestion I very strongly believe you should use - Beta readers.  Get feedback from others, even if you use an editor.  The feedback will be enlightening.  When someone else who is objective reads your work, they will see things you missed.  Listen with an open ear, and consider their points.  This will make for a better story overall.

So you say "This is a lot of work!"  Yes it is.  This is the meat that makes up writing.  These steps are crucial to any manuscript.  Bottom line, it takes a lot of time, patience, and reworking, to have a manuscript turn into a novel.  Don't get overwhelmed - but instead take it step by step, one section at a time.  Your work will reveal a well written story for others to enjoy, and that is the goal.

Keep reading - Keep writing!

A Thought for a story... BY THE SEA

She was standing at the water’s edge, her feet rubbing against the rocky shoreline, cutting small nooks into her callouses, but the pain never registered.  She looked out at the raging waves that rolled in with a thunderous rhythm.  She wondered where he was right now.  Was he even still alive?  He left weeks ago with his crew.  They went out into the sea wanting to hook the catch of the season.  Her life hardened expression does not suite her finer structure, but this was the kind of life that aged a soul early.  She was destined to wait in pain, knowing her loved one may never return again to her arms.  The waves kicked up spray that left a gentle mist over her face; they blended with her tears, making them vanish to the eye.  If only she had the strength to stay away from him…. But alas, she was here, waiting for her man to return home.  She prayed that her heart would not be broken.  God speed, my love.

 

What Will You Cross Off Your Bucket List in 2013?

BUCKET LIST CHALLENGE BLOG HOP

With Dana Sitar to celebrate the launch of "A Writer's Bucket List"
http://writersbucketlist.com/challenge

   

HELLO FRIENDS - We all have our BUCKET LISTS

As writers, our lists usually involve publishing a piece of work, our ART. This is the year I plan to release my first novel,

“BREAKING CURSED BONDS”

 

It is a manuscript that has been on my writer's bucket list for a while now!

A work in progress for three years, finally I see the end of the tunnel. 

 

Now only two more items to check off my list in 2013!

#1 Sending free copies to a few choice friends and readers asking for some final feedback, and hopefully a review or two.  I have it formatted, so anyone interested, please send me an email.
 

#2 finalizing my cover design – currently there is a working option, but the final cover is not chosen, hoping for a few more choices.  I plan to use a designer to check the final file and formatting.

 

With all the steps below already checked off, and the last two soon to be done, I am confident I will be releasing the novel this year.  How do I feel about it? - SCARED!  It is difficult to let go.

My first work has been a labor of love, and I have enjoyed the process.  I have two more manuscripts in the works and hope to follow shortly with another release after “BREAKING CURSED BONDS”.  I hope you will enjoy my work in the near future.

 

THE PROCESS:

Working on my manuscript part time while working a full-time job for two years, I am now writing full time. I decided I needed to finish what I began, and give it my best effort.

I have a lot I can check off as accomplished, and that makes me feel good.

ü First Draft Finished

ü Requested Feedback & Comments from First Readers

ü Revised and Added Material

ü Printed and Made Corrections

ü Sent Copy to an Editor

ü Reviewed Editor’s Report and Revised Manuscript

ü Rewrite & Self Edit (this actually was done in a few cycles!)

ü Then it was converted to epub and mobi format to view and edit again, checking how the new material added looked.

ü Then I read it aloud and made more changes to dialogue

ü Again edited and checked for straggling mistakes not caught with built in spell and grammar checks

 

Best of luck to you and YOUR ART! Keep Writing.

 

 

Support our Blog Tour Host:

 

A message from Dana Sitar-

Thank you for your support of “A Writer’s Bucket List” throughout this journey. I’m so excited today to announce the book’s OFFICIAL RELEASE!

You can buy it here: http://e-junkie.com/danasitar

Today through February 12, the book is 30% off the list price. Get “A Writer’s Bucket List” plus a free copy of the DIY Writing “Brainstorming Workbook”, the “Bucket List Workbook”, and “Bucket List Exercises” for $6.95 -- so be sure to share the book today, so no one misses out on the discount!

CLASSIC READS - Some Things Never Change

Today more people can communicate their thoughts into words and those words can easily end up in books.  It is a liberating time, a cycle of change and freedom.  In many ways it is times like this, with so much change, that we need our classic reads.

 

 

The past few years have been dynamic for authors. There are more writers being published via eBooks and print on demand (POD).  Exposure of existing authors is heightened with the rampant growth of social media and marketing via author platforms. 

The classics help our society remember what we are gauging our future against. 

Classics are a reference to excellence that we can use as a measure of our own success today and in the future. 

The classics prevail over time and language, with truth exposed in the characters and story.  Some basic human truths make a story appeal over centuries.  No matter the date written, the human spirit is visible in a classic, and is readily identified. 

There are obvious classics which we have probably all read from Homer’s Iliad to Stephen King’s The Stand.  Some classic writers that quickly come to mind are listed below, trying to find at least one author per letter.  There are many more: 

 

 

 

Agatha Christie	H.P. Lovecraft	John Steinbeck	Sidney Sheldon
Arthur Conan Doyle	Harper Lee	Jules Verne	Stephen King
Bram Stoker	Henry David Thoreau	Kurt Vonnegut	Thomas Hardy
C.S. Lewis	Herman Melville	Leo Tolstoy	Truman Capote
Charles Dickens	Homer	Mark Twain	Udall, Brady
Dan Brown	Ian McEwan	Mary Shelly	Ursula Markus
Dante Alighieri	Isaac Asimov	Nathaniel Hawthorne	Uzma Sadaf
Edgar Allan Poe	J.D. Salinger	Oscar Wilde	Victor Hugo
Emily Bronte	J.K. Rowling	Percy Bysshe Shelley	Virginia Woolf
Emily Dickinson	J.R.R. Tolkien	Philip Pullman	William Blake
Ernest Hemingway	Jack London	Plato	William Faulkner
F. Scott Fitzgerald	James Joyce	Quinn, Spencer	William Shakespeare
Franz Kafka	Jane Austen	Ralph Waldo Emerson	Xavier, Francis
George Eliot	John Grisham	Ray Bradbury	Yann Martel
George Orwell	John Irving	Robert Louis Stevenson
H. G. Wells	John Milton	Rudyard Kipling

I had difficulty finding a classic author for the letter Z.  I humbly hope someday my name may be used to fill in this gap, not presuming classic status on my part. 

Please in the coming year look for my book debut…  

BREAKING CURSED BONDS by Elisabeth Zguta

Happy reading and writing to us all! 

Best of luck in your 2013 endeavors.

 

Enjoy the clip from the 2009 Wuthering Heights - one of the best versions on screen.  The rest of the clips that follow can be found on YouTube - find listed in my channel.

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSayPBDIpl739kcswMsFopA

 

 

Reviews.library journal.com Best books-2012-top-ten

Amazon best-sellers-of-2012 books

 

Visit the hoppers!

Participants in the Classic Reads blog hop (#NewClassicReads).

8 Simple Steps to Help YOU Write

The New Year has begun, now two days into it, and already I feel behind. I want to write at least 1000 words a day, but so far I have been doing housework, shopping and organizing. Sometimes I think I sabotage myself by noticing all the things around me that need to be done. It’s only the second day but my mind keeps telling me to get it right from the start. This is a new year with a lot of projects mulling in my head, and I want to make a good effort. I will use a schedule just so I don’t get into the bad habit of wasting time. So here goes:

 

· Write every weekday from 7 am until 1000 word goal is attained or noon, whichever comes last. I will test the waters to see if I can attain that in the allotted time. If I need more time I will adjust. If I am on a roll I will allow myself to continue. Writing new material more frequently is a major goal I have for this year. I am trying not to define it too rigidly but I need to discipline my writing time.

· Monday Wednesday & Friday afternoons are reserved to write blogs & catch up on social media.

This blog will be written on Wednesdays - my other site will have posts on Mondays & Fridays.

 

· On all other days I will edit my current book manuscripts in the afternoon - taking one chapter per day.  So on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday & Sundays, and any other time I can spare in between, I will be editing.

 

I hope my husband understands I have no time allotted for cooking or cleaning. I will try hard to get groceries and do laundry. It won’t be easy and unfortunately I am one who gets distracted easily. I hope the schedule will work because I really want to forge ahead with full steam this year. In order to help myself I will be taking the following steps.

 

8 Simple Steps to Help YOU Write

1. Do not open email until the writing is finished.

2. Do not go on the internet until the writing is finished.

3. Do not go on the phone or text until the writing is finished.

4. Utilize story boards and outlines to help the story stay focused.

5. When stuck and waiting for the right idea – jump ahead and work on another part and revisit the scene later after time to incubate.

6. Do not stop to research a point– instead make a note and jump over that spot to the next lines. Later go back and research and revise as needed. Use the NaNoWriMo approach –keep moving forward and then revise and update the ideas later during the rewrite and when there is time to delve into the research. Use the editing time allotted.

7. Remind myself that good work takes time to develop.

8. Keep a positive attitude.

Happy writing to all!

 

Look for my post on Friday Jan 4th at my other blog site. http://zguta.wordpress.com

2013 - A New Year & A New Attitude

Writing Resolutions Blog Hop

 

http://megwaiteclayton.com/1stbooks/blogger-ball/ 

 

 

2013 Goals

 

There are so many things I want to do in 2013 and I could go crazy listing them all. To accomplish the entirety, I could micro manage myself to death, but through the years I have found doing that only gives me fuel to doubt myself when the list is still wavering with a long tail of unattained accomplishments at the end of the year.

 

So I decided to use a different approach this year.  I really need some positive feedback and a way to bolster my attitude and stay focused and positive. I will still have my BIG GOALS, but this year I am going to break things out into smaller activities, so I can see that my efforts have accomplished something, even if I don't finish my book or get published in 2013.

 

After working three years on my novel and still at the editing phase, I am feeling a bit deflated. So in 2013 I will write down each small step in my final edit. I am hoping this will encourage me and keep any momentum going.  I also plan on working with another person in a writing group I follow, hoping we can cheer each other on. We want to try to write 1000 words a day.

 

Supporting each other during the weekly and daily struggles, I am hoping that we can each accomplish much this year. 

 

Best of luck to all other writers out there…

I hope we can all share and support each other in 2013. Writing can be very lonely and overwhelming, with the end never really in sight. Together we can take small steps each day and work towards our big goal.

 

Resolution #1 -  WRITE EVERYDAY

Resolution #2 -  ACKNOWLEDGE EACH SMALL STEP

 

 





Letting go

Don’t be afraid to let go…

A work in progress, my manuscript started with 2,841 words in chapter one. Now, after many reworks and lots of editing, chapter one has 1,111 words! I slashed, I flashed and I let go! It is difficult because we invent these stories, forming these words, becoming part of our memory, with a life of its own. We remember the momentum of writing those words, and the pleasure we derive. Now we have to look closer, rearrange, and we have to get rid of words blocking the true story. We are sentimental, but need to let go of the words that are not important any longer. They were part of the process, but no longer part of the flow. This same sentiment echoes other parts in our lives too.

Don’t be afraid to let go…

Free yourself from the norms that everyone expects of you. Many of us parade in the roles presumed, not necessarily who we want to be, but who we are expected to be. Conforming to who our social networks think we should be. Letting go of preconceived ideas is dangerous. Others may judge, you may question yourself too. One needs to accept their response, while accepting yourself. It is a price that can sometimes be cruel.

Don’t be afraid to let go…

As a parent this is extremely difficult. We watch our babies grow. We nurture them, sing to them, read to them and talk with them. In front of our eyes they grow into their own person. As a parent we need to take that last step. We can’t be afraid to let go! Part of us may never really let go, we have our memories. We need to let them be themselves – not who we want them to be. This is so difficult and takes lots of practice, and defining of lines. The ultimate goal is for the child to be a happy adult – a person who can be free to be themselves.

Now I begin another day…

This is the only part of the entire world that I can control. I create and then I need to look at my work, and let go. I need to be able to see the words impartially, let the story take its own life, and I must act as the facilitator rather than the ultimate and egotistical creator.

I cannot be afraid to let go…