|
Post by bill on Sept 29, 2016 1:51:02 GMT
I've had two great days of working through my second draft. My goal was to finish it this week and I'm already 2/3 of the way done. That's about all I did today. I have Blake this weekend so I need to finish by Friday. The last bit will take longer because I think I'll need to do more editing as I know I slipped badly into tell mode a couple of times. But I'm ahead of schedule which should allow me to still get it done. I'm excited for the progress! I get so much done when I ignore everything around me and focus on the story. Wish I could do it more often! I have other pressing matters tomorrow plus a cross country meet for Blake so I won't have as much time on it.
It's only at 31,000 words, which I'm actually pleased with. My goal was a novella but I thought it might go longer than that.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Sept 29, 2016 3:27:42 GMT
That's a pretty good length. I'm not sure what Kindle singles run. It might fit that. I'll have to find time and go check.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Sept 29, 2016 11:02:24 GMT
In rough drafts I think telling is almost a given. Our muse is feeding us the story. As you gain experience you begin to automatically edit as you write. I think this is one of the points Dean Weselly (I don't know how to spell his name and I'm not going to take time to look it up but the Sacred Cow author) Rough draft is establishing who, what, where, why, when, and how of your story. You find out where everybody is and what they are doing.
As I edit, and work back through the story I start to look at the 'to be' verbs. If I see sentences with 'was' 'were' 'have' etc. I automatically know its passive writing. I watch for connectors like 'and' and 'but'. Usually its better to take them out and create two sentences. I try to write without using the 'to be' verbs at all. You can't eliminate them all but if you train your brain to start using active verbs the telling diminishes and your characters begin to speak in an active voice.
|
|
|
Post by bill on Sept 29, 2016 15:22:15 GMT
I'm still working to recognize the passive writing. I think I did good then reread and see how many passive verbs I used without realizing it. I know that will improve with time. So far the second half of my story hasn't been as bad as I expected. I like how it's turning out - I just hope it makes sense to a new reader!
|
|
|
Post by bill on Sept 29, 2016 15:58:26 GMT
What is a kindle single run?
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Sept 29, 2016 19:10:57 GMT
Its a shorter length story usually priced at 99 cents. Amazon advertises them a bit differently. at least they used to. I haven't checked on them in a long time. I'll have to go familiarize myself with what Amazon offers. I lost the entire year of 2016 dealing with Josh not being healthy and me being stressed and tired.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Sept 29, 2016 19:12:51 GMT
I just thought of something. Have you checked out KDP? Its where you upload books. You have to sign into it separate from Amazon. I think they have forums or FAQ that might answer some of your questions. Also there is a group called Murder Must Advertise. It's a free group and has a lot of professional mystery writers on it. You can get a lot of information from watching the discussions. They come as emails. MWA is the acronym. Its pretty good.
|
|
|
Post by bill on Sept 30, 2016 18:21:52 GMT
I will check both of those out - thanks!
I finished my second draft - yea! I'm going to post on Holly's site and see if anyone will beta read it for me.
|
|