Editing. Worst Part about Writing, Or Absolutely The Worst?

Man, I do hate to edit.
I mean, I don’t mind editing other people’s stuff. I can’t say it’s fun, and tragically I don’t have the patience or the fine-detail attention to be able to do it professionally (I studied it for a little bit, and while there was some satisfaction in it, I wasn’t much good… I tended to either get lost in the story, or get frustrated and stop), but there is something nice about taking somebody else’s work and tweaking it just a little to help them see a different way of saying the same sort of thing.

But yeah, my own work? Frustrating as hell.
Still, it has to be done. It is, without a doubt, my least favourite part about being a writer. I want to craft worlds and weave stories… but in order to do that, you have to polish your words. And man, is it ever important.

Well, whatever. I’ve started now (I’m on Chapter 6 so far), and that’s a good thing. At the rate I’m going, I suspect I’ll be done my edits in July, and then off it goes to the professional editor.

In other news, I’ve finished that paid story and been paid for it. That felt good… it’s an incredible feeling to have somebody pay you for work you’re proud of. A feeling I hope all of you, dear readers, get to enjoy more often than I do!

Getting Back Into the Swing

It’s been a long 6 months. This year has simultaneously been flying by and dragging its heels… longer shifts at work coupled with a concerted effort to get into better shape has resulted in so little free time that it doesn’t really exist for me other than as a concept any more.

That stated, things are going okay. I sold a story (woo!), I’ve been producing short stories and novels at a consistent rate, and I have one novel still under consideration with an agent. Fingers crossed on that one. Plus, the Writers Group has been great for keeping me focused on writing more stuff.

September is approaching quickly, and my trip to Japan with it… I’m equal parts excited and nervous. There’s no way that the trip can actually live up to my expectations, but that’s okay! I’m still really, really looking forward to it. Additionally, my novel was supposed to be edited by now, but that’s okay… I’m equally excited to start putting more time into that as well.

Regardless, this is more-or-less the halfway point of the year. I think I can probably manage to sell a few more short stories before December, and I remain cautiously optimistic about selling the novel. We will see, I suppose…

Anyway! Hope everyone else out there is having a great summer/winter, depending on which pole you are closest to!

June! Gah! Where is the Year Going!?

Six months!
I mean, technically it’s only been 5 months and we are heading into the halfway point of the year, but STILL! Gah.

I managed to sell a story last month, though, and that’s an accomplishment I am very proud of. I’ve almost finished it, which is very nice… it’s off getting its last round of edits for tomorrow, and then will be polished and presented to the final home. Hopefully he likes it!

Gosh, I hope he likes it. Anyway, we’ll see. Always time to change it if he wants.

In other news, I have a bunch of models I need to paint and am getting paid for a handful of them, which is nice, and got a bunch of free games for others, which is also nice, but none of that makes me as happy as selling stories. I really gotta step that up… if I can sell a story a month I’d actually be pretty well off. And it would give me plenty of time to do other writing, which would be gosh-darn ideal.

But that’s for another day. For today, I’m editing Novel 4 in advance of sending it to my professional editor. Probably won’t finish this week, but who knows… I might!

Video 11: Final Thoughts

Well, there we go. 11 videos, hopefully some useful, but at least finished!

I had a lot of fun recording these, and I do sincerely hope that somebody (or somebodies, dare I dream) found them useful.

And hey, if you have any thoughts on my thoughts… let me know!

Video 10: How Much To Write

I mean, the correct answer is “as often as possible”, but what does that actually mean?

Here I sit down and talk a little about how often I write, my personal word count and yearly writing goals… that kinda stuff!

Video 9: All About Drafts

This video has me discussing how many drafts I tend to work with for a novel. Short stories tend to be done in 3-4 edits, longer works are usually 5-6 edits, each with its own purpose and goal.

That stated, as usual, this is my personal method, but hopefully some of you amazing people can find it useful!

A Quick Word about Numbers

I have an education in physics. Technically, I have a degree in physics and 12 years of experience in R&D (specifically astrophysics and optics).

I don’t really consider myself a physicist. I was pretty crap at all the “important” parts of physics (ie: calculus and algebra). But this education and experience has set in my a fixation on the importance of numbers.

On that note: as of the end of April, I have surpassed an arbitrary, but interesting, milestone in my career.

There are now 100 copies of things I wrote “out there”. A total of 100 people have something I wrote that they downloaded or had shipped to them through Amazon.

(My Kobo numbers are, for all time, a total of 6 books sold… so I may have hit this milestone in March, but whatever. Close enough)

Now, it’s taken me almost exactly 2.5 years to get to this point (October 2016 to April 2019). That’s about 40 books per year… which is what it is. A bit depressing, sure, but all it is, is numbers… and at least I have a benchmark.

And of course this doesn’t include numbers on short stories I’ve published, or contests I’ve entered (and won, occasionally!), so the “real” figure of people who theoretically know my work is higher. But still. A milestone, at the very least.

So! Here’s hoping the next 100 books don’t take another 2.5 years… onwards and upwards and all that!

Video 7: 1st vs 3rd Person Perspective

For those of you who are Patreon supporters of my work already: thank you so much! Todays’ video went live up on the Patreon page yesterday, so this one is more for everyone ELSE.

For everyone else: hi! You should become a Patreon supporter of my work! ^_^

All joking aside, this video is about choosing the perspective for your work between the “only” real options (there are actually a bunch of options, including the should-never-be-used 2nd Person, but most of them are annoying, frustrating, confusing, or all three at once). There are good arguments for both sides of the discussion, and I can’t hope to cover everything in a short video, but hopefully you find it entertaining and useful at least!

Video 6: Setting the Tone

This week’s video is looking at setting the tone for your work. I don’t think this is unconscious stuff for most writers: you kinda have a feel for how you want your story to work out before you start the dang thing.

That stated, it never hurts to put a little extra thought into why we have the thoughts, if you will. A neat little experiment, if you don’tmind me saying so… or at least, I think it’s worth thinking about.

Video 5: Main Characters

This video discusses how to flesh out and deepen your main characters. I mean, all of these videos could be hours-long discussions, but this one feels more so than even the other ones!

Plus, a surprise visit from a helpful assistant!

Enjoy!

Video 4: Choosing a Genre

This video is about picking a genre for you to write in. My choice was always fairly easy… I love sci-fi and fantasy (“speculative fiction”) because it lets me do whatever I want. But it was a conscious decision on my part, and it probably should be for everyone else too!

Anyway, give it a look, hopefully it’s of some use to some of you!

Finished the Edits!

Phew! One entire novel, switched from 3rd Person to 1st Person! Go team!

That’s all I really have to say today… just glad to be finished. Tomorrow I’m going to work on a short story for another contest (I have an idea, not sure how well I’ll be able to translate it on paper, but we’ll see!). But for tonight? Tonight I’m going to drink coffee and relax.

Woo!

Video 3: Pantsing vs Planning

As mentioned previously, I recorded a set of short informative videos, discussing my writing process. This week’s is about the differences between “pantsing” (or “discovery”) writers, and “planning” writers.

Just remember that all writers are kinda.. well, watch the video for my opinion on the matter!

Chicago Chatter

I write today from Adepticon, one of the larger (largest?) miniature wargaming conventions in North America.

Sadly, my internet connection is, generously speaking, poop. But that’s okay! I had a lovely few days playing games, hanging out with lovely people, and generally trying to be positive and extroverted (something that doesn’t come super naturally to me).

Tomorrow, very early, we head back to Ontario. And then back to my other job that pays for THIS job. Such is the cycle, as I think we all know.

Still! Edits to the novel are coming along very, very well, I have a bunch of additional videos to post for you and my lovely Patrons, and another short story that I’m trying to throw together for audio recording in the next week or two. So things are moving, albeit slowly. Thankfully, with Adepticon in the rear view mirror, my immediate painting obligations are completed (phew!), and I can focus more energy back into writing.

So, I guess in conclusion: yay writing, yay gaming, yay painting, but especially yay being able to do all three and here’s to more of all three in the near to very-near future!

Second Video: Choosing Your Audience

Well, I posted the second video that I did for Dana! I’m off to Chicago for a few days to write in a different location (likely from a location serving me my body-weight in deep dish pizza), but I can still post these up from there, I suspect.

The internet is a helluva thing some days.

Anyway! I hope everyone enjoys! And feel free to let me know if you have any specific questions!

Video Stuff!

As those of you who follow my Patreon account already know, my good friend Dana asked me to submit a series of short videos to her, answering a few questions for writers just starting out.

Obviously I was happy to do so, and since I’ve created them, I figured why not link them here as well? Give everyone a chance to listen to me for a few minutes talk about getting started with writing.

I recorded a total of 11 of these, and will be slowly releasing them over the next few months. I don’t think they’re the greatest things ever, and they were just recorded on my phone in an evening, but hopefully you enjoy them.

Thanks!

Up To Chapter 10!

I’m apparently getting approximately one chapter modified into 1st person a day.
I mean, not really (I’m doing 5-6 a week, but most of those in one or two days), but that’s sorta just the way with averages.

In other news, restarted the Writers Group (named “Chapter Two”, which I think is okay if not inspired… but whatever, it has a name and the group is good and that’s the important bits), and things are moving along nicely with that. Last week we had 6 members, this week I’m hoping for 8, and then with a little luck a total of 10 in a week or two that stabilizes with about 6-8 people showing up each week (since some people aren’t able or interested in coming by every week).

The other writers’ submissions are refreshing to read. It’s a nice little thing to see the process sometimes, rather than just somebody’s final polished result. Plus, I got a few small pieces of advice that I think are actually rather good and will be folded into the book as I continue the conversion from 3rd Person to 1st Person.

One will require a little bit of edit-wriggling, but I think I can manage it.

Anyway, that’s that. Had a nasty fall yesterday on the ice coming home from a friend’s house, and that put a damper on what was already a pretty shitty day (my paying work had not been kind), but overall I think I’m doing okay. Or at least okay-adjacent, and sometimes that’s the best you can hope for.

Hope everyone else is having a better go of it than I am this week!

Five Chapters "Done"...

The conversion from Third Person Limited to First Person has been… interesting. I can understand why the agent requested it (the story does feel a lot more personal), but there are parts that just don’t quite work as intended in 1st person.

Basically, for example, the introduction has the narrator telling us a little about Wibble, the planet on which the story takes place. Now, the story has Grendel, the protagonist, telling us a little about Wibble… which makes it feel more engaging, yes, but also suddenly makes it seem like Grendel is talking directly to the reader.

Which isn’t bad! But it is… weird. Like, is she telling this story to somebody in the book itself? If so, I might want to lead with that… but then we all know it turns out alright at the end, and I don’t know how I feel about that level of certainty…

Anyway, it has been a really interesting experiment. I’m on Chapter 6 right now, out of 30 Chapters, so that’s pretty okay. Current plan is to have the first draft of the new version done this week, and then read through and adjust a little before sending it off again next weekend… the agent has a busy reading schedule, and the sooner I can get on it the less likely I will have to wait another 6 months!

Hope everyone else is having a great March thus far!

Marching Forward!

Yes, yes, I made the same joke over on my Patreon page, but still. It’s true! February was a good month for me overall (short story contest 2nd place is pretty nice, and the agent request was the icing on that cake, plus getting to restart the Writers Group… ooh, that reminds me, I have to submit something to that tonight… I should do that right now, please stand by).

Phew! Done. Anyway, all in all, a good month for me. I have high hopes for March… I want to get back to submitting short stories to publications, rather than just to contests (contests are great and all, but the publications are what build my reputation, help me gain an audience, and occasionally even pay! All important factors). That will also mean getting back in the habit of reading more short stories as well, to make sure I’m submitting the kind of work that the publications publish (ugh, that sentence…), I need to get this novel finished up and sent back to “my” agent (gosh I hope so!), and then I need to get the next novel edited up to at least a 2nd draft standard.

This is the tricky part, as those of you who follow the blog regularly will know. What I really want to do right now is produce more work… write more fiction, whether long or short, rather than refine that I have into a better form of itself. But that’s a dangerous slope to start going down… and it is far, far more important to polish and submit work than it is to generate an endless supply of unpolished stuff.

Anyhoo, it’s looking to be a very promising March. Always nice to have a little bit of optimism in the forecast… we will see what the next week or two brings!