Friday, June 22, 2012

The End

I finished my novel!

The first 100 pages have been critiqued and edited, the next 100 are with my CP, and the remaining 130 need a first round of edits.  Overall, I'm really happy with it. 

I've had a lot of advice telling me not to edit until I have the entire first draft written.  But that's not the way I roll. 

I used to be a programmer.  I designed and developed relatively complex applications using a structured design methodology.  I will spare you the details - but maybe I'll do a nerds-only post next week.  The bottom line is this:  for software and novels, I don't like to add complexity onto something that's not strong enough to hold it.

I write a chapter or two, sometimes several chapters, and then edit them before moving on, but never on the same day.  This process makes me feel like I'm on solid ground and doesn't at all stifle my creativity.  I do final edits after that, lots of rounds of edits, often using feedback from peers. 

When I wrote software, I wrote one functional piece of the application and then tested it.  Any bugs were fixed and tested before I wrote the next piece.  If our team didn't do testing and bug fixes iteratively, we would have a nightmare on our hands trying to get broken pieces to work together and would be promptly scolded for not delivering the complete product on time. 

So I write and edit in chunks.  It's how I'm wired after doing that kind of work for more than ten years.

I think everyone is different in their writing process, and what works for me probably doesn't work for other people.  I feel really lucky I found a process that works well for me.

Now I have to answer the big question for myself:  do I want to jump right into edits, finish editing my other stories, or start something new?  I think I will decide tomorrow.

I hope you all are making good progress on your writing this month.  It seems like a lot of people are finishing novels, which is awesome. 

Anyone up for a nerd post?   (I anticipate browser windows closing quickly.) 

25 comments:

  1. I'm married to a programmer, I love his enthusiasm when he rants about it, and have never understood a word. But smiling and nodding seems to work. Finding your own writing process is the important thing, I think, My own is incredibly inefficient but works for me...so far...good luck with deciding! x

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    1. My husband's voice gets really loud when he talks about work (he does IT security, which is about ten steps nerdier than programming).

      I think it's OK to have an inefficient process as long as it's what you're comfortable with. When I've tried out different processes (NaNoWriMo), I didn't do my best writing and didn't finish. And stopped writing for 6 weeks.

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  2. congrats on finishing the novel! And good luck with the edits. I think I change the way I edit each time I do them.

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    1. Thanks! I think it's hard if we're too rigid with the way we do things.

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  3. Tonja, congrats on your tremendous accomplishment! I'm glad you found what works the best for you. I can't wait to find out more about your book! Julie

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  4. Congratulations on finishing your novel. I tend to edit the previous day's writing before starting to write. Right now I'm at the other end - I'm in the planning/brainstorming stages of a new novel. Good luck with your edits!

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    1. Sometimes I think editing is easier than starting something new. Good luck to you too!

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  5. Yay!!! You are right that everyone should use the writing process that works for that person. That's an interesting method. I'm so excited for you that you hit "the end" of your draft.

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    1. It felt so great to type the last sentence.

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  6. Congratulations! And if that's the way you edit, go for it.
    Feel free to do a nerdy tech post some day.

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    1. I had a feeling you'd be one of two people giving me the thumbs up on the nerd post. :)

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  7. YAY! Congratulations, that's great. I do the same thing too, sometimes. I'll edit a couple of chapters before I move on (as well, not on the same day.) We all have our own process and imo there's no right or wrong.

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    1. There seems to be a push from a lot of different places for writers to write that first draft all the way through and then edit. NaNoWriMo especially - and a lot of books on writing I've half-read. That just doesn't work for me. Glad I'm not alone.

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  8. The idea of not editing until the manuscript is finished does not compute for me. It kind of makes editing a separate stage, unrelated to writing, and I just don't think that way.

    I write one chapter at a time, then re-read it maybe 5-7 times, editing and re-editing until I have it the way I want it before moving on.

    When I go back and revise, I do the same thing. Editing is part of the writing for me. I can't do separate it.

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  9. i would take a break unless you feel inspired to write something new----congrats!!

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    1. I do feel like writing. I have the most time to write in the summer. I don't want to waste even a few hours.

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  10. Put the novel in a drawer for four weeks. Let your mind distance from it. Then proceed to edit. When you are done editing, hire an editor. Once your hired editor is done, read through it one more time to see if you catch anything. Then it is ready.

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  11. I edit as I go, so my crit partners actually end up with a fairly polished draft. I write in the morning, print, then read over later & correct with pen on paper. In the morning, I start by inputting edits. The only truly early drafts my cp's get are 1st chapters. I like some input before I go much farther. As you say, we all have our methods that work for us. Congrats on finishing. Woot! I'm getting there.

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  12. Congrats on finishing, Tonja! I guess we all figure out how it works best for us. I pretty much go zooming through and then go back to edit at the end, 5-6 times, before it goes to a CP. And then I go back again trying to fix plot holes, lol! ABout the nerd post - it would just swim around in my head if I tried to read it. Just not wired that way:)

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  13. Congratulations on finishing! I understand your method. I think that would work the best for me too. I have written my first few chapters and I know I want to add more to them before I can move on. Otherwise, the next part won't make sense.

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  14. I agree - I prefer to edit as I go. It makes the whole process less stressful for me, and also makes further edits much easier. And I'm not even a software designer to be able to explain it! That's just how it works for me.

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  15. My methodology is very similar...and I'm looking forward to the nerd post! :)

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