Sometimes writers fall into trappings of their own enthusiasm (see also: madness). With this being something like my seventh major re-write of Planes Shifter, I’m trying not to make the same mistakes as my last draft. If I’m going to …
Trusting the Flow
I’m re-writing the beginning of Planes Shifter from scratch. I’m checking and re-checking my five main sub-plots to ensure I don’t veer off too far from them this time. But this is almost like a new story without those extra plot-hole-fillers I’d added …
Plot-Seeking in Favourite Films
This week I began my novel re-write following the newly-fixed plot line [fingers crossed!] Taking a NaNoWriMo approach – just writing each scene as it comes, and not letting myself edit anything other than spelling mistakes and clear grammatical issues – I’ve been watching …
Hitting The Wall
At the weekend, I analysed my novel and found that I had 18 subplots: which explains why I’ve had to do so many editing “passes.” Even 250k epics don’t have 18 subplots in the first 100k – Which is why …
Balancing Learning: Writing versus Studying Writing
Since 2009, I have started eight novels and two novellas. I have finished drafts of five of them. Three I will never look at again (not to edit or salvage, anyway — maybe to learn from them). In terms of major …
A New Editing Checklist
The early stages of writerhood can be confusing. The advice given to the first-time or aspiring writer generally points to “finishing your first draft.” Once you’ve crossed that border, you can call yourself a writer, and the suggestions of next stages are …