National Novel Writing Month is right around the corner, and this year I will be working on the sequel to The Emperor's Daughter. I'm also going to try something completely different this year...posting what I write every day so that people have the experience to see how the sausage is made, so to speak.
I've noticed during my journey as an editor that a lot of people get so nervous about how "bad" they think their rough draft is that they get discouraged and either stop writing the first draft or never attempt to improve the first draft into something that is publishable (or just finished if publishing isn't their goal).
In the interest of radical transparency, I want to show other writers just how rough a rough draft can be, and hopefully by the end of the year I will be publishing it as a serial that has polished, respectable, readable parts based on what is sure to be a "bad" first draft (It's hard to write a good first draft of 50,000 words in 30 days). Since The Emperor's Daughter was a novel originally written just for enjoyment and offered for free, I believe that showing this process can only help other authors on their journey, although fans of The Emperor's Daughter might want to wait to read the finished product if you're not interested in a wild and unwieldy draft.
I also plan to post the editing process on my editing website so that people can get an idea of what professional editing should be, with the caveat that editing your own novel is never as good as paying a professional editor to do that work for you, regardless of whether you are good enough at editing to offer professional services to others.
I probably won't be starting at midnight this year, because that is way past my bedtime, but there's a good chance I'll be starting at 4 in the morning on Thursday, so feel free to join me! Remember, even if you don't "win" NaNoWriMo, everyone who tries is a winner in my mind.
I've noticed during my journey as an editor that a lot of people get so nervous about how "bad" they think their rough draft is that they get discouraged and either stop writing the first draft or never attempt to improve the first draft into something that is publishable (or just finished if publishing isn't their goal).
In the interest of radical transparency, I want to show other writers just how rough a rough draft can be, and hopefully by the end of the year I will be publishing it as a serial that has polished, respectable, readable parts based on what is sure to be a "bad" first draft (It's hard to write a good first draft of 50,000 words in 30 days). Since The Emperor's Daughter was a novel originally written just for enjoyment and offered for free, I believe that showing this process can only help other authors on their journey, although fans of The Emperor's Daughter might want to wait to read the finished product if you're not interested in a wild and unwieldy draft.
I also plan to post the editing process on my editing website so that people can get an idea of what professional editing should be, with the caveat that editing your own novel is never as good as paying a professional editor to do that work for you, regardless of whether you are good enough at editing to offer professional services to others.
I probably won't be starting at midnight this year, because that is way past my bedtime, but there's a good chance I'll be starting at 4 in the morning on Thursday, so feel free to join me! Remember, even if you don't "win" NaNoWriMo, everyone who tries is a winner in my mind.
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