crazywithkeyboard

Just a quick heads-up to all of the wonderful and loyal beta readers of The Vedia Gamble (my NaNoWriMo novel).

I have FINALLY completed this round of editing and polishing, and would love it if you could all take a couple of hours to give the story another read-through. My next goal is to send it off to a publisher sometime in March, so you've got a week or two.I currently have elanurel, gilraen2, msts_eirene, phoenix14159, and rivkarivkina on my list. (I also have a couple of non-LJ folks, too.) But If anyone else on my f-list would like to volunteer, I'd be very grateful (and if not, I understand completely).

And if you're on the list above ... expect to see a file in your mailbox later today!

Crossposted to my LJ...

Labels: NaNo Editing, NaNoDONE

(Cross-posted to my LJ)

For the last few weeks, I've been diligently editing my NaNoNovel, trimming out excess wordiness, getting rid of passive voice phrases (which also usually results in shorter text), that sort of thing.

So can anyone tell me why the story is now 2,000 words LONGER than it was before?!?

Labels: NaNo Editing, NaNoObsessing

Just finished up my latest round of editing this morning. One of the things I noticed, going through it this time, is that I used "seem" a lot. As in, "His skin seemed to have a bluish tinge to it." Why not just say, "His skin had a bluish tinge to it" -- unless there's some reason it's going to turn out to be something else later?

So I weeded out about 200 of those (or at least that's what it felt like). And I got rid of four more commas (though I put another one back in, for a net of 3), and fixed one typo. I'm trying to do a reading at speed now, to make sure the rough spots have been properly sanded down.

Then it goes back out to beta readers again, and I get to start on the synopses (a long one and a short one). Whee!

I'm also thinking of submitting the story to the Gather.com First Chapters contest. Though they say they are more interested in "general fiction," and therefore might not want a piece of sci-fi-space-pirate-fluff.

Labels: Gather contest, NaNo Editing

This is a problem ...

I'm now so fully entrenched in edit mode that this morning, when I picked up a book for a little light reading, I said to myself, "Hmmm, she didn't need that comma there, and that bit is passive voice. And that's wordy; I'd revise it and shorten it a little..."

elanurel, if you have stuff you want beta'd, this might be a good time after all!

[EDIT: And you know it's becoming really compulsive when you post an entry, then read it and say, "Hmm, passive voice, better revise that..."]

Labels: NaNo Editing

Yes, I'm still editing. I think I'll be editing forever.

In this round:

1) Trying to get rid of at least most of the passive voice bits (not being utterly compulsive about it, just trying to get rid of the glaring, obvious ones)
2) Along with the passive voice goes the check for excessive wordiness. (Me? Excessively wordy? Say it isn't so!)
3) Adding in the last few items suggested by phoenix14159 (explaining why the pirates are all so human-like, adding some hints that Phoebe's dad was a cop, thereby giving a bit of a basis for her apparently natural leadership skills).
4) Blending in a few info tidbits that got missed the first time around (did you know Phoebe has green eyes and sandy brown hair? Probably not, since I never got around to mentioning it...)
5) I actually put one of the "and thens" I got rid of last round back in. It needed to be there.
6) Still getting rid of excess commas. I, think, I've, only, found, eight, or, ten, this, round...
7) Oh, and I found yet another typo -- a missing beginning quote. Most of the typos have been either missing end quotes, or missing periods. Though I did have a couple of odd words -- an "a" or "the" left over from when revisions got made. Think I'm up to about 14 typos found since the version that got sent off to Lulu.

One bit I still need to put in: Phoebe needs to at least offer the music files to Prostus to help pay for her phasers -- and he needs to reject them out of hand.

My goal is to finish this run through, then read through one last time (looking for any remaining rough spots) and get it back out to the beta readers (if any of them are up to another reading).

Labels: NaNo Editing, NaNoObsessing

Took my copy of The Vedia Gamble down to a friend's house over the weekend to show it off, and accidentally left it there. Now she's holding it for ransom. There will probably have to be chocolate involved. {sigh}

Meanwhile, editing goes on apace. I've added a few paragraphs in response to comments, and I'm now going through and trying to eliminate sentences in passive voice. At least there aren't too many of those. Not as many as there were commas, anyway.

Labels: NaNo Editing, NaNoAngst

It's January 10th. My edited copy needs to be at Lulu.com by the 16th. That's next Tuesday.

I was hoping my beta readers would have their feedback to me by now, but I think they (and I) have been distracted by recent events. First, most of us got roped into cooking the feast for Twelfth Night. Then Rivka was offered admittance to the Order of the Pelican (for non-SCA folks, this is A Really Big Deal), so I doubt she'll be interested in doing much editing any time in the next three weeks.

I've added two more beta readers, though. Hopefully, they'll have good feedback for me, even if not in time for the deadline!

I've also done two more editing passes through it, and am starting to feel better about it. I think I have almost all of the gratuitous commas out. I am not taking out any of the gratuitous sex, however. :)

I have also done formatting, and have spent some time fretting over cover art. Think I will use something from the Hubble Space Telescope website; I checked their terms of use, and as long as it's for personal use (which this is; this edition of the story is my freebie from Lulu and will never be offered for sale), I'm good.

After that, my next step is to start working up a proposal letter to send to potential agents, and to compile a list of agents who are currently accepting new work. My goal is to have a good letter and a list compiled by the end of February, and actually start sending out March 1. Probably pretty ambitious, but what the heck. After that, I need to work up a summary and a submission packet, just in case. It will be good practice, even if I never end up needing it.

Labels: NaNo Editing, NaNoObsessing, NaNoPrinting

Last night, I finally finished my first editing pass through the story. Found a couple of continuity tweaks, and took out all of the excess commas, which was about 20% of them (I tend to get pretty comma happy, especially when I'm trying to write quickly). My loyal beta readers have finished their first read through and are even now compiling their feedback for me. My big plan is to get feedback from them on the 10th, then spend the next few days frantically formatting to meet the Lulu deadline.

I've already formatted the first-page blurb, the title page, and the first two chapters, just to see what it will look like. Since the first two chapters don't seem to need much editing, they're probably not going to need many changes.

It looks really sharp. Perhaps I'll pdf it later and see about posting it somewhere for people to see.

I still need cover art, though. Any volunteers?

Labels: NaNo Editing, NaNoPrinting