Tuesday, March 9, 2010

REWRITES

The rewrites have begun!!! I'm working on my 2nd Draft of my novel length MS. I read a quote from Ernest Hemingway that said the first draft of anything is crap. It cracked me up but, yet  how true.

The first draft is just the bare bones of the story put to paper. The 2nd helps to really form the story on the paper and in your own mind and the 3rd, 4th or 5th hopefully fully brings your baby to life. I think Rachel Vincent said she rewrote her book like, six times before she thought it was ready. Yeah, I'm not planning on turning my story over until I've rewritten ,edited  and polished it to within  an inch of it's life. I'm trying to get published...again. We wouldn't want to turn in anything but our best as my former teacher Terry Spear would say.

I am planning on starting the actual putting down the bare bones of "Raven's" story when I finish the 2nd rewriting of this one. I've already started with the basics of what I want to happen. Who is Raven? (Which I already have an idea because of my short story.) And I already know how the story is going to start. But, I'm not saying.

Surprisingly, "Tara" the main character of the story I'm working on now, is becoming more clear to me on this 2nd go round. I thought I knew her inside out but, she is surprising me with some of her feelings about another character.

I rewrote my  practice query letter today. (With a few suggestions:) I'm kicking myself for leaving out some important stuff in the first one. Stuff that makes my story a bit unique. I think it's pretty good now but, I'm not above rewrites.

Later,
Melissa

2 comments:

Terry Spear said...

Hey, Melissa, thanks for the mention! Good luck with the query! One time I sent in a query, and never got a response. Several months later, I sent in a query to the same agent, by accident, and she asked for the full. So sometimes, it's just the timing! :)

Good luck with your rewrites and submissions!!! And NEVER give up! :)

Melissa said...

Hey, Terry, you're welcome for the mention. You're one of my favorite writing instructors/teachers.

I learned so much in your classes. I still have all of my notes. I refer back to them often:) Don't be surprised if you see my name on your roster again.

Right now, I'm practicing writing query letters. It's almost an art all by itself.

Thanks for stopping by:)