Okay, so the wait is over. Eight weeks have gone by and I can once again turn my eye to my novel, which I did this morning.
I was looking at it with a relatively fresh pair of eyes.
Imagine my horror then when I realised that I really wasn't happy with the first three chapters. I have always thought that they were perfect before but not today. I wondered if it was because I was reading it from a computer screen that it just didn't seem to flow properly.
I was so dejected.
But maybe it's because I know the story so well having gone through it about 5 times in the last couple of years.
Anyway, I've had a chance to think about it this afternoon and I have decided that i need to look at one chapter at a time. Like I said I pretty much know what is coming so I don't so much have to worry about plot but I do make to sure that it flows.
I am happy to report that I am now much happier with chapter one. There wasn't much to change to make it work better just the occasional "and" to "but" or similar. I took out the odd unnecessary sentence.
I don't know if it's the right plan but at least it is one.
7 comments:
I read somewhere recently that a good trick is to print out the chapter, preferably with someone else's name as the author and try to read it as a reader, rather than a writer, to get a 'fresh' feel for the story. Easier said than done, I'm sure, but I've a feeling I'm going to come back to mine in a week or two and think 'uh-oh!'
Good luck with it :o)
Great to know it was worth waiting for, Gonnabe. I hope your next chapter makes you just as happy.
Karen, that seems like such a good idea. I really don't like reading off the screen. I'll give it a try.
Jarmara. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Good plan, I think, to take one chapter at a time - not quite so overwhelming. Anyway, whatever works for YOU is the right plan! Hope the other chapters are equally easy to improve so that you can get back to moving on!
x
fingers crossed Olivia
x
It's horrible when you think something you've written is good and then come back to it and can see all sorts of problems.
Glad you were able to make it work better, and best of luck with the rest.
Thanks Debs, I'm hoping that it will work out okay.
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