Editing

I made a goal for myself this Christmas: to edit all of The Tinkers by the time I go back to school on the sixth. So far, I've edited about fifteen pages. This includes slashing scenes with blue and black pens, rewriting scenes, and feeling quite writerly. I've been using the Holly Lisle revision method, and so far it's been all right.

My writing set-up: pages unread on the left, my notebook in the middle, current pages on top of my computer' s keyboard.

The struggle I've been having hasn't been with the directions; those were quite clear and helpful. However, the beginning of the Tinkers is an absolute mess. It's understandable, as I wrote it nine months ago when I had no idea about what I was doing or, really, what my characters are like. As a result, I've been leaving myself notes in the margins and busily rewriting. 

A sample of what my pages look like after editing.

A few nights ago, I printed out my manuscript, some 110 pages, single-spaced. It's been slow going, but it feels good. Despite my avowed fear of editing (mainly revision) I rather like it. Now, back to my goal!

The Belgrave Daughter by Zara Hoffman

The Belgrave Daughter's about this sorceress, Fawn, who falls in love with a dark angel, Caleb when he's sent to attract her to the dark side.

This is the cover for TBG, surprisingly enough.

Although I don't like paranormal romances since what I know of that market's still swamped with Twilight knockoffs, I did enjoy this book. It was a light and easy read. All of the characters were well-developed, which I enjoyed. Caleb felt like a real guy, and Ivy, her best friend, seemed pretty realistic too. I also really liked how Fawn didn't act totally head-over-heels about Caleb, and focused on things other than her relationship during the story.


To me, the plot was bland, and I could basically predict the sequence of events. It seemed to me that Ms. Hoffman occasionally described the mundane parts of Fawn's life, especially in the exposition, but it picked up after that. However, TBG seemed like an original idea, which I liked. (I mean, who doesn't?) The writing was fast-paced, and it was a quick read. I'd recommend this to anyone who doesn't mind paranormal and who wants an engrossing, older-YA-geared fantasy story about a teenage girl turned sorceress and her relationship with a "dark angel."  

I got an e-ARC from Zara in exchange for an honest review and book buzz.

If you want to connect with Zara, her website is here. She's a seventeen-year-old writer who, obviously, likes writing. She also likes singing, reading, hanging out with her friends and family, and playing with her dog.

Finishing NaNoWriMo and Editing

I won NaNoWriMo in 2013. At my lowest point, I was 13,000 words behind. The stresses of real life, extracurriculars, and more homework left my word-count lagging far behind. On the last day, a Saturday, I knew I was going to finish. I was 11,000 words behind, which would require 5.5 hours of solid writing. I was out all day doing family stuff, but I finally got to write at 9 PM.


I crammed, using Write or Die, and switched my time-zone so I could write past midnight without the server recognizing that and making me not a winner. (Tricky, I know. I can't take credit for this idea. A guy in my region helped me with it.) Finally, at about 2 AM, I validated and was victorious. My characters were messy, and my plot was basically nonexistent, as usual, but I wrote about 20,000 words more than I thought I'd be able to, so it's still a success. My reward for myself was these brownies. (Seriously, if you love chocolate, you have to try them. Store-bought will never be the same again.)


Since taking a break from my mostly-finished first-draft of BILC, I've been editing: creative nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. I'm submitting all of the above to the Scholastic Writing Awards, so that should be fun. I think I'll do well and, if I don't, there's always next year.


  When not writing novels, I've also had the pleasure to read Zara Hoffman's debut, The Belgrave Daughter. I'll be reviewing that tomorrow.