editing

Never Give Up, Never Surrender!

| Casey Wyatt

I saw an interesting quote on Facebook by John Rodgers – “You can’t think yourself out of a writing block, you have to write yourself out of a thinking block.”

Once again, I find myself at odds over the story for Mystic Storm. I don’t why Zephyr’s book is such a challenge, but there is no way I’m not delivering this book.

First off, I’m not suffering from writer’s block (honestly, I don’t believe in it), but I’m having what I think of as “organizational” issues. The book is plotted out and I’m proceeding according to my plan, however, I seemed to have strayed off the path.

How does that happen?

Easy.

I often let the story wander in other directions as I delve deeper into my characters. As a result, there are portions of the timeline that have been skewed. Rather than stopping completely to fix it, I’ve decided to re-read what I have, take notes, then keep on trucking.

Why?

Because the end is not changing. It’s only how I’m getting there that might differ. If I stop right now and try to fix the book, I know it’ll stress me out and I might never finish Mystic Storm.

Since I know there are people out there who would like to know what I did to Zephyr at the end of Mystic Ink, I can’t leave them hanging. Not to mention, I have Devlin’s book – Mystic Hero – waiting in the wings.

So, if you’re spinning your wheels on a plot, might I suggest skipping over that part and moving on? I’ve found that it’s much easier to keep writing and deal with it later because as John Rodgers suggests – the issue may solve itself, but only if you keep writing!

How does everyone else cope when the story is off kilter or not quite right? And do you agree with John Rodgers?

And if you have a free moment, visit the Scribes. I’m interviewing Gerri Brousseau about her debut novel – A Pirate’s Ransom.

Zephyr visits this lighthouse on his walks through the streets of Stonington Point, CT.

There’s a Gremlin in my Book!

| Casey Wyatt

Happy Friday everyone! Be sure to check out my post over at the Scribes – Stagnant Brain Syndrome.

This week, I’ve been furiously re-reading my manuscript – The Undead Space Initiative so I can hand it in for final line edits.

And man, let me tell you, I swear there is a little gremlin sitting in my computer deleting words (that no one seems to notice are missing). The gremlin also likes to play with formatting and add extra spaces or delete space that should be there.

I know that all manuscripts have typos and missing words. It comes with the territory. Very frustrating, especially when you have a perfectionist personality like I do.

One way to combat the gremlin (besides the obvious thing – using spell checker liberally and often) is time away from the book. I haven’t read USI since last year. I’ve had time to forget what I wrote and see it with fresh eyes.

The other helpful tip: read in short, focused bursts. That way you won’t get sucked into the story and forget to check for those pesky errors. Any time I caught myself actually “reading”, I stopped and did something else.

Another suggestion: scatter the order of the pages. But, I converted the document to the publisher’s format and removed the page numbers. I had printed the entire book when I realized what I had done. Oops. Maybe next time!

Of course, time away has a downside – the urge to change everything. I nipped that in the bud when I realized I was letting The Doubt Monster mess with my head again. My editor at Pink Petal Books enjoyed the story and asked for minimal changes, so Doubty can go torment someone else.

You’ll have to forgive me today, if I answer comments later than normal. I’m having fun with my family and I’ll respond as soon as I can.

Tell me about your gremlins. Perhaps you have one that eats the socks in your dryer or likes to steal your favorite pen off the table. Or maybe something more interesting?

Now the Fun Begins!

| Casey Wyatt

Happy Friday everyone.  Don’t forget to visit me at the Scribes today and say “hi” to our special guest – Frankie Robertson. She’s discussing her move to indie publishing and her new, traditionally published book – Veiled Mirror.

After a few weeks of waiting, I’ve received critique for The Undead Space Initiative. The overall reception has been positive. The book isn’t perfect (nothing ever is) and I have a bunch of questions, comments and “things that may need more explaining” to sift through.

To my beta readers and critique partners – thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to read and comment on my book. The book will only be better because of you.

How should a writer deal with feedback? Gracefully is always a good place to start. Try not to stress about it or take it personally.

But, practically, you also can’t please everyone. Nor can you re-make the book is someone else’s image. Balance is necessary. Take what works for you and discard the rest. But don’t toss it completely away (more on this at the end of the post).

One of the hardest things I’ve had to learn is what should be changed or not changed based on critique. Monday’s Scribe – Jamie Pope- has done a great blog post on critique and I urge you to read it!

The two questions I always ask myself – Do I agree? Will the change make the book better?

Notice, I didn’t ask, “Do I like it?” It doesn’t matter if I like the feedback or not. It doesn’t matter whether I want to hear that I might need to change something.  If I agree, I suck it up, start evaluating, and make the changes.

Also, notice I said,  “If I agree.”

And I always try to apply the unused, technique-related feedback to my next novel. That way I can grow and improve as a writer.

Besides, I’m still the Author Goddess. And what I say goes.