I finished another redraft of Cinderella Eyes last night, ending at around 78,000 words. I have redrafted this novel more times than I have any of my other works, as it is a narrative nonfiction, although written in a fictitious venue (names changed to protect the innocent and the not-so-innocent, alike), and family occurrences continue to mold the story. The narrative nonfiction/written as fiction aspect gives me some creative slack to rework time-lines and various events, while still holding true to the actual story
I average two or three drafts on all of the works I submit. A first draft, no matter how cohesive, will always need reworking somewhere. A second draft is always closer; my third drafts are all polished enough for submission, although no draft is "final" until it gets published or produced ... and even then there can be room for improvement. I take pride in my perfectionism; I want every work to come out a masterpiece.
I'm fortunate enough to have two phenomenal editors, as well. They hold no punches in their critiques, and for that I am grateful. No one enjoys having their work shredded and deeply, critically evaluated ... but real, constructive criticism truly has the power to make any good work great. I never blow off a critique ... and, for that reason alone, I have been able to progress my work to the quality level that it is currently at.
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I just spent half the morning at YouTube, watching trailers for the upcoming The Lost Boys sequel.... I spend a lot of time on working on queries. I actually enjoy it, as it allows me to reflect on my work beyond redrafts and the original creative process, to come up with better approaches to my synopses, and sometimes even come up with ideas for future drafts. I see it as an opportunity to improve my writing, overall ... and I can only hope that those who pass on any given project of mine might see my potential and remember my name, just the same. |
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