Thank you to everyone who left a note on my IWSG post - it's great to get thoughts / encouragement from this awesome bloggy-writey community when working on a writing project. That's another thing I've been missing during my "I can't bring myself to write one single word or edit one single sentence" slump of the last few ... years.I wanted to give a quick update on how Chapter 1 of ON THE OUTSIDE is shaping up. I haven't done much work on it, except that I cut a significant portion of the chapter - the first 8 pages, to be precise. I know I'm going to have to take a few snippets from those 8 pages and stick them somewhere in the remainder, because otherwise things aren't making sense. But I feel really good about the new point I've chosen to start the story at.
I really appreciate the offers from you guys to beta read my chapter for me. I am actually wondering if it might be a good idea to tidy up this new version of Chapter 1, then send both versions along to some betas & see what they think of the "before" and "after". But I wouldn't want to get anyone bogged down in 8 useless pages of writing bloat. :) Still, you could skim read!
Anyway...I'll post another update sometime soon. It feels SO GOOD to be motivated and actually doing something significant to one of my novels, again.
They always say to hack from the beginning and you'll find the best starting point!
ReplyDeleteIf you ever need fresh eyes or an opinion (for what it's worth!), I'd be happy to throw in my two cents.
ReplyDeleteI love it when the muse comes back from vacation.
ReplyDeleteThat must've been a long chapter. lol I've had to cut out pages and reworking pieces back in later. Good luck with the rest of your edits!
ReplyDeleteIt was just over 9 pages. haha. I do have to add some back to it though, as mentioned.
DeleteTrisha, I'm glad you're moving forward on this chapter. That first chapter is SO important! I hope you can trim it down. As I said, I'd be happy to beta read...
ReplyDeleteHi Trisha - that's great you've got offers of help here. And Alex' comment is true - we all have to start somewhere .. but it's good to feel motivated again - good luck with your writing and in particular that chapter - cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteHope the first chapter is taking shape!
ReplyDeleteI'm also trying to write something every day...a paragraph or even a sentence. Every bit counts.
Glad to hear you're feeling motivated again! Here's to a wonderfully productive week. :)
ReplyDeleteGlad to know you're feeling good about the project.
ReplyDeleteIf I could tell you how many times I've changed the starting place of my stories... This last one, I cut out 12 chapters. Yes, 12. I think it works, but we'll see what my editor says. Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteWow, well done!
DeleteThe most I cut off the front of a novel before was about 7k of words. It felt good!