Revise, Rework, Rebuild. . .

     You need to find a balance between editing and ceasing to edit.  
     I took a few minutes today to look back at some old blogs.  I did this for two reasons:  first, and most important, I wanted to make sure my blogs are "child friendly" since this blog is now tied to a teaching site.  Second, I wanted to edit out some mindless babbling that occured in earlier blogs.
     I don't blame myself for the mindless babbling.  It was the nature of my blog in the beginning.  My blog was supposed to help me formulate my daily writing plans.  Now, my blog has grown into a tool for educating others about writing.  So, now I want to make sure that my blogs offer solid lessons to anyone who will drop in and honor me by reading them.
     So the lesson for today is:  editing.  Most people hate it.  I tend to enjoy it.  It's the time to make things better and try new things.  Once you have taken the time to write out something, once you have poured your heart and soul into them, then it is time to tear it down and build it back up.
     I have scrapped entire novel and screenplay drafts during the second draft.  They became better; the ideas in them were better connected and I deepened the literary devices used.  Your first draft is to get it out of your head and onto paper.  Consequent drafts are to help it make sense to someone else.
     The rule of thumb that seems to be used by many writers is to write at least four drafts.  How I see that is as such:
     Rough Draft (or Draft 1):  get your thoughts down.  You can babble here.  You can have typos and incomplete thoughts.
     Draft 2 (First rewrite):  Begin to edit for clarity.  Check your spelling and grammar.  Begin to try new things within your work.  Try adding more description.  Try playing with literary devices.  Find a theme for all your chapters.  Just add something new.
     Draft 3 (Second rewrite):  Begin to edit toward a final work.  This is the draft you should share with writing groups or readers for feedback.
     Draft 4 (Possible final draft):  Last revision incorporating feedback.  Final polish.
   
     Now, I wrote "Possible Final Draft" for the fourth draft, because after getting feedback, you may want to take the story in an entirely different direction, which brings you back to Draft 2.  However, you need to set a time for finishing and an amount of max revisions or you'll go crazy editing.  There has to be a time when you stop editing and start sending your work out to be published.  An author once said, "A work is never truly finished, it is merely abandoned."  You can revise a piece of writing until Kingdom Come, so sooner or later, you have to say, "That's enough."
     My rule of thumb is to send out my fourth draft.  Then, if it isn't accepted, I look at revising again.  When your work is accepted by an editor, they may ask you to rewrite in a different direction or they may just revise the thing for you.  So, either way, it's never really finished until it's in print.  Get out that fourth draft and start to write something new while you wait to see how it's received.  I've sold a few things this way.  It works. . .
Please check out my new novel  Luke Aloysius:  Bloodline on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GD9X8BE

Peace!

The Almighty Second Opinion

Today I focused on query letters. I'm being very specific who I send my work to. I want a smaller literary agency with less clients so that I can really get to know my agent. I don't want to get lost in the shuffle. I spent the day perfecting individual query letters tailored to individual hand-chosen agents based on clients that they have already represented. If I like their client's work, I feel these agents will appreciate my work as well. I do not waste time or postage on blindly sending out queries to agents that may or may not even work with screenplays. Always research who you are sending your work to.

I wrote up two specific query letters to start with. The next step is the second opinion or the proofreader. You should always have someone honest to read your work and give honest feedback to you. If you don't have anyone you can think of, take a writing class in your area of expertise and ask the teacher for feedback. With queries and a lot of my other work, I always go to the same two people (don't laugh, I have a method): Mom and Dad.

The reason why I go to Mom and Dad is two-fold. As individuals, they provide different versions of feedback for me.

Dad worked as a supervisor at ITT/Defense Communications Divison for 40 years and did hiring and firing. He read tons of resumes and cover letters. He also loves action/adventure and war films, is a former member of the Air National Guard, and is a history buff who would be the ulimate lifeline for any Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? contestant. He is my technical advisor many times when I'm writing anything that has to do with the military, history, or warfare. When he reads a cover letter, he gives me a lot of information. He looks to see if he can tell me what the story is based on my brief description (the one paragraph pitch). He looks to see if he'd hire me as a writer based on my writing skills and credetials. Finally, he makes sure I have my facts straight.

Mom, on the other hand, is my literary right hand. She is the second pair of eyes I need when I can no longer stand to read through a page looking for spelling and grammar. My mother never went to college. She was the oldest of three and her two younger brothers were expected to go to college because they were expected to take care of a family. In those days, she was expected to marry and be taken care of and, in turn, take care of her husband and family. (That was the 50's, baby. . .) It didn't stop my mother from becoming a prolific reader and lover of words. She reads, on average, a novel a night. (Is there any doubt as to how her daughter became an English teacher and writer?) I always thought that if Mom had the chance, she would have made an outstanding English Lit. teacher. She had me reading before Kindergarden. But, I digress. Mom is one of my readers because she can find all the missing commas, misspellings, homonyms, grammatical errors, and general stupidity that my fried little brain may have missed during final revisions. She also re-tells me my story to make sure its clear. And, when I'm working on comedy, Mom is the best critic because she has an outstanding sense of humor. She knows what works and what doesn't.

I do have other people who read for me as well. Most of them are close friends and family members. I do this because I know they'll be honest with me. If something isn't working, they'll tell me. They'll also be specific about what they like. I'm blessed to have them.

What's the best part of asking for the second opinion? When they ask you what else you're working on when they're finished. . . and if they can read that too. That's when you know you're on to something.
Please check out my novel Luke Aloysius:  Bloodline on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GD9X8BE