I finished my first ever draft today! I am so nervous and freaking out! But so HAPPY! My dream is on its way! I need to enter it for a contest in a few days, and there is ALOT to edit. So I will only rest for a week, and then edit for 35 days. I hope I win the contest :) Edit: I actually got first place, who knew.
I literally just finished my first draft this morning. It's a little intimidating to go into revisions (I'm taking a few weeks off first), because I know I'm going to have to move plot points around for a better flow. But this was the first video I wanted to watch about the process!
As much as I love writing, I love revision more. There's something about getting things in order, the right sentence, the right word; it just makes me happy. And it's probably why I edit as I go, instead of getting the darn book finished. Something I have to work at. ~ Jon
About to go into revisions for my third novel and I'm excited and terrified all at once! I hate writing the first drafts so I'm so happy to be onto the revision phase finally!
I haven’t even written a first draft but I loved this video. I can already tell about myself that I like revising and editing more than actually writing. It’s the same way for my blog posts and videos. I love taking something mediocre and turning it into the best it can be!
I'm just about to start Revisions. I finished my first draft of my first book in April and have been leaving it for months to take a break. This video was a godsend on giving me ideas on what to do next. Thank you for this awesome video!
I'm all for involved linear revisions. I like to get everything out, done and revised as fast as I can while the story is still fresh in my mind. Then let it sit for a proofread as a last step. Something that really helps me do this is taking notes in my actual first draft. While I'm writing, if I don't like something or am uncertain about it, I'll mark my thoughts about it somehow and move on. If I have an idea I want to remember for when I go back and edit I'll note that too in parentheses right next to the paragraph or sentence. These notes are so helpful once I go back and start to edit and make the process much faster.
I've taken an eight-month break from my book and have written other unserious/shorter stories (final scene was intense emotionally and I needed palette cleansers), which has been great practice! Now that I'm looking at it again, I'm ready to make HUGE revisions and can definitely see how much I've improved as a writer since the first draft.
Alexa, I love this! Revision is my favorite and I love hearing how other writers do it. And this is such good advice. I always forget to take a break between drafts and...uh...be a human?? 😂❤️
i appreciate this!!! about to go into revision for a whole trilogy at once. 270k words. finished the first draft last year and haven’t touched it in about a month because i wanted to give myself space and time to come back as fresh to it as i possibly can
Alexa! I saw your book at my local book store in South Africa. I can't imagine how amazing you must feel to have your words travel so far away from home. Love the video ♥️
I tend to do A revision straight away just because I can't stand leaving it in first draft mode but then I leave it for a few months until I do a Proper revision
Hey Alexa! Thank you so much for your videos. I just slayed the first chapter of my novel, hacked it in half and it felt most liberating (don't worry, I still have another copy of it!). I am now confident, that something somewhat readable could come out of this.
I'm closing in on finishing my first draft of what I hope to be my first novel. Only two chapters left! The notion of revision is admittedly a bit intimidating, but this video has definitely given me some ideas to kick around with the revision process. I'll be checking out more of Alexa's videos and with any luck, will turn my draft into a published piece somewhere down the line.
Ohh lordy i feel like ive been revising for months and months now😂 i like this a lot because I've been feeling very overwhelmed with the feedback ive gotten from beta's while simultaneously line editing. This definitely helps💕
Thanks for giving me a place to organize my scattered mind. One more chapter left on my first draft and I'm both excited and a little intimidated so hearing your thoughts really helps. :)
Love this video, re-writing is the hard part. Keep the videos coming great stuff. Looking for videos on self-publishing and beta readers. Awesome stuff!
Thank you so much for this video. Currently revising an uber fanfic into original fic and feeling very "dear lord, what have I done" about it. As a romantic FF, it felt like a solid piece of writing. However, as I work it into an original piece, nothing feels good enough. This video gave concrete, practical suggestions on how to look the elephant in the eye and eat it one bite at a time (er, that metaphor suddenly feels very strange). Anyhow, you have given a discouraged, disheveled writer much needed hope and advice. Thank you again.
Glad I watched this! I finished my first draft (hooray!) but have been overwhelmed with getting it into shape for quite some time now (long enough, in fact, that I won't even mention *how* long!). But this helps me as I prepare myself mentally to tackle it and hopefully prove to myself that I can do it.
Late but I just found your channel. I love revision too! One thing I do to edit word choice and flow is to get each paragraph and edit it is isolatiom before reading the entire chapter aloud to make sure each paragraph flows nicely into the next. It takes awhile but when I'm done I see a lot of improvement usually.
Alexa has other videos about this.. Online writer groups like Absolute Writer Water Cooler are helpful. I also suggest creative writing college classes where a whole class + professor can critique your work + good advice on writing. These can also be online & usually single class is not super expensive.
I'm close to revising. Just about to finish my first novel and I'm pretty overwhelmed because I don't edit as I write, I just go for it to get as far as I can. So thanks for making a video like this! I really needed some tips on what to do.
I'm just starting to revise my first completed novel draft. There are some great tips in here that I plan to take on board, but I think the most important thing for me is that this kind of gave me permission to figure it out as I go and stop looking for someone else to tell me the "right way" to tackle this zero-draft mess. Focusing on one kind of problem at once makes it seem a lot less overwhelming. Will I need to probably re-fix my fixes as I find more issues to fix? Yeah. But I'll get it done eventually and I'll learn a lot on the way.
When you talk about "too many characters" I assume there's a hard line between what classifies a 'character' and a person in the story who is named. I feel like I have the right amount of core characters for my genre, but there's a fair amount of reoccurring named people who get their own whole paragraphs, description, or are saying significant things too. Should I not be doing that?
Nobody else answered, so I will! In one of her videos, I took the note to "combine minor characters into one." If they have similar ideas and opinions, perhaps combining them into one will help the reader keep track of who is who. Lots of names (especially similar ones introduced closely together) can became stressful to the reader in the wrong way. It has helped me a lot.
I am a newbie, and I just finished the first draft of my first novel and the 234 pages and the 103,455 words are a little intimidating. BTW I am 12 and as you are reading this you must not believe me and you probably think that its really bad and a twelve year olds weird imagination but I ran it through 5 friends one of which is a writer. And he has successfully novels his name is Branko Gradisnik and he thinks it's great. This video has helped me in revising and thank you so much..... I love you
I THOUGHT I WAS ALONE IN THIS! I'm 13 and I've recently started writing my novel and I haven't found anyone else my age doing so! Hope it's coming along well 💓💓
Chantelle Bassey I recommend a writing site called Young Writers Society. There’s loads of people in your age bracket posting stories, critiquing, discussing the craft and various other things as well. You might really enjoy being a part of that community. If you come along, my username is Zoom, if you have any questions.
I ADORE you and these videos! I’m a mess of a reviser, but as I’m finishing this rewrite, I’m going to try some new things that you’ve mentioned! Also, what eyeshadow is that?? 🔥😍
I want to let the first drafts of my books sit but the moment I step away from a story for even a few hours and come back, it's suddenly awful to me and then I lose all the motivation to revise it because in my head, there's no hope for it. Going into revision is gonna be a serious struggle for me..
I do the same thing. I have just finished my first draft and I’m going to start editing it soon. What I’m doing at the moment is just thinking that revising isn’t turning something mediocre good, but turning something that sucks into something mediocre and then into something good. I don’t know if it’s going to work, but at least it’s keeping my motivation up. Btw my drafts are pretty messy(I plan, but end up never using any of my plans)
I have no idea which video to leave this in, but seeing as it comes after the novel is completed I thought this might be an appropriate spot. Can you do a video or suggest a place to find a good critique partner for books? My apologies if this isn't the spot to leave this.
I'm in the process of writing my novel, my grammar and punctuation isn't great so I'm finding it hard sorting all of those mistakes. The story I created is really great, I'm just scared that because of my lack of knowledge in a lot of areas, it won't come across how I want it to.
I’m 16 and I just finished a novel that I originally wrote at 11 (but gave up on halfway through). My word count is excessive but I’m not sure what I can cut back. It’s been a long and stressful process and even though I’m sure the story is a train wreck, I’m super relieved to have completed it.
Afton, "excessive" may not mean what you think it does. (BIG HINT: if it was good enough to include it in the original, keep it on the side even if you choose to remove it from the "current" book. May be JUST what you need to start/finish the *next* book/story/scene...)
I loved this. I’ve been so overwhelmed bi revision that I ignored my messy first draft ( complete newbie) for 18 months now. Alexa, Would you think I have to fix the mess before I find a CP ? Thanks for any advice about where to find a CP? Thanks for great personality shiny through with lovely enthusiasm!
Having finished my first novel last year I was very naive and took a friends 'advice' in editing it myself and querying as many agencies as I could find (over 30). Not surprisingly I received as many rejections as I sent queries. Since then I have had my novel professionally edited and have learned how to write a much better synopsis and query letter. Is it worth resubmitting to some of those that originally rejected me stating that I have had the book heavily edited and that I am rebsubmitting?
Hi there! Thanks for all your videos! I had a quick question, what age range would you say your available published books are best for? I'm interested for my 12 year old daughter. She has recently found a love for reading so I'm always looking for new novels for her. 😁💝
My debut, Brightly Burning, would be appropriate for a mature 12-year-old depending on her reading tastes, but I might recommend the rest for older teens. Not my books, but in middle grade there are so many fantastic options, depending on what she's into!
I always find it difficult to select a suitable title for my book and I quite often change . Usually I use a quotation or some lines from William Shakespeare or the Bible or something like that. So please suggest a good way to title one's novel. The title must be eye -catching, attractive and short.
I finished writing 3 chapters but I already see that I should work on dialogues and better scenes description. Should I revise them now or just finish a whole story first?
She's saying 'pantsing' - as in 'writing by the seat of your pants' (also known as discovery writing). Essentially it means writing a book without having a detailed outline beforehand and working out the story as you go along.
🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰😘why do publishers not like us to hang out?...writers and editors..why? (Says it in slack jawed manner) "That don't make noo sense". But ya know I love ya "big gams". 😘😁😘😘😘
silly question but when you say 'revising' do you mean editing your first draft? 2nd draft? where exactly does revision fall in the process? is it the same as editing? drafting?
Revising is the word for more of structural edits and rewriting scenes, or adding chapters, changing the plot. Any of the BIG changes. Editing is generally smaller things, like individual sentences and word choice, making it "pretty".
Alexa: wait a week to a month before revising Me on a Wednesday who just finished the first draft and had promised to get this fanfic out by the end of the week: help
Revision is what you make it, I suppose, at the end of the day. FYI this video is old I have MANY since then covering editing related topics including detailed vlogs of my process of dev editing multiple books for Random House. Might be helpful!
Yep! I share my draft zero with a select few, as well! I find that feedback is really helpful, since it's easy to get very wrapped up in your own story as you're writing it.
I mean, bear in mind I've built up a relationship with my CPs over time, and also I'm on my fourth book--I'm pretty confident in my early drafts, and they tend to be ready for CP feedback. I need those CPs to see the early drafts so that my agent and editor can see the 2nd or 3rd drafts, if that makes sense.
I am revising my first novel I finished. I have been working on various things in chunks such as plot/character arcs/dialogue then come back and work on setting/sentence structure do you think this is good?
Finishes first draft....watches all of Alexa Donne’s videos in a single sitting because Alexa says I need to refill my well.
“Quick Robin, to the draft cave!” I now find myself interested in seeing the “draft mobile”...probably a keyboard of some sort.
I finished my first ever draft today! I am so nervous and freaking out! But so HAPPY! My dream is on its way! I need to enter it for a contest in a few days, and there is ALOT to edit. So I will only rest for a week, and then edit for 35 days. I hope I win the contest :)
Edit: I actually got first place, who knew.
So how did it go?
How was the contest?
How did it go?
I forgot this comment existed o-o
I won and published the story, sorry for not updating sooner whoops.
That's great! I'm glad you decided to publish your book.
My first draft has 210k words. See you in Hell!
oh wow!
How did it go?
a little over 130k words and it's contemporary young adult... save me a place in hell
@@pema141 at least you have a lot to work with!! My first YA urban fantasy draft has come in just over 50k... subplot? Don’t know what that is 😌🥴
“put your draft away for a week if not two weeks. a month would be better.”
me: *internal screaming* mY bAbY
I literally just finished my first draft this morning. It's a little intimidating to go into revisions (I'm taking a few weeks off first), because I know I'm going to have to move plot points around for a better flow. But this was the first video I wanted to watch about the process!
As much as I love writing, I love revision more. There's something about getting things in order, the right sentence, the right word; it just makes me happy.
And it's probably why I edit as I go, instead of getting the darn book finished. Something I have to work at.
~ Jon
Same
About to go into revisions for my third novel and I'm excited and terrified all at once! I hate writing the first drafts so I'm so happy to be onto the revision phase finally!
Typed The END on my most recent first draft. Perfect timing!
I haven’t even written a first draft but I loved this video. I can already tell about myself that I like revising and editing more than actually writing. It’s the same way for my blog posts and videos. I love taking something mediocre and turning it into the best it can be!
I'm just about to start Revisions. I finished my first draft of my first book in April and have been leaving it for months to take a break. This video was a godsend on giving me ideas on what to do next. Thank you for this awesome video!
I'm all for involved linear revisions. I like to get everything out, done and revised as fast as I can while the story is still fresh in my mind. Then let it sit for a proofread as a last step. Something that really helps me do this is taking notes in my actual first draft. While I'm writing, if I don't like something or am uncertain about it, I'll mark my thoughts about it somehow and move on. If I have an idea I want to remember for when I go back and edit I'll note that too in parentheses right next to the paragraph or sentence. These notes are so helpful once I go back and start to edit and make the process much faster.
I've taken an eight-month break from my book and have written other unserious/shorter stories (final scene was intense emotionally and I needed palette cleansers), which has been great practice! Now that I'm looking at it again, I'm ready to make HUGE revisions and can definitely see how much I've improved as a writer since the first draft.
I didn't start watching your videos when you started making them. I am late to the party. Thanks for your work. I like that you have fun with this.
I'm in the revision process of my first book and I love how you describe the process! Thank you for all of your videos on writing and publishing!
I'm saving thos video for when I revise my novel. Thanks for the great tips 😊
I've been doing it linear order but your explanation has has shown me that tackling it by subjects would be better for me, thank you.
"You want to look for places where even you're bored of your writing"
aka my whole book on my third pass XD
Alexa, I love this! Revision is my favorite and I love hearing how other writers do it. And this is such good advice. I always forget to take a break between drafts and...uh...be a human?? 😂❤️
This is such great advice. Revising did really freak me out but now I've learnt to love it.
i appreciate this!!! about to go into revision for a whole trilogy at once. 270k words. finished the first draft last year and haven’t touched it in about a month because i wanted to give myself space and time to come back as fresh to it as i possibly can
Alexa! I saw your book at my local book store in South Africa. I can't imagine how amazing you must feel to have your words travel so far away from home. Love the video ♥️
I tend to do A revision straight away just because I can't stand leaving it in first draft mode but then I leave it for a few months until I do a Proper revision
Thank you so much for sharing your experience. First time I've heard of 'white room syndrome' - love it!
Hey Alexa! Thank you so much for your videos. I just slayed the first chapter of my novel, hacked it in half and it felt most liberating (don't worry, I still have another copy of it!). I am now confident, that something somewhat readable could come out of this.
I love this! It is my first time revising a book and I am scared, excited, hopeful, all at once🙃 thank you for giving me some motivation :)
I'm closing in on finishing my first draft of what I hope to be my first novel. Only two chapters left! The notion of revision is admittedly a bit intimidating, but this video has definitely given me some ideas to kick around with the revision process. I'll be checking out more of Alexa's videos and with any luck, will turn my draft into a published piece somewhere down the line.
Ohh lordy i feel like ive been revising for months and months now😂 i like this a lot because I've been feeling very overwhelmed with the feedback ive gotten from beta's while simultaneously line editing. This definitely helps💕
Thanks for giving me a place to organize my scattered mind. One more chapter left on my first draft and I'm both excited and a little intimidated so hearing your thoughts really helps. :)
What I do also that is really really really helpful is make my device read my chapters!! It’s shokingly a great thing to do. Try it!
Found your ebook at my library. After listening to all your videos, I can hear your voice in this book! It’s almost like you’re reading it to me 😂
Love this video, re-writing is the hard part. Keep the videos coming great stuff. Looking for videos on self-publishing and beta readers. Awesome stuff!
Thank you so much for this video. Currently revising an uber fanfic into original fic and feeling very "dear lord, what have I done" about it. As a romantic FF, it felt like a solid piece of writing. However, as I work it into an original piece, nothing feels good enough. This video gave concrete, practical suggestions on how to look the elephant in the eye and eat it one bite at a time (er, that metaphor suddenly feels very strange). Anyhow, you have given a discouraged, disheveled writer much needed hope and advice. Thank you again.
I love your advice, thanks. You’re such a pro.
Glad I watched this! I finished my first draft (hooray!) but have been overwhelmed with getting it into shape for quite some time now (long enough, in fact, that I won't even mention *how* long!). But this helps me as I prepare myself mentally to tackle it and hopefully prove to myself that I can do it.
Late but I just found your channel. I love revision too! One thing I do to edit word choice and flow is to get each paragraph and edit it is isolatiom before reading the entire chapter aloud to make sure each paragraph flows nicely into the next. It takes awhile but when I'm done I see a lot of improvement usually.
Alexa, or anyone in the comments, what is a good way to find a critique partner you can trust?
Alexa has other videos about this.. Online writer groups like Absolute Writer Water Cooler are helpful. I also suggest creative writing college classes where a whole class + professor can critique your work + good advice on writing. These can also be online & usually single class is not super expensive.
I literally took notes of this video on my notebook
Thanks, you've just made revision simple. Even though it can be tough. Your list of tips made this less overwhelming. 😃👍🏻
Could you do a video where you talk about the timeline of Brightly Burning from the first word to release?
I'm close to revising. Just about to finish my first novel and I'm pretty overwhelmed because I don't edit as I write, I just go for it to get as far as I can. So thanks for making a video like this! I really needed some tips on what to do.
I'm just starting to revise my first completed novel draft. There are some great tips in here that I plan to take on board, but I think the most important thing for me is that this kind of gave me permission to figure it out as I go and stop looking for someone else to tell me the "right way" to tackle this zero-draft mess. Focusing on one kind of problem at once makes it seem a lot less overwhelming. Will I need to probably re-fix my fixes as I find more issues to fix? Yeah. But I'll get it done eventually and I'll learn a lot on the way.
there was an ad for the Amazon Alexa right before your video 😂 i guess youtube thought that was relevant lol
When you talk about "too many characters" I assume there's a hard line between what classifies a 'character' and a person in the story who is named. I feel like I have the right amount of core characters for my genre, but there's a fair amount of reoccurring named people who get their own whole paragraphs, description, or are saying significant things too.
Should I not be doing that?
Nobody else answered, so I will! In one of her videos, I took the note to "combine minor characters into one." If they have similar ideas and opinions, perhaps combining them into one will help the reader keep track of who is who. Lots of names (especially similar ones introduced closely together) can became stressful to the reader in the wrong way. It has helped me a lot.
@@otterlyadorable2155 Thank you! Sound advise.
I am a newbie, and I just finished the first draft of my first novel and the 234 pages and the 103,455 words are a little intimidating. BTW I am 12 and as you are reading this you must not believe me and you probably think that its really bad and a twelve year olds weird imagination but I ran it through 5 friends one of which is a writer. And he has successfully novels his name is Branko Gradisnik and he thinks it's great. This video has helped me in revising and thank you so much..... I love you
Sofija Koštrica how’s your revision coming along? Writing a first draft at 12 years old is extremely impressive!
I THOUGHT I WAS ALONE IN THIS! I'm 13 and I've recently started writing my novel and I haven't found anyone else my age doing so! Hope it's coming along well 💓💓
Chantelle Bassey I recommend a writing site called Young Writers Society. There’s loads of people in your age bracket posting stories, critiquing, discussing the craft and various other things as well. You might really enjoy being a part of that community. If you come along, my username is Zoom, if you have any questions.
@@leech1355 thank you so much! I'll definitely check it out 💕
I ADORE you and these videos! I’m a mess of a reviser, but as I’m finishing this rewrite, I’m going to try some new things that you’ve mentioned! Also, what eyeshadow is that?? 🔥😍
I think I used the Storybook Cosmetics Wizardry and Witchcraft palette for this one!
Thanks for the help!
I want to let the first drafts of my books sit but the moment I step away from a story for even a few hours and come back, it's suddenly awful to me and then I lose all the motivation to revise it because in my head, there's no hope for it. Going into revision is gonna be a serious struggle for me..
I do the same thing. I have just finished my first draft and I’m going to start editing it soon. What I’m doing at the moment is just thinking that revising isn’t turning something mediocre good, but turning something that sucks into something mediocre and then into something good. I don’t know if it’s going to work, but at least it’s keeping my motivation up. Btw my drafts are pretty messy(I plan, but end up never using any of my plans)
Anyone keep coming back to these revision videos?
I just love your channel so much 🤘
I have no idea which video to leave this in, but seeing as it comes after the novel is completed I thought this might be an appropriate spot. Can you do a video or suggest a place to find a good critique partner for books? My apologies if this isn't the spot to leave this.
I'm in the process of writing my novel, my grammar and punctuation isn't great so I'm finding it hard sorting all of those mistakes.
The story I created is really great, I'm just scared that because of my lack of knowledge in a lot of areas, it won't come across how I want it to.
I'm too broke to get an editor so I watch videos like this.
I'm revising now. 😳
When you step back from the novel for weeks or months do you start other projects during that time?
Thank you Alexa
I’m 16 and I just finished a novel that I originally wrote at 11 (but gave up on halfway through). My word count is excessive but I’m not sure what I can cut back. It’s been a long and stressful process and even though I’m sure the story is a train wreck, I’m super relieved to have completed it.
Afton, "excessive" may not mean what you think it does. (BIG HINT: if it was good enough to include it in the original, keep it on the side even if you choose to remove it from the "current" book. May be JUST what you need to start/finish the *next* book/story/scene...)
@@MikeCBaker thanks so much for the tip! I’ve definitely considered doing a second book.
I loved this. I’ve been so overwhelmed bi revision that I ignored my messy first draft ( complete newbie) for 18 months now.
Alexa, Would you think I have to fix the mess before I find a CP ? Thanks for any advice about where to find a CP?
Thanks for great personality shiny through with lovely enthusiasm!
the steps start at 2:30
Having finished my first novel last year I was very naive and took a friends 'advice' in editing it myself and querying as many agencies as I could find (over 30). Not surprisingly I received as many rejections as I sent queries. Since then I have had my novel professionally edited and have learned how to write a much better synopsis and query letter. Is it worth resubmitting to some of those that originally rejected me stating that I have had the book heavily edited and that I am rebsubmitting?
Sure. Since you’re sending in as perfect a copy as possible.
cookies sounds great :D
Hi there! Thanks for all your videos! I had a quick question, what age range would you say your available published books are best for? I'm interested for my 12 year old daughter. She has recently found a love for reading so I'm always looking for new novels for her. 😁💝
My debut, Brightly Burning, would be appropriate for a mature 12-year-old depending on her reading tastes, but I might recommend the rest for older teens. Not my books, but in middle grade there are so many fantastic options, depending on what she's into!
"That's a lot of words." Story of my life 🤣
My problem is. I usually wait too long. I'll go back and be like "Eh...no. I am done. This is a mess." Lol
I always find it difficult to select a suitable title for my book and I quite often change . Usually I use a quotation or some lines from William Shakespeare or the Bible or something like that. So please suggest a good way to title one's novel. The title must be eye -catching, attractive and short.
What do you do If a chapter is hot garbage, but the story is flat without it??
But what if I don’t want to leave my drafting cave??? 😢😢😢
Hi. I know I’m late but would you recommend revising every three chapters or so? Instead of at the end?
I finished writing 3 chapters but I already see that I should work on dialogues and better scenes description. Should I revise them now or just finish a whole story first?
Can anyone help me? I've heard Alexa mention this in a few different videos but I'm not sure what it means. What is pancing? Pansing?
She's saying 'pantsing' - as in 'writing by the seat of your pants' (also known as discovery writing). Essentially it means writing a book without having a detailed outline beforehand and working out the story as you go along.
@@stuartwesthall thank you! I've never heard that term before and couldn't find it anywhere.
on one of my WIP I am at 233k pages. It is a lot, but the story isnt completely told yet.
My first draft is on track to be 250,000 words
After finishing the first draft of a novel draft another novel then after getting that first draft finish off the first one.
Is there any way to do it with one that is already published?
I revise as I go. like the week I'm watching this I'm commenting this, I haven't completely finished the book and I find it easier to revise as I go.
What if you need to do some major story changes?
Do you have to get copyright before you outsource editing?
No. The metadata is your copyright.
🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰😘why do publishers not like us to hang out?...writers and editors..why? (Says it in slack jawed manner) "That don't make noo sense". But ya know I love ya "big gams". 😘😁😘😘😘
silly question but when you say 'revising' do you mean editing your first draft? 2nd draft? where exactly does revision fall in the process? is it the same as editing? drafting?
Revising is the word for more of structural edits and rewriting scenes, or adding chapters, changing the plot. Any of the BIG changes. Editing is generally smaller things, like individual sentences and word choice, making it "pretty".
Do I contact the agent before or after the revision?
How do you do a revision of show don't tell?
Alexa: wait a week to a month before revising
Me on a Wednesday who just finished the first draft and had promised to get this fanfic out by the end of the week: help
After 1 year holding myself to NOT WATCH this video (because the first step is put away your book). Finally... Here we go
What if I think I need to delete and write a different book?
Why delete it? Just start a new file. Maybe look back months later. You might end up loving your draft after you’ve given it some space
Is it honestly a crime to use too many adjectives if they're used in proper context?
It seems like she is talking in circles with really no difinitive answer as to what revision really is.
Revision is what you make it, I suppose, at the end of the day. FYI this video is old I have MANY since then covering editing related topics including detailed vlogs of my process of dev editing multiple books for Random House. Might be helpful!
It's a crazy mental marathon.
I give it a three month break.
What is she say around 5:32? It is "something" syndrome? What is this?
Never mind, I got deeper into the video and heard it clearer, it is white room syndrome. I kept hearing "write in" syndrome. lol
What is white rim syndrome?
I gave mine three months. Oops.
😘😘😘😘🤭🤗🤗🤗🤗big hugs sweetie😘
So you give your betas and CP the first draft?
Yep! I share my draft zero with a select few, as well! I find that feedback is really helpful, since it's easy to get very wrapped up in your own story as you're writing it.
Hmmm....thats so not what others suggest! Lol you rebel. I like it. 🤔 Now I'm pondering this...
I mean, bear in mind I've built up a relationship with my CPs over time, and also I'm on my fourth book--I'm pretty confident in my early drafts, and they tend to be ready for CP feedback. I need those CPs to see the early drafts so that my agent and editor can see the 2nd or 3rd drafts, if that makes sense.
Alexa Donne That does make a lot of sense. Speeds up the process, because of your experience. 🤔
I am revising my first novel I finished. I have been working on various things in chunks such as plot/character arcs/dialogue then come back and work on setting/sentence structure do you think this is good?
Liked and subbed.
"You need to go to the movies, you need to see your friends you haven't seen in a while."
_Clearly_ a pre-pandemic video. 😄
great video have an amazing day
Why do you pause where there are no commas in your speech? Strange little idiosyncrasy, that I'm sure others find just as annoying as I do.