On the seventh day of writing, my true love gave me --
An axe on my book...
Ok, that is doggerel. But, in actually, I am editing out a large portion of the work in progress. Remember that digression from the plot I wrote and was so happy about? I discovered that I had introduced about 11 new characters two thirds into the book and the mood of the book had abruptly changed, from isolation and slim odds to "We're all in this together!" I got seduced by one of my favorite constructs, the secret society.
No more. The good news is that I don't lose any words for camp because I had already counted them. And until I get caught up, I can count my work by hours and not words (because it's hard counting words when you're rewriting.) I'm one-third through the rewriting process, and I'm back to the claustrophobic adventures of four very unusual people on the run. As this book is young adult (and thus a coming of age novel), the coming of age stuff is pretty important.
Editing out material is really difficult, because it's more than words -- it's sweat and blood. But there's a saying: "Never fall so much in love with something that you can't walk away from it." (For those who think I've given up my romantic card, I'm all about romance. I'm also all about getting out from abusive relationships.) That rule is very important if one wants to improve as a writer. Didn't Andy Warhol say "Murder your darlings?" (He was talking about manuscripts.)
So that's the progress on the book. The progress on Kindle Scout? I have no idea. I don't think anyone can vote on the books anymore, and I think the curators are going to grade on their own opinions. I don't feel good about that, because my books don't please agents. If I don't get published through Kindle Scout, I have to figure out what my next step is -- do I just sacrifice a book to uncurated, un-announced self-publishing where nobody will find it, do I go back to the agents and get rejected, or do I just quit and find another all-consuming hobby?
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