After attending LTUE for the second year in a row, my conviction that I'm doing the right thing in taking my time with this story was confirmed.
Having now finished the rewrite of book 1, it is now in the hands of a good friend. One of the best things about having this person read it is that he's going to be able to give me feedback from a reader's perspective. He's is not a writer, but he is an avid fantasy reader. And after speaking with him about the specific fantasy stories he's enjoyed, I think mine is going to be a good fit for him.
I received the first edits of my story back from my friends and I've got a lot of work ahead of me.
At first I thought I could simply read their edits and make notations: "Keep this", "Rework this", "Make into dialogue", etc. But the changes required were so significant I couldn't bring myself to do a line-by-line approval.
I decided the more prudent idea for me would be to retype my entire novel.
If you're like me, then you've been writing since you can remember. Short stories about bunnies, your friends, your family vacation, etc. Anything was grounds to write. I remember I used to hate essays because I had to write about my life as it was...no embellishments. As an avid fantasy and science fiction reader, I have a love of all things fantastic and unbelievable. I did not feel that my life fell into either category.
I have been struggling through my first writing project. I've always had a way with words (spoken that is), so a year ago I decided to start writing a novel. How could I know then that I would be on my third revision? How could I know the sacrifice required for good fiction?
