Friday, October 15, 2010

NaNo Looming

Okay anybody ever wonder how I chose got the name Bionic Writer? Its because I did and still do everything really fast including my chores so my mum started calling me the Bionic Woman (we will save the discussion of my brutish strength for another post).

So apart from editing and labour, I do everything else really fast. I remember a year in school I wanted to be the first to finish an exam so nobody would break my record, I raced through it, turned it in, got the applause and a bad grade.

I think I am beginning to do the same with my writing, it takes me two weeks at most to pen a manuscript and maybe three months or more to type it and edit at the same time because the muse hates transferring words into the laptop.

For someone who likes things done really fast 3 months seems like an eternity to get it done, by the time I get it to CPs or Betas I am at the point of "I cant wait to send this baby out", so you see I never give it a rest and attack it again with fresh eyes.

I finally got an idea for my NaNoWriMo story yesterday and this time around I am promising to go slow with the revisions even though I like it so much I cant wait to start. In true addict style though I still have a partial that I have in the side wings waiting to go out but my NaNoWriMo story shall be the "patience golden egg". I know there are people out there who prolly are like me and can never wait to send it off and succeed (Hey I might even succeed with this method!) but you know the grass always looks greener on the other side, and green is the in thing now.

Do you have any revision tips that work for you or are you like me and believe by the 8th round of revisions you would have turned the original story clinical?

Let's reminisce with some pictures, shall we?
The promenade des anglais


Ignore the humans, to get to St. Paul de Vence the home of famous artists and a very artsy town you have to get past this

I would give one arm to live in one of this houses, this is Monaco the street that leads to the palace and everything is tax free! Besides I heard Djokovic lives here

Thank you Patrick Suskind your book made me eager to see a perfumery, this is the office of "the nose" no one else is allowed in there so they don't disrupt his olfactory supremacy

17 comments:

  1. Yes I agree it is possible to over edit. I guess the best thing to do when you get to revision 8 is pass it on to a CP or beta (I just learned about those today) and see if they flag anything up by then. I love your bionic woman nickname. Excellent! :O)

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  2. I love to do things quick, too. It must be the Leo in us :-) I hate at the moment that my word count is taking forever to move.

    Shall we both try and take it slow together?!

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  3. I tend to write fast too, especially when a story idea gets its hooks in me. However, the best advice I got was to let a book sit for at least a month after you type "The End." Then decide whether it's ready for beta readers, queries, etc.

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  4. I often let the book sit for awhile as well. It gives me a fresh perspective on it and allows me to see through some of the euphoric feeling after just finishing a book.

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  5. Crikey! a month? this habit might prove hard to break

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  6. I write in about three months and then edit for about nine. I hate editing.

    CD

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  7. ...the editing process seems to never completely end. And Sondrae's comment about letting the thing sit for a while is dead on. It definitely spurs new ideas during the tedious edit.

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  8. Editing is where the main chore is at, and you can't cut corners too. I write fast too but after my first book, I've learned to slow down. Hope I can pull off NaNo this year..

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  9. I say good on all you fast writers... I'm painfully slow! Pain-ful-ly! In fact by the time I'm halfway through I've changed so much in the plot that the first chapters don't quite fit anymore. But I'm working on it. Getting better. NaNo training... perhaps I'll beat the snot out of the slow habit! ;)

    Dropped by from Jen at unedited. Nice to meet you. ~waves~

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  10. Love the new template!!

    I'm with you - I like to rush things and cross the line first! I've had to tell myself to SLOOOOW down many times. Sigh.

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  11. That's why NaNo is so good. Guilt-free writing. But the editing is a murky wilderness..:)

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  12. And I adore the new blog skin. Yummy! I thought I was at the wrong site for awhile.

    I'm looking for your email now and am about to send the synopsis so you can rush it out of the way before NaNo starts!!!!!

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  13. I'm a fast writer too and edit mine at least twice before sending it to my CP's. One thing I was told to do is go through it line by line yes it takes time, but it really helps to catch things. Also print off the chapter your editing and read it outline with a pen near by to mark things.

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  14. For some reason, looking at a hard copy instead instead of the computer works for me.

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  15. That's awesome Bionic Writer that you're able to get a story down on paper so fast and edit quickly too. I think the best story ideas come with inspiration. While I was writing I kept forgetting what I'd written because I was taking so many breaks. I've been trying to edit a first draft for months, and I am thinking it needs at least 5 to 8 edits to get it right; who knows when I'll finish :P. For the stories that you submitted, have you looked at them again to see if you think they should be any different now that you can look at them with fresh eyes?

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  16. Thanx everybody :D I have the coolest bloggers ever on this page.
    So this is what I shall do, give it a rest, print it out and have at it with a pink pen before I send it to my cps.
    @ SH my first ms was written in an ego induced haze and is very unsalvageable much to my shame.
    @ Joanne I didnt know we were both leos! yes lets.

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  17. 8th? More like 15 here...or I don't know. I sort of lost count over the years. I ended up deciding to bin the whole thing and write it from start.

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