Editing My Rough Draft

October 15, 2007 by Chris
Filed under: Lessons Learned

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If I can’t say anything else, I can say that I’ve written my book. I completed my rough draft. Overall, the writing came easy. A couple of books were a tremendous help. Robert Ray and Jack Remick’s The Weekend Novelist Writes A Mystery provided a framework with which to plan your own work. Using Agatha Christie’s ,”A Body in the Library”, as a model, the book gave relevant exercises for you to use.

However, if you’re looking for more of a book that will “hold your hand” through the process, then Halllie Ephron’s Writing & Selling Your Mystery Novel: How To Knock ‘Em Dead With Style may be more what you’d prefer. The section on character development is outstanding. You’ll know your characters well after completing the series of exercises.

Now that I’ve completed the draft, I am in the process of revising. I have to admit being intimidated by the fact that my finished product was far short of the usual word count. I struggled with how I would be able to fill out my mystery without it seeming like fluff. Much to my surprise, by getting to know my characters better, it’s coming easier than I thought. One thing I did was to find images for my characters. Having a face to associate with a name made bringing the characters to life easier, more enjoyable.

Next time, time saver and plotting devices I used.

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Tags: draft, exercises, mystery, outline, write

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