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Problems with revising my novel and adopting the Chuck Wendig Plan of how to revise your novel.

So I'm still struggling with editing my novel. I took some time out to have a break doing other things. One of them was moaning about editing on this blog and other was looking at ways to tell the story.

Now I realise the problem with my story is I have nothing to say. It's as simple as that.  I don't really have anything to say give I've completed a novel. To write something you must have something to say - well I don't really.

So there lies the problem. You can only revise and edit something if you have an aim in mind. All I want is just to complete the novel which I have. So maybe now I just have to figure what the novel is about.

So I discovered Chuck Wendig a novelist and games designer  (Terrible Minds blog) who swears like a trooper in his blog however has given freely valid and great advice on how to edit a novel. His post called How To Karate Your Novel And Edit That Motherfucker Hard: A No-Foolin’ Fix-That-Shit Editing Plan To Finish The Goddamn Jo.


I'm outlining his plan in my words. Chuck has links to other articles which he mentions in his plan.  My links go straight to those pages. Chuck Wendig tells us to think of editing as a layer cake. Here is a direct quote from his website
"First layer: the icing. Attack the surface elements. Edit for spelling, grammar, punctuation.
Second layer: the cake. Time to start attacking the content. The plot, the pacing, the characters, the dialogue. The cake itself has lots of sub-icing layers, so address each in turn.
Third layer: the context. Hey, food is about place and time just as much as it is about recipe. Eating a slice of wedding cake on someone’s lovely wedding day is going to feel a lot different than wedding cake eaten on Death Row in a Maximum Security Prison. And that’s what we’re talking about — feel. It’s time to do a pass to see how it feels. How do the themes stack up? The motifs? The mood? - Chuck Wendig -Writer http://terribleminds.com


1. Copyedit - professional/posh way of saying check for grammer


This is my weakness - a known one if you read my reality soap blog.  I don't proofread.  So I guess that gives me a great start.  Thanks Chuck.  I guess that's a great starting place as ever and I can start now!


2. Edit for content

This was where I was trying to start off and kept on procasintating. I still am. It just seemed a mamoth task. And yes my spellings are still rubbish.

3. Contextual Edit

This is about what are story goals are and why you are telling the story.  It's my understanding you should have an overall map of the story. It's a tad complicated to  explain but I think it might go hand in hand with step two. Some people say it's probably the first step but I'm going to roll with Chuck for now. Anyway check it out yourself and come to your conclusions.

4. How Chuck Wendig edits a novel 

Chuck goes into his own way of doing revisions.  This is like a bonus but everyone should find their own way after a while.

5. Chuck's Project Plan

Chuck then gives a project plan of how much to do each day.  Well I call it a project plan. Yay. I'm going to be following that plan.  FIVE PAGES A DAY. Which in Chuck Wendig maths counts up to 1000-1500 words a day. I'm using the word count because I've drafted my book in Scrivener.

 I also use the trial version which I shall upgrade when NaNoWriMo is over.  You get a discount of 20% for just showing up and attempting to write a novel and you get 50% of Scrivener for actually completing 50,000 words. In lean times that is quite a lot.

He also says do only five days a week so one has the weekend off. Sounds like a good plan for me.  However since I'm starting today. I'll start my five-day shedule on Monday. So I'll work the weekend this time.

Here is Chuck's plan in all this profanity ridden glory.



I'll let you know how it works for me!

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