05 April 2011

Leaving the Nest

I am starting to share my WIP with some beta readers. Just drip-feeding it by chapter, so that:
 
a) I can keep working away on the rest of it in the meantime and
b) So they can opt out at any time, like products you get from an informercial
 
It makes me excited, to finally share what I've done. It also makes me petrified, because maybe what I've done is absolute rubbish. But I'd rather have these readers tell me that, than send it off to agents in a sorry state. I have some readers who are writers, and a couple who are good friends/avid readers. At least for those who've read my previous stuff, I'm pretty confident that this is a whole lot better.
 
I knew my first chapter needed the most work, because I'd added so many extra notes in there while I was completing the rest of the draft, and when I first wrote it I was telling myself the story so there was too much exposition. I cut over a thousand words during this edit, but I also added stuff in to flesh out the characters (now that I know them better) and lay some more groundwork for what's to come. I did a fair bit of editing as I went with the latter chapters, but as I tackle them again I know I need to step out of the story and focus on the other elements. And I'm looking forward to reading it again because, you know, I like it.

2 comments:

  1. I said as much on twitter, but I'm counting the hours until bed time (hooray! One more to go!) so I can dig in!

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  2. Don't worry - it's good so far =)

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