November sped by. It passed way too quickly for me, and I can’t believe it’s already December.
I had hoped to rewrite book 1 this year. I thought, since it’s already a finished book, it should be fairly easy. Alas, that isn’t how it’s turning out. If it’d been a matter of words, I probably could’ve done it. However, this book was my first, my baby, and it was written with a healthy dose of youthful enthusiasm and Red Bull fueling my squirrel brain. After redoing the first few chapters and struggling to see the vision of where I was going, I decided to look at resources to improve this version, read books like Story Genius, brush up on my structure, and figure out the goals of each scene. Over the holiday weekend, I sat down and spent several days hashing out my sticky-note spreadsheet. I think I have my plan.
While the root of the story remains unchanged, I am changing a lot of things. I’m cutting events, renaming characters, and even removing a major aspect of my magic system, which means I’ll have to change a couple of things in book 2 and a scene that precedes book 3.5, but I think it’ll be better for book 1. That leads me to think about the question of the month.
IWSG Question of the Month – Do you write cliffhangers at the end of your stories? Are they a turn-off to you as a writer and/or a reader?
I prefer stories that have a sense of conclusion of one story or another. While I have epilogues in my own writing that promise more to come, I strive for satisfactory endings. It’s why I refuse to break up my book into smaller books. Plus, with how long it takes me to finish a book, it’d be a terrible decision to leave it hanging off a cliff.
However, book 3 in my 5 book series ends with my main guy in a bad state, and it won’t get resolved until book 4. Because of that, I won’t publish book 3 until I’ve written book 4. And I won’t publish book 2 until I’ve rewritten book 1. Hopefully that will be within the next year.
I’ve also finished a series of montages for my books! The background colors match up with the book covers, and the gray silhouettes represent the setting. The characters pictured are POVs, except for book 5. I don’t know what book 5 entails, other than it’s the whole family against the bad guys in the last epic battle. So book 5’s montage has Derek’s family, power-walking toward the conflict. And it also is during the book’s steampunk era (which starts in book 3.5, 150 years after book 3), so I had fun exploring fashion.
That is my vision for right now, and you can see Derek’s transformation over the series. I’m going to focus on my environments next. I want to represent my different locations. I think, once I get better at environments, I might get better at backgrounds and I can transition to painting scenes from my book. And someday, maybe, I can make a create a graphic novel. But first, I need to finish the series. 🙂
Have you ever rewritten a book and changed a lot? Do you like cliffhangers? What do you think of montages?
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It’s good that you’re being brave enough to change a lot in your first book. I’m hoping to go back to mine someday. It will require many changes too. I hope I’m up to it like you. Happy Holidays!
Rather neat you created those images.
A lot of wrinkles to iron out but the series as a whole will be much stronger for it.
I like those montages! Maybe a graphic novel is the way to go instead? 😮
Happy Holidays, Loni!
I not a cliffhanger fan but it’s okay if the next book is already out or due out soon. I added more of a, hrm, not gonna call it a cliffhanger in the epilogue, but something to will springboard into the next book.
Images are pretty.
I could go back and edit down my five book series to something tighter, but the first two are so long, the task just is too much. Brave of you to tackle yours.
Love your artwork, so I love the montages.
And I have rewritten a work to the point of damaging the story. What I see you do with your stories is something I can’t. If I dive in and change too much, I lose the story core and emotion. For a while, I thought I needed practice, and I’d get better at it. But that was a hard no.
So now I do the remove the off-track part, add scenes to connect the plot, etc. then tune it up and with my fingers crossed send it out for feedback.
Anna from elements of emaginette
It seems like we were just celebrating the new year! Here we are at the end. Wow!
Regarding cliffhangers, I only like them if I’m invested in the characters and the next book is available or coming soon. I’ve written a trilogy that has unfinished business, but nothing as dramatic as a cliffhanger at the end. Part of the story resolves. Have a Merry Christmas!
Good luck with the rewrites! I’m currently doing that with a series I haven’t touched since 2013… It’s scary! I like your images and think they’ll be great at inspiring you when your creative energy is low.
Ronel visiting for IWSG day Over and Done With. An Author’s Year in Review 2024
After I finished writing my first novel, I re-wrote it countless times, until I finally abandoned it. Now, I’m thinking of converting it into a series of interconnected short stories. I still like the hero and his adventures, but it might work better as a collection of stories than a novel.
Good for you for doing the revisions. It’s hard. But it’ll be worth it in the end.
You are brave and ambitious! I could never plot out so much in advance (I would ruin the story for myself, so then I wouldn’t want to finish it LOL). Your art is awesome, too.
Don’t be hard on yourself about the rewrite! Editing is so much harder than writing…at least for me. I plan to edit my first book too. It was the first thing I ever published, so I know it is rough around the edges. I think it would be awesome if you create a graphic novel someday! With your artistic talent, it will be great.
Rewriting and even destruction ? Own creation, author’s right, like the 15,000 word first draft of Rebecca – and everything ‘lop’t and chopt’ from First Impressions.
Rewriting House of the Ghost Child allowed me to change one character totally , and explore the career choices of two people, both single, both parents, about to marry.