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note to self: i’ll be there for you, always

written june 6, 2021. Photo by Kristine Cinate on Unsplash I have always looked for myself in other people. I think the idea was that they would somehow hold the pieces of me that I felt were missing. That maybe, if I wrapped my identity up in theirs enough, we would somehow make a whole person. It's not healthy to live like this, but I did it anyway — burning through relationships and searching for something I couldn't quite name. It was never enough, not to be myself, but it was never enough to latch my identity to other people, either. I got close, several times — I thought I had reached the pinnacle of self discovery. I thought I had completed myself. But in the end, relying on other people to help build yourself is never a viable way to do things. It's only recently that I've started to become comfortable with the idea of being enough, as I am, on my own. Several years ago, in this same position, I would have searched for another person to attach my identity onto,
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Beautiful Books #3: Let’s Talk Editing


Hello, writerlings! Welcome to the third round of Beautiful Books! Beautiful Books is hosted by myself and Cait from the newly-minted blog Paper Fury! Our goal is to help you get to know your novels better.

The Info

What is it? Beautiful Books is a three-month-long blog event link-up focusing on three different stages of writing: plotting, writing, and editing. (This month, December, is focused on editing.) This link-up was designed with NaNoWriMo in mind. NaNoWriMo is a writing event where you write a 50,000 word novel in a month. Because a lot of writers will be writing a novel this November, we decided to make it easier by helping get your juices flowing! We'll be focusing on plotting in October, writing in November, and editing in December. We also have the possibility of doing a bonus round at the end of the other three months, but we'll keep that mostly a surprise for now!

Do I have to be doing NaNo to participate? Absolutely not! While the general format is suited well to writers doing NaNo, we want this blog link-up to be for everyone! Just pick a work-in-progress and you'll be good to go. If you don't have a novel that works for the entirety of the blog event, you can feature different ones, but we'd prefer you focus on one WIP if at all possible. The point is, you absolutely don't have to do NaNoWriMo to participate, and we really want you to join! Come one, come all!

How does it work? The format is really similar to Beautiful People. Each month, we'll be posting 15 questions, except this time for you to answer about your WIP. These questions will correspond to either plotting, writing, or editing, and are designed to help you with each of these stages. Even if you aren't to the editing stage yet, they'll be designed to get you at least thinking about what you can do to make your book the best it can be--or, you know, the most beautiful book it can be. Either one. You'll take our 15 questions and answer them on your blog, then come back and link up here! And don't forget to go around and read the posts of the other participants--it could be a great way to make friends!

What about Beautiful People? We had hoped to do both concurrently. But, as it worked out, we haven't been doing BP, just Beautiful Books. Thankfully, you’ll consistently have Beautiful Books around to fulfill your blog link-up needs, and there’s always the archive if you get the itch to do BP as well. (We're aiming to start BP up again in January or February!)

So... what do I do? Sit tight and read the questions Cait and I post, then use them to help you think through one of your novels! Then link back, and overall, be your awesome self! Also, if you want to share this with your friends, we aren't at all opposed! Making this one big party would be really cool.

The Questions

  1. On a scale of 1 (worst) to 10 (best), how well do you think this book turned out?
  2. Have you ever rewritten or edited one of your books before? If so, what do you do to prepare yourself? If not, what’s your plan?
  3. What’s your final word count? Do you plan to lengthen or trim your book? 
  4. What are you most proud of? Plot, characters, or pacing?
  5. What’s your favorite bit of prose or line from this novel?
  6. What aspect of your book needs the most work? 
  7. What aspect of your book is your favourite?
  8. How are your characters? Well-rounded, or do they still need to be fleshed out?
  9. If you had to do it over again, what would you change about the whole process?
  10. Did anything happen in the book that completely surprised you? Have any scenes or characters turned out differently to what you planned? Good or bad?
  11. What was the theme and message? Do you think they came across? If not, is there anything you could do to bring them out more?
  12. Do you like writing with a deadline (like NaNoWriMo) or do you prefer to write-as-it-comes?
  13. Comparative title time! What published books, movies, or TV shows are like your book? (Ex: Inkheart meets X-Men.)
  14. How do you celebrate a finished novel?!
  15. When people are done reading your book, what feeling do you want them to come away with?

The Blog Buttons

When making your post, don't forget to add either one of these blog buttons so people can find the link-up! If you have trouble with the image code, linking back to us is an acceptable option, too!

 


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  1. H.M. WilsonDecember 6, 2014 at 10:32 AM

    Hey, Sky!!
    I wanted you to know that I nominated you for a blog award!! <3

    http://plottingertwist.blogspot.com/2014/12/blogger-recognition-award.html

    ReplyDelete

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