I know we’ve all been there, right?
When you realize you accidentally wrote two novels instead of one. Right? Can I get an amen?
Well, I don’t know how common it is, but I definitely did it. I wrote two completely different novels inside of one. In November, I became a Novelist. I wrote just shy of 80,000 words in 30 days. I was stoked.
But I realized after starting to review some editing concepts, specifically those put forth by Shawn Coyne and Tim Grahl at the Storygrid podcast, a site I highly highly highly recommend, I had, in fact, written two different books.
I realized that I wrote two books because they covered two different genres. I considered this my first step from writing mode to editing mode.
This is my observation: writing that cruddy first daft was to get it out of my head. Editing that draft was to make it palatable to get into the heads of those that would read it, and find enjoyment in it.
With that being said, I found myself straddling several genres.
Epic Fantasy
Horror
Mystery
Drama
While there are ingredients of a lot of these genres in many of our favorite books, I wasn’t staying true to the conventions of any particular genre. But I realized that this could be corrected by one simple observation.
I wrote two books instead of one.
Why would I make this jump? What am I thinking?
If you, like me, are editing right now, here are some questions you want to consider.
1) What would make someone want to read your book? Sure, I get it. You enjoyed the creative liberty of spewing your mind onto the document that now has become your book. Yes, you can write whatever you want and no one can say a thing about it! Kudos.
However, eventually you want someone to read the thing, right?
This one troubled me a little. The thought of altering what I wrote to entice the reader for further buy-in felt, I don’t know, dirty.
But then I examined my own motives.
When I’m writing, I’m doing it for the fun and thrill of it. I’m creating. And it’s for me. But truth be told, I want what I write to move people. And if I want to move people, I have to care about their experience while reading. Therefore, if writing is about me, editing is about them.
2) What do I enjoy and what makes me cringe a little? If writing the first draft is about getting anything and everything written down, editing is about being the critic that you’ll have to face at some point.
What part of your book stinks? What makes it drag or feel like it’s lacking in consistency? There has to be a willingness to have an organ transplant to save it (stole this from a new friend and fellow author, Cameron Matthews).
3) What happens when you’re done? I know what I’m going to do about this, but it’s an important question because it’s giving me some action steps. I’m planning on self-publishing and making this first book a part of a series. I’m excited about that part of it. It’s the editing that’s scaring me (read my post about Write Fright).
At any rate, these decisions take place before you publish. If you really examine, maybe you’ll find that you wrote two books and not one!