It’s that time of the week – Tuesday Discussion.
For those who are new, each week I post a topic (relevant to my WIP) and try to unravel the mysteries and the different perspectives of it. Last weeks post was What Point of View Do You Choose? and this week is:
Work in Progress (W.I.P)
I am working on my novel, A Time of Stones.
I am super excited to have completed the first stage of editing, and onto my second stage before searching for beta readers and an agent.
In the Second Stage of Editing. I aim to add depth, magic, sparkle, flow, atmosphere, and utilizing my word usage. This is where I try to get settings and characters to float up from the page, by working hard at eliminating hackneyed, lazy forms of expression. I can spend hours on a few sentences, searching for fresh ways to convey ideas.
This usually entails throwing out a hundred or more attempts that seem awkward before finding one that blends into the style of the book. Sometimes it’s the first idea that works best, flowing naturally off the page.
Often it takes a lot of thinking to reach an idea that flows as if it were the first one that came to mind.
What is your work in progress (W.I.P)? And what stage are you on (drafting, editing, marketing, re-writing.. etc)?
Post your comments and answers below. If you think someone has an interesting point of view and answer, please invite them or share this post with them.
#DWTSmith #workinprogress #atimeofstones
Douglas W.T. Smith 
I completed my first book at the beginning of this year. I think the choice of words and expressions depends on your market and the type of book you are writing. I think a writer can overdo it by concentrating too much on individual words. The whole needs to be taken into consideration. To make every sentence a work of art might make the read very difficult. Also, nowadays, simple word usage is favoured over uncommon words. I think there needs to be a mix of everyday language with the odd special sentence and description. It makes the read flow better while still adding beauty and depth. Also, it won’t alienate the reader.
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Congratulations! Have you got it published yet?
I agree with all the points you made, common words with beauty and depth. I like the idea of mixing sentence length as it controls the pace and draws the reader into the perspective of your characters.
Thank you for commenting 😃
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Thank you! I don’t have it published yet. It’s taken me a while to realise that I would prefer to self-publish. It’s hard work, but I’ve realised that I like the idea of being an indie entrepreneur. The book is under my control, I keep all rights, and I don’t have to make any artistic compromises. This is very important to me. I hope to publish by the beginning of next year, earlier if I can. Best of luck with your book!
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It sounds like you have it all sorted! For your first novel, did you think about going to publishers or was it straight to self publishing?
Thank you! I want to have it published by next year 😃
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I wasn’t sure at first but then I read an article by Philip Pullman, and he was describing that publishers are not offering the advances and profit they were when he first started and that many writers cannot go full-time because of this. It really woke me up to the BS of traditional publishing. You do all the work writing the book. You still have to be very proactive with the marketing, yet the publishers walk away with most of the money, and in most cases today, the writer is doing two jobs! I started researching more on Self-publishing after reading that article and realised that there are so many more advantages to going the indie route. You can read the article here https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jun/27/publishers-pay-writers-pittance-philip-pullman-antony-beevor-sally-gardner
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That article is such an eye-opener. There is a lot of BS with the traditional publishing and the big five take advantage of the hard labor, we authors, put many hours into.
I guess I want to go traditional publishing because I want to reach a larger audience. It will be tough with the smaller royalties but if it builds my authors name up in the long run, I can go self-publishing and get the readers following my books.
Thank you for sharing that article and your reasoning behind self-publishing 😃
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Oh, I love the title of your WIP! The second draft is exciting, and I wish you all the luck. 🙂
My WIP is in its … I dunno, I lost count of the drafts. xD BUT this one will go to my editor, and I’ll be self-publishing it early next year. 🙂 So that’s fun.
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Thank you! I’m glad you like it 😃
At least you haven’t given up and still pushing for the publication. Good luck with it all 😄
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