{"id":317,"date":"2013-10-23T19:35:47","date_gmt":"2013-10-23T23:35:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lgoconnor.com\/site\/?p=317"},"modified":"2013-12-30T19:15:04","modified_gmt":"2013-12-31T00:15:04","slug":"first-draft-to-publication-it-takes-a-village","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lgoconnor.com\/site\/first-draft-to-publication-it-takes-a-village\/","title":{"rendered":"First Draft to Publication&#8230; It takes a Village"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4><strong>Me with part of the LG OCONNOR &#8220;Village&#8221; &#8211; Lesley, Marilyn, and Pat<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>It takes a village. And I\u2019m not talking about raising a child. I\u2019m talking about giving birth to your novel. Not long ago, one of my blog posts addressed first-time writers and their first drafts. I recommended stepping away from sending query letters or pressing publish on Amazon.<\/p>\n<p><b><i>This is why\u2026<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>As new writers, we don\u2019t know what we don\u2019t know. We clutch our precious pages hesitant to show anyone. Although friends and family are great moral support, you\u2019ll need more\u2014much more\u2014before you share it with the world. Two general reasons for this: your F&F love you and will be reluctant to hurt your feelings; and they also won\u2019t be able to necessarily spot issues in terms of plot, pace, character development, passive voice, etc. that a professional will see instantly.<\/p>\n<p>Finishing a first draft is a huge accomplishment, but the real work begins once it\u2019s done. It took me less than 5 months (in total) to write my first novel, and another 18 months to edit and revise it. Granted, my second novel will take much less revision, but that\u2019s because I worked with a developmental editor as I wrote it. I know not everyone can afford to do that, but there are alternatives.<\/p>\n<p>As I prepare my first manuscript for an April 2014 Launch with She Writes Press (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.shewrites.com\/profiles\/blogs\/swp-news-announcing-trinity-stones-by-l-g-o-connor\">http:\/\/www.shewrites.com\/profiles\/blogs\/swp-news-announcing-trinity-stones-by-l-g-o-connor<\/a>\u00a0), I have to thank and acknowledge my village:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>My Critique Partner, Joanie.<\/li>\n<li>My Editor, Zetta.<\/li>\n<li>My Critique Group, New Providence Writers.<\/li>\n<li>My Beta Readers who have given input all along the way: Donna, Marilyn, Kisa, Jenni, Taylor, Kayla, Pat, Lesley, Eileen, Deborah, and Cindy.<\/li>\n<li>My husband, Leo, who puts up with the many nights and weekends I stay locked in my office with my characters.<\/li>\n<li>And I can't forget my canine companions&#8211;my\u00a0Whippets&#8211;Chloe and Nevada. Chloe, who provided inspiration, is hoping to see her name up in lights as the\u00a0canine star of the book.\u00a0While Nevada provided a ton of\u00a0&#8216;sleep' support\u00a0as my loyal writer dog.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b><i>So, your first draft is done. Now what? <\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Before you do anything: <b>gird your loins and<\/b> <b>prepare yourself for feedback \/ constructive criticism. <\/b>This is a case where multiple heads and sets of eyes are worth much more than one set\u2014yours. Drop any allusions that what you wrote is perfect and won\u2019t need to change. Trust me, good critique will make it stronger. I\u2019ll write another blog post on how to deal with criticism.<\/li>\n<li>If you can\u2019t get past the step above, then you aren\u2019t ready to share your work with the world. Period. Don\u2019t do anything. Don\u2019t query, don\u2019t publish, do nothing\u2026 until you\u2019re ready to move past the first step and take other points of view around your work.<\/li>\n<li><b>Join online writing communities.<\/b> I belong to SheWrites.com. It\u2019s an incredibly supportive group of published and unpublished writers. It\u2019s primarily women, but there are some men.<\/li>\n<li><b>Find a critique group<\/b> (online or in-person) to workshop your manuscript, usually in 1500 word increments. Meet-up is a great place to find one in your area or to start your own. There are also online critique sites. However, make sure there are rules that govern behavior and interaction. You\u2019re looking for help, not to be ripped to shreds.<\/li>\n<li><b>Find an editor if you are intent on getting published.<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li>There are three types of editors:\n<ul>\n<li>Developmental:\n<ul>\n<li>This is a story editor: someone who will look at your work for pace, plot, character development, tension, all the essential elements of a novel. Pick someone familiar with your genre. <b>If you are a first time writer, chances are high you need one.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Copyeditor:\n<ul>\n<li>This editor does in-line edits on the \u2018smoothness\u2019 of the read, but will not do what a development editor does. However, if something blatant is wrong, they may point it out.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Proofreader:\n<ul>\n<li>Grammar, typos, making sure punctuation is correct. Don\u2019t expect them to fix passive voice, or any bad writing habits.<\/li>\n<li>This is absolutely the last thing you do after all revisions are done and you\u2019ve completed the other types of editing first.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Find a Critique Partner.<\/b> This is hard, and you may not find one until you\u2019ve been writing for a while and have developed relationships with other writers willing to partner up with you. Or, if you are lucky enough, as in my case, to find a friend that is uniquely qualified to play this role.<\/li>\n<li><b>Find Beta Readers<\/b>. Try to do this after you have a developmental edit, not before. Ideally, you\u2019ll have either a critique partner or an editor look at your work before betas. If you have neither, then you\u2019ll need to lean on betas more than usual.\n<ul>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Selecting Betas: <\/b>The best thing to do is limit your first interaction to the first three chapters of your work \u2013 like a try & buy. It will give you a sense of the type of feedback they give and if you find it helpful. Also, be prepared to return the favor. Beta reading is a large commitment and takes a lot of time. Respect and acknowledge when people volunteer to do this for you and always thank them\u2014hardily\u2014even if you don\u2019t like their feedback.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Do final revisions once copyedit and Beta feedback is complete.<\/b><\/li>\n<li>Send to proofreader once no more changes are required.<\/li>\n<li><b>Then\u2026 query or self-publish.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><em>I say this with all the sincerity in my heart&#8230;<\/em> <\/strong>The bottom line is agents and publishers are too busy, and the market is too competitive, for them to see your brilliance through a mediocre query or an uninspiring first ten pages. If you're mistakenly under this illusion, don\u2019t be. The worst that can happen when you're\u00a0set on getting an agent is\u2026 you won\u2019t. If you\u2019re self-pubbing, worse\u2014yes, worse\u2014is putting out a less than professional manuscript and watching readers and reviewers tear it to pieces with the vehemence of sharks going after chum. Translation: very few, if any, 4 and 5 star reviews, and a place on the Amazon charts somewhere close to oblivion.<\/p>\n<p><b><i>A couple of things I didn\u2019t mention that I feel are essential: <\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Read books on craft and follow writers \/ bloggers on the same.<\/li>\n<li>READ books (lots of them) in your genre. It works for me to read while I write \/ revise, but it\u2019s not for everyone.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Find your Village and hold them close. Write on!<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Me with part of the LG OCONNOR &#8220;Village&#8221; &#8211; Lesley, Marilyn, and Pat It takes a village. And I\u2019m not talking about raising a child. I\u2019m talking about giving birth to your novel. Not long ago, one of my blog posts addressed first-time writers and their first drafts. I recommended stepping away from sending query [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,44],"tags":[47,35,63,45,68,69,70,15],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>First Draft to Publication... It takes a Village - LG O&#039;Connor<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/lgoconnor.com\/site\/first-draft-to-publication-it-takes-a-village\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"First Draft to Publication... 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