cj Sez: Today’s guest post is by author Kristina
Stanley who asks “Do you need help rewriting your first draft?” She’s got some
tips and a new app to help. Take it away, Kristina:
Whether you’re a plotter or a panster, you’ve
completed a first draft. Congratulations!
Now what? If you’re anything like me, you’re asking
yourself:
* Where do I start my manuscript rewrite?
* How do I keep track of all the writing tips I’ve
read and apply them to my story?
* What should I change to make my story
better?
* Am I ready to share my manuscript with others?
Wouldn’t it be nice to have an app that would help you
through the rewriting process?
But First: What is
Rewriting?
A comprehensive rewrite is the first step in the
self-editing process. I’m not talking about copyediting or proofreading. You
can do that after you’ve completed your rewrite.
Rewriting your first draft means analyzing
your story from a high-level
perspective and fixing any weak areas. You want to make sure that the story
structure makes sense, the scenes are tense, there are no plot holes, and you
haven’t left any subplots unfinished.
During the rewrite, you also take a hard look at your characters.
How often do they appear? What are their goals? What gets in the way of their
goals? Characters will drive the tension in your story, and tension is
what keeps a reader reading.
Finally, the rewrite should examine your settings.
Do you make the most of your settings? How often do you use the same setting,
and is it too often? Do your settings help with the tone of your scenes?
Settings are key to keeping your reader engaged, so don't ignore them.
How can we help you?
We’re building Feedback,
an app for writers that provides a guided approach to tackling
comprehensive rewrites.
With Feedback, you can focus on plot, character, and
setting. You can evaluate on a scene-by-scene basis or on overall novel
structure. Feedback will show you
the most important structural elements to work on first.
Feedback will
guide you through the rewriting process by asking you questions
specific to your manuscript, enabling you to evaluate your own story.
Once you import your manuscript, Feedback automatically captures information such
as word count, number of scenes per chapter, character names, and chapter
and scene breaks, using this information to create the first set of
reports. Any updates to your manuscript will still need to be completed in
the writing app you used to create your first draft.
Feedback helps you
visualize your manuscript. Forget about yellow stickies or white
boards. Feedback will draw character arcs, provide reports on scene evaluation,
and show your rewriting progress.
Feedback is a
learning tool. If you’re having trouble with a certain element of
fiction, just click on the rewrite tip associated with that element and find
out how to improve your writing. There’s no need to search through
dozens of writing books to find the piece of advice you need.
On the technical side, Feedback
will be a secure, web-based app. This means you will be able
to access Feedback from any device you use.
Find out more:
Our goal is to launch Feedback in the spring of 2017. In
order to create an app that is valuable to writers, we’d like your input
on building Feedback. Sign
up, and we’ll send you updates on the development
progress and ask you the occasional question to help define the product. As a
bonus, we’ll send you rewriting tips available only to our subscribers.
Are you as excited about Feedback as we are? Show your support
by helping us spread the word and share this post. You can find us at www.FeedbackForFiction.com
Your support
means a lot to us, so thank you!
Kristina Stanley is the best-selling author of the Stone
Mountain Mystery Series. Her first two novels garnered the attention of
prestigious crime writing organizations in Canada and England. Crime Writers of
Canada nominated DESCENT (Imajin Books, July 2015) for the Unhanged Arthur
award. The Crime Writers’ Association nominated BLAZE (Imajin Books, Oct 2015)
for the Debut Dagger. Imajin Books published her third novel in the series,
AVALANCHE, in June 2016.
Her short stories have been published in the Ellery Queen
Mystery Magazine and The Voices From the Valleys anthology. She is the author
of THE AUTHOR’S GUIDE TO SELLING BOOKS TO NON-BOOKSTORES.
As the co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of Feedback
Innovations, a company started to help writers rewrite better fiction, she made
up her own job title because she thought it sounded cool!
Find out more about her and Feedback at www.FeedbackForFiction.com
cj Sez: Thanks so
much for stopping by, Kristina, and best wishes for great response to your new
app. Okay, you-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.
PS: Don’t forget about that great
gift idea…the Amazon sale on More Than
Friends …99 cents for 6 romance novels! Click on this URL to order: http://amzn.to/2dnqnLJ
cjpetterson@gmail.com
Deadly Star -- Kindle / Nook / Kobo
Thanks for hosting me today. It's a pleasure to be on your blog!
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