Before I delve into my post about beta readers, I just want to give a quick update on my second novel, Redemption. The finished the first draft this week! I'm hoping to have my edits done in the next few weeks before I send it off to my beta readers, which brings us to this post...

If you've looked up the process of writing, editing, and publishing a book on your own, I'm sure you've come across beta readers. And you may be wondering what beta readers are. To put it simply, after you've written and edited your novel, but before you send it off to an editor, you let a few beta readers read it. I like to think of them as quality control. You've invested so much time and effort into finishing your manuscript, you may not be able to see any weaknesses or mistakes with it. That's where beta readers come in.

I don't expect my beta readers to check my spelling, grammar, or punctuation. My editor will catch all the nitty gritty mistakes. I like my beta readers to focus more on the bigger picture.

Some of the things that I ask my beta readers to make comments on are:

• plot issues/holes
• continuity
• pace
• character development
• believability
• inconsistencies
• overall impressions

Before I send my manuscript off to the editor, I will address the issues my BRs point out to me to make sure my editor is getting the most complete and polished version of the book that I can make.

So how do you choose beta readers? I chose a few people who were avid readers in my genre who I trusted to give me honest feedback. I also have my mom, aunt, and boyfriend read my manuscript, but they always say they love it and it's the best thing they've ever read. The other few people are much more objective. One of my BRs is a very close friend, but the others are more like acquaintances. Don't be scared to reach out to people who you think would do a good job!

One last thing to remember is that your BRs are doing you a favor, and you're asking them for constructive criticism. You can't take their comments or suggestions personally, although that's easier said than done. Thank them for their time and effort and try to use their comments to better your novel. 

Next up: some last comments about editing before I talk about how to pick an editor, which I'm still working on myself!

What a crazy two months! I've been traveling every other week for the past eight weeks. I went to Orlando, Las Vegas, Boston, and Alabama! Somehow I managed to keep working on my first draft of Redemption, but I've slacked a little on blogging. Sorry! As promised, this post will be about editing and rewriting. I think this picture sums things up on that front:

But in all seriousness, after your done with your first draft, pop open a bottle of champagne (or your poison of choice) and celebrate! Then take at least a few days off before you dive into editing. After my first draft of Renegades, I didn't pick it back up for six weeks. I wouldn't recommend waiting that long. It was hard to get back into the swing of things after taking so much time off. But taking time away is important so you can look at your work with fresh eyes to catch mistakes.

After your few days or weeks off, read through the entire manuscript without stopping to fix every typo. Look at the bigger things like pacing, scene order, and plot holes. I printed out the first draft so I was able to use post-it flags to mark pages where I wanted to make changes. Sometimes I would write out a bigger post-it explaining what I wanted to do. For example, I spent several pages building up to a climatic event, only to rush through the event in a couple paragraphs when it finally happened. I made a note to myself to go back and elaborate. Also, since a lot of what I wrote in the first draft wasn't exactly as I had outlined, multiple times I had to go back and add a scene to make a later one make sense. After I read through the manuscript, I went back and flagged where I would add scenes and what they would say.

Once you know your plot, scenes, characters, and pacing are solid, you can start going through the draft slowly to change the little things.

I would fix obvious grammar, spelling, and word choice mistakes as I went. I read through the manuscript several times, and each time I would have a different focus. First, I read through focusing on dialogue. It's important to make sure each of your characters has a distinct voice. If you remove the speech tags (he said, she asked, etc.), you should be able to tell who is talking. If you find your characters sounding the same, I would go back and do some more character development. Next, I read through and focused on descriptions. Whenever your characters are in a new place, orient your reader by describing how it looks, feels, and smells. Make sure it's done naturally by how the character interacts with the new setting. If the lights are off, your character might be feeling his away around or using a scent to guide him. It wouldn't make sense to describe how the room looks with the light on.

For me, the most important part of this process--and the most annoying--is rewriting. If you're anything like me, during your first draft, there were scenes you thought were absolute crap but you kept pushing through and writing to keep the story moving and to finish the draft. Those scenes are the ones that need rewriting. It's a necessary evil, but it has to be done.

Lastly, look for inconsistencies. Halfway through my first draft of Renegades, I switched the names of two planets. It even had me confused. I also wrote about the distance between two places. The first time I mentioned it, the distance was 5 feet. The second time, it was 10 feet. Don't worry if you don't catch all those little mistakes now. Your beta readers and editor(s) should help you with that.

Although you'll feel like you made a lot of progress, you'll have to edit again later in the process! But first, you need some feedback. Before you rush out and hire an editor, I would suggest getting a handful of beta readers. Don't know what beta readers are? Stay tuned for my next blog post! Happy editing!

Now that you developed your characters, created your world, and outlined, it's time to actually sit down and write your first draft. This can be a scary proposition if you're working on your first novel. Before I started writing Renegades, I really took my time outlining and developing my characters--probably more time than I needed to because actually writing the book seemed daunting. But don't fear! If you've done the necessary preparations then just jump in. 

Last month, I participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and wrote 50,191 words of my second novel, Redemption. I'm still chugging away on the first draft. I estimate that it'll end up around 80,000 words, like the first draft of Renegades did. For me, the hardest part of writing the first draft is finding the time to write it. Unless you're being bankrolled by your parents or independently wealthy (lucky you!), you likely have a day job and other responsibilities like families, pets, etc. While writing a first draft, you have to be selfish about your writing time. I went to Las Vegas for Thanksgiving with my boyfriend and brother, and even there, I passed on activities and gambling (probably best for my wallet) to make sure I hit my word count for NaNoWriMo. You may have to wake up earlier or do multiple 15 minute writing sprints throughout the day--whatever works for you--to get it done, but you have to be consistent unless it'll either take much longer than necessary or it won't get finished.

Once you've carved out time to write, you just need to write. Sounds easy, huh? Some days it is, and some days it isn't. Even on the days when you sit down and you can't think of what to write and stare at your computer for a while, you just need to start typing. This is where your outline comes into play. As you're writing, you may deviate from your outline, which is fine (I actually encourage it), but when you're stuck, go to where you are in your outline and just go. 

Lastly, don't stop to edit or look over grammar. Just get the words down. If you forget a character's name or some other minor detail, just make something up, highlight, and keep going. I think this is hugely important. Editing and rewriting took me more time than writing the first draft, but they were separate steps. Don't get bogged down in the details for your first draft, or it'll be even more difficult to finish. One of my favorite quotes is "You can't edit a blank page." You can always go back, and should go back, to pick a better word, correct sentence structure and grammar, and add/subtract things from your plot. But for your first draft, just get it done. That by itself is a huge accomplishment. Once you're done, have a drink and don't think about your book for a few days or a weeks. Then comes the hard part--editing and rewriting.

Next up: Editing!

If you want updates on when my second novel, Redemption, will be released, make sure you sign up for my newsletter!

When I started outlining Renegades, I must admit that I didn't give much thought to creating the universe in which the story was taking a place. Renegades take place in a different star system in a world where Earth never existed, but the people are like normal people and there are no aliens. (This greatly confused at least one of my aunts, but she only reads romance novels and not any science fiction/fantasy, so I'm just going to ignore her.) I had given all the planets names and had an idea in my head of what I wanted them to look like. Some were very industrialized, while others were more primitive. I was trying to create a sense of the have and the have nots in a different star system.

But besides planet and city names and general ideas, I didn't do much else on world creation until after I outlined. As I was preparing my character descriptions, I found myself creating a lot of the world around them. For example, it's important to figure out your characters' religions and belief systems. Mine was pretty easy because I already knew that I wanted my story to take place in a world without religion, so all my characters are atheists.

Other things you want to consider:

• Education system
• Government
• Races/cultures
• Travel methods
  
• Ecosystem
• Wildlife
• Pets
  
• Currency
• Language
• Topography
• Weather
• What houses/living structures are like
• People's jobs
• Laws
• Societal norms
• Fashion

I could go on, but those are the basics every author should know about their world.  If you're writing hard science fiction then there are even more details you need to know.

I also think it's helpful to draw a map of your world whether you have different planets or everything takes place on one planet. My drawing skills are sub par, but a sketch is all you would need. I even included details about how long it takes to travel between each planet by my preferred method of travel. These are details your readers will think of, so you need to have the answers!

Hope that helps. And if you haven't yet, you can enter to win a signed copy of Renegades on Goodreads! And don't forget to sign up for my newsletter.

Enter to win one of ten signed copies of Renegades! You have to enter by December 4th!

Now that you've written your outline, it's time to start developing your characters. This step is critical to writing a compelling novel. Since you've written an outline, you probably have a fairly good idea about who your main character are going to be, but this step is still important. If you want the reader to connect with your characters then you have to make them seem real.

First, look at your outline and think about the dramatic plot points. What type of characters are going to make those possible? For example, Renegades required a person capable of hacking government security systems. So what was the profession of one of my characters? The developer of the government security system. I also needed my team of renegades to be able to travel freely around the star system, so I made sure that one of the people they teamed up with happened to own a ship. A lot of the time, the needs of your story will dictate the characters you have to create.
  
Second, make your characters believable within the context of your story. If your female heroine is a superhero or in a fantasy novel then it's fine that she has super-human strength. If she's not a superhero then you might want to make her strength more believable.  If you make a character that can hack a government security system who hasn't worked in that field before, you need to explain where he acquired those skills unless readers won't take the story seriously.

Third, remember, no one is perfect. Every character, even the protagonist, must have some type of character flaw. Have you ever met a person who was seemingly perfect in real life? I have before, and I wanted to punch her in the face. No one likes those people. The reader wanting to punch your character in the face is not good (unless that's what you want, of course).

Fourth, everyone has a distinct voice. Think about the conversations you have with people. If they were transcribed for you to read, it's likely you'd be able to pick out who said what without any speech tags. Although you need to use speech tags in your writing to assist the reader, you should be able to read a transcript of the dialogue from your novel and know which character is saying what. If everything sounds the same then the characters aren't developed enough.

Lastly, know so much more about your characters than what you write in your novel. Before I wrote a word of my first draft, I had several pages of notes on each main character. I knew their birth dates, parents' names, siblings, where they lived, what their motivations were, what they studied, physical characteristics, what they enjoyed to do in their free time, strengths and weaknesses, etc. You certainly don't have to reveal all this information in your novel, but knowing each character like he/she is your best friend will help you write them more realistically.

Hope this helps with your character development! Next up: World creation!

Last Thursday, exactly a week before Renegades was scheduled to be released, I had a meltdown and started second-guessing everything, including the cover. Luckily for me, my cover artist is so understanding, and she completely redesigned the cover over the weekend!  While I liked the other cover, I felt like it wouldn't attract the right audience.  It made the book seem like it was hard science fiction, but it's more like an action and adventure novel that takes place in space. This cover is perfect!

Hope you all like the new cover! T minus 2 days until Renegades is out!

Outlining is so important when tackling a novel. I think part of the reason why people never start writing is that the thought of writing 50,000+ words is so daunting and overwhelming. I remember feeling that way when I first started, but once I finished outlining, I felt much more confident. Outlining also helps prevent writers block when you're halfway through the book and don't know what else to write. Basically, it allows you to work out all the kinks beforehand. I can't overstate the importance of outlining enough. As with writing a novel, there is no right or wrong way to outline. Since I can only speak to my personal experience, I'll give a brief overview of my process.

First, I start with my brainstorming notes. By this time, I have a bunch of random plot ideas, mini scenes, and sometimes even snippets of dialogue written down. I like to go through and highlight which ideas I intend to use then start putting them in order chronologically. Next, I start filling in the blanks and adding substantive details. For example, if two of my ideas involve being on different planets, I'll figure out how the characters traveled and if anything eventful happened along the way.

For Renegades, I wrote out about 200 index cards with one sentence descriptions of the major plot points I was going to put in my outline. By writing them on index cards, I was able to spread them out on the floor, move them around, and add cards until I was happy with the sequence of events. For a more visual person like myself, seeing the book laid out was very helpful.  Here's an example I found with post-its:

This process, however, took a long time. I already started writing Book 2, and I skipped this step. In my defense, I already had a much better idea of what I was going to write in Book 2 before I started than when I was beginning Renegades.  I did a lot of brainstorming and general outlining for the next few books when I started Book 1 so I could tie in elements and themes throughout the series.

Lastly, I typed up my outline in a typical outline format, like this:

I made sure to highlight any lingering questions or plot holes so I could address them as I went.  I know a lot of people don't like to start writing until they have everything figured out, but I find that I come up with some pretty creative solutions when I'm frantically typing my first draft.  Also, I had to remind myself that the outline is only that, an outline. If I felt inspired to take the story in a different direction as I was writing my first draft, I went with it.

For a much more in-depth look at outlining, I highly recommend, Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Way to Success by K.M. Weiland.

Next up: My new cover reveal. After much debate, I decided to ask my graphic designer to redesign the cover for Renegades just one week before its release date, which is this Thursday! (Eeeeee!) She did an amazing job with the new cover, and I can't wait to show it to you!  After that, I'm going to dedicate at least one post to character development.

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National Novel Writing Month. I had never heard of it until about this time last year after I had completed my outline for Renegades and was about 10,000 words in. Since my last post was for people contemplating writing a novel, I thought I'd expand on that and hopefully inspire someone to get started! (My next post was supposed to be about outlining, but I wanted to skip to this because there's just barely enough time to get some thoughts together and outline before November 1st.)

According to its website, "National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to creative writing. On November 1, participants begin working towards the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel by 11:59 p.m. on November 30. Valuing enthusiasm, determination, and a deadline, NaNoWriMo is for anyone who has ever thought fleetingly about writing a novel."

50,000 words isn't a completely arbitrary number. It's considered the minimum for a work to be defined as a novel. Of course, there aren't any absolutes when it comes to these things. However, it's generally accepted that a work less than 50,000 words is a novella. For publishing purposes, 65,000-80,000 words is a better goal for a novel. (For reference, Renegades was around 80,000 words after the first draft, and it ended up at 72,478 words.) If you are participating in NaNoWriMo and want to reach the 50,000 word goal, you'd have to write 1,667 words daily. When I wrote my first draft of Renegades, I had a daily goal of 1,000 words, which took approximately 2 hours.

You may be wondering why there is a month and an organization dedicated to novel writing with over 340,000 participants. The reason is simple: writing a book is a "one day" thing. As I said in my last post, so many people I talk to say they want to write a book "one day," but they never get around to it. NaNoWriMo gets a bunch of those people together to help motivate each other to reach their goal. When you register, you are not only connected to all those people through the organization and forums, but you can also meet fellow local writers in person. As you write, you update your word count, and if you reach the 50,000 goal by November 30th, you're declared a winner and are entered to win some prizes.

So if you're one of those people who has always thought about writing a novel "one day" then make sure you check out NaNoWriMo. I'll be pseudo-participating like I did last year since I'm starting early. I'm hoping to complete the first draft of my second novel by November 30th, which is a little ambitious, so I need to get started before the 1st. I'm hoping to have 15,000 words before November 1st, and hopefully I can finish before the end of November. I'm aiming for 2,000 words a day this time around! (Yikes!)

If you're participating, then I suggest using this week to brainstorm, and my post next week will be on outlining. Let me know if you're giving it a try, and good luck if you do! 

For the longest time, I talked about how I wanted to write a book. The majority of the time, the response I was met with was "Me too!"  It took a co-worker of mine to light a fire under my you-know-what to really get started. So how did I begin?

Brainstorming. I bought a notebook and pens. Literally. I'm sure I'll say it a million times, but I'm pretty technologically challenged. I make tons of lists--always on paper. I'm old school and proud! But once I had my notebook and pens, I started writing down ideas. I had a general idea of what I wanted to write about. Science fiction. Space ships, but not aliens. Assassins. A little romance. A strong heroine. And I just wrote down every random idea I had for probably twenty pages. I came up with potential character names, plot events, lines that I wanted to incorporate, character backgrounds, etc.

I recently reread my brainstorming notes, and maybe ten percent of what I wrote down actually made it into the book. I definitely wouldn't skip this step though. The process of thinking through random storylines and the creativity from letting my mind wander was invaluable. It got my mind working and helped narrow down what I liked and didn't like.

I think the most important thing to remember at this step is not to sensor yourself. No one will see these notes but you, unless you show them to someone. If you think it, write it down. Even if you think it's stupid or silly later, maybe it was an idea you built upon somehow. So don't edit yourself. Write down everything. Don't think about it.  You can start to think when you outline. :)