Tuesday, March 11, 2014

YA Spring Bootcamp Update 1


This post is to share my writing progress updates for the YA Buccaneers' Spring Writing Bootcamp:
  • What did you do last week to work towards your goals?
    • My goal was to get the structure reorganized on my YA contemporary novel AMELIA according to the guidelines my agent and I discussed. 

      After struggling through this revision for a month, on Saturday I finally saw the light! The pacing and structure is much closer to what we are working toward. I also set a goal to write a synopsis with the changes to send to my agent while I clean up the draft for consistency issues and tweaks. I sent it to her Sunday night!
  • How do you feel about your progress?
    • I feel great! This revision was tough. Last time I worked on character development, removing a subplot, and developing new scenes. This time I had to cut the last half of the novel in half while expanding the middle. It was a bit complicated, but one of those things that just had to get messy before it got better.
  • Any changes you'll be making this week?
    • I'll be juggling two projects. A trusted reader is going through AMELIA for consistency and overall impressions. I may send to someone else, though I'm anxious to get the draft back to my agent. I also need to get a new excerpt to my critique group on my other project, my Nano 2013 novel, a YA contemporary SUNSET SUMMER. 
  • What are you excited to work on this week?
    • Last month the critique group suggested I cut or restructure the chapter I sent, so it's not just a matter of pulling out a chapter and handing it over. I want to work on a beat sheet outline now to get the plot more structured, do some general brainstorming about the story. I also need to just get a chapter ready for them, so I will have to prioritize.
      • Get reader fixes in AMELIA
      • Read through AMELIA targeted on specifics (character dev, story flow, inconsistencies)
      • Prep SUNSET SUMMER chapter for critique group
      • Outline a beat sheet for SUNSET SUMMER overall plot* (save for last, time dependent)
Hope to hear from you on your writing goals this week!

5 comments:

  1. Congrats on your progress so far! That's awesome that you figured out how to tackle your revision. What a great feeling! Good luck with all of your goals for this week.

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  2. Yay for seeing the light! Don't you love those moments??

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  3. That's so exciting! I love that moment when everything starts to come together. I hit that magic moment just a couple weeks ago, and suddenly it was like I could breathe again. Breathing is good, right? ;)

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  4. Yay for finally seeing the light on a your MS. Those moments always make me feel so writerly and remind me why I do this.

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  5. Aren't those moments of epiphany great? I liken that to being stuck in a room, you move a book on a shelf, and then the shelf opens into another room. Good luck with juggling two projects.

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