Three steps to Re-Writing

So you've finished your first book!!! Congratulations, now it is time to go to work to make it something worth publishing.

I thought when I finished my first NaNoWriMo that I had a book that was ready to publish! All I needed  were these three steps to re-writing.

1. Grammar and spelling edits.
2.Send it to a few beta readers
3. Perhaps, I would need to re-write a scene or two. Add a few words here or there and wusssh... off to the Literary Agent I would send it.

Quick, someone pat me on the head and say, "Bless its goofy little heart."

Ernest Heming way said "First drafts are $hit." EDIT

I am learning that editing is not a simple matter of grammar and spelling.
Yes, I did have to learn that. I am not an intuitive learner. I need it written on the page.

What did I learn about my first twelve pages?
I can't write action scenes.
     The lines need to be short and crisp.
 
     I have a tendency to yank the reaction away from the action. In other words,  what is need is for me to tell and then react. Not react while the action is being told.
 
     POV (Point of View) is hard to write. Somehow, what I was seeing in my head was not coming across on the page. One way to do this is to make the main character express the emotion. (Not everyone is supposed to express emotion? I don't know. I am still working on that concept.)
 
     Strong images need strong description words.
     Some words are children words and some words are used for adult understanding. Back to the strong description words.
    
     I end a lot of my sentences in a preposition. Bad, bad, bad.
    
     I repeat myself a lot. Did I say that I repeat my self a lot. Not like that but, I use the same word over and over again. Jump is one of my key words. Jumped up, jumped off, jumped on. Jumped in. There is a great quantity of words that can be substituted for jump. Who knew? Sadly, jump is not my only repetitive word. Back is a favorite of mine also. He ran back. He came back. The back of (something). This might be a hard thing to break myself from, but I am going to try so I don't have to re-write so much.
    
     The words "trying to" are almost never necessary. Like the word almost; either it is, or it is not.
    
     Words that end in "ed" are stronger than was "ing" words.  He was pulling / He tugged,
He was sitting/ He sat is another example of a stronger word pair. How did I miss this concept in grade school grammar?
   
About grammar in general:
     Know when to chaptalize words like mother, father, doctor, post master.
    
     How to write dialog. What to do with question punctuation in dialog. What is strong dialog. What is boring dialog. I am not a brilliant conversationalist.
     Don't use big words when a smaller word will do. (See sentence above.)
    
     Internal dialog is shown in italics without a name tag. The dialog is stronger if you show emotion before you write the internal dialog.

All these things needed to be addressed in the first eight pages. The other four pages got little or no comment.
I learned a lot in eight short pages of action and dialog.

Please comment. I would love to hear what you think about first drafts, re-writing, or writing in general. If you have any questions about Pitching a Literary Agent, I can give you my experience.
   

Takeaway from the Workshop: Tips and Free Editing Advice

One of the most helpful things I got from the Writer's Workshop in Midland last weekend, was editing advice.

So, I will be rewriting the first chapter of Nate's Gold.
While, I drove to my parent's home on Monday I reworked the chapter. In my head of course. Well some of it was out loud and since I don't have a Dictaphone yet I called my daughter and made her take notes. Daughters are good note takers.

While I was in line, waiting for my grandson's to get out of school, I wrote about four pages of my rewrite. My daughter was sick so I picked my grandsons up. I enjoyed spending time with them. They are great boys.

Back to the rewrite.
I had a lot of great ideas. I don't think I discarded any of them. Monday afternoon I will get them written in Microsoft Word and see about meshing the rewrite with the current chapter.
I was asked, by the Agent I pitched too, if I could add another 30,000 words. Here is a great start.

I also listened to the lectures about POV, which means Point Of View. And I think there is quite a bit I need to rewrite and or polish.

So, I am ready to work on Monday!