How can I motivate myself to edit the book I wrote?

[RevolutionaryActs]

It will never get published(although, stranger things have happened...), but I would still like it be all nice and edited, you know?

But I can't force myself to do it. Gah!

[Longgrain]

1. YOU WROTE A BOOK!

I wrote a book and now I'm trying to motivate myself to finish my second one.

It took me 12 years to finish my first book. You're way ahead of me girl.

[RevolutionaryActs]

3. LOL! Yes, I did.

It took me...... um........ like 2 months to get the whole thing out.

Now I must edit it, basically rewrite a few things(add things and take some out) and proofread to make sure it all makes sense. hehe

[Longgrain]

5. Fiction or non-fiction?

If fiction, than what genre?

[RevolutionaryActs]

8. Fiction,

fantasy. Because that's the kind of thing I like(Lord of the Rings nerd).

[Longgrain]

16. Mines kind of unclassifiable

Sort of a fantasy romance set in modern times. The main character is a 16 year old girl who's sort of half human, half beast. It's sort of a Frankenstein type story about how how she doesn't quite fit in.

It's actually a satire, but kind of poignant at moments.

I think you'd like it Rev.

[RevolutionaryActs]

19. Sounds very interesting!

Mine is about a girl who is magical and is an outcast because of it. It's set on another planet. And then she meets people and stuff happens...... HAHAHA I so rock at summarizing!

[Longgrain]

23. Yarh! Thanks...

Your book sound verrrrry interesting!

Here's a picture of mine...the unpublished ms, not the main character...



Seriously, we have to get together an talk about writing sometime. It's one of my favorite thing to do.

[JohnKleeb]

24. one of my fave things to do too

I got some of my essays saved on this computer too.

[Longgrain]

28. Have you ever tried putting them up on DU?

Perhaps even summiting them as articles?

I put a few excerpts from my stories and a few of my poems around here, mostly in the Writers Forum. I'm sure you'll be able to find a few people to give you a good critique.

[JohnKleeb]

32. hmm I havent really

because they're not really often about current issues. I am gonna be writing a poem to nana later on tonight. I have a love poem that I wrote before I had my current crush, just a general love poem on how I ohpe to fall in love. I just made a small folder of my writings, Ive made as of late, I wish I had the poem I wrote for my distant relative, sigh.

[tjdee]

27. That ms looks awfully thick!

Jiminy Cricket, people!

My ms is much, much smaller. I'm in awe of you guys who actually FINISH your novels.

[Longgrain]

31. Actually I think it's kind of short...

About 72,000 words long. Printed out in book form I'm guessing that's only 200 pages...not very long of a book these days but then again, It's quality that counts!

[RevolutionaryActs]

29. Cool! How long is it?

Mine is about 190 pages on Microsoft works.

[Longgrain]

33. Mines only slightly longer

210 pages on msWord.

[oneighty]

2. One cannot edit

one's own work. You will read the same errors over and over and never see them.

Go ask this question in DU's writer's forum. Good luck.

180

[RevolutionaryActs]

4. Nah not edit like that.

I mean I need to change some things around, and take some stuff out.

But yeah there's a writers forum! Ha I forgot about that, thanks!

[madison2000]

6. Think of the royalties that will enable you to buy gourmet coffee

every day for the rest of your life!

[RevolutionaryActs]

9. Ooooooooooooooooh!!!!!!!!

Gourmet Coffee! :drool:

[madison2000]

14. One of my professors, who had published several academic books

told us thats about what his royalties amounted to!

[JohnKleeb]

7. I dont know, whats the book about?

I write too you know, I write poems, essays, and sometimes sappy love crap.

[RevolutionaryActs]

11. Why must people ask me that.....

I suck at summarizing.

[tjdee]

17. I have that problem too.

But, I'm not done with my book (by the way, I hate you!! ) so it bothers me a bit more because I'm not even sure what it's about yet.

Actually, for the book I'm working on now, Jamie Bell provided a great deal of motivation--not to be too ridiculous. He gave me a model to work around.

[RevolutionaryActs]

22. *giggle*

Jamie....

[tjdee]

25. Okay, but I really want to know what the book's about.

So does Kleeb.

So tell tell!

[RevolutionaryActs]

30. Look at my reply to Kleeb.

And one of my replies to Longgrain.

[JohnKleeb]

21. just tell me, you dont need to summarize

It's not: Rev's short history of pornography now is it.

[RevolutionaryActs]

26. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Oh.My.Gawd. So funny! Yes John! That's it! How did you know?

OK I named it Graceful Truths (for now anyway)

And it's set on this planet called Tyrophic and it's like olden times and there's this girl who is magical and she's an outcast because of it. And she travels the world looking some people who will accept her....................... and I think it's complete crap, but I want to finish it. lol

[JohnKleeb]

34. because I my dear friend am a psychic part gypsy

Sounds interesting, I am more of a realism writer myself.

[RevolutionaryActs]

35. Yeah, I write fantasy because what I'm into. Although

I do have about one chapter to a book I wanna write about what's wrong with America, it's mostly just my thoughts that I'm trying to pass off as a book. lol

[JohnKleeb]

37. I write short stuff becuase I dont have the skills to writel long good on

you, hope it gets published.

[Kire]

10. Go ahead and edit the book...

...then you will find that you have been motivated all along.

[RevolutionaryActs]

13. Hahahahaha! Kire, I love you're logic.

It's priceless.

[Kire]

36. I'm not logic...

...I'm logical.

[H2O Man]

12. self-publishing

is an option. Self-editing is not. It sounds like you know this, and are actually finalizing sections.

[RevolutionaryActs]

18. Well there's editing like what a professional editor does, then there's

editing out crap filler, and plot holes. Which is what I need to do.

[HEyHEY]

15. DOn't edit it - get someone else too

[tjdee]

20. Just start it. That's how. Motivation sucks.

Motivation is the hardest thing to find. Sooner or later you're going to have to just sit and do it. So start it now!

Would it help if you thought of how you'd present it to a publisher? That might help you get a clearer idea of what you need to take out (stuff that doesn't relate to the main issues/plots)... so maybe Kleeb asking what it's about helps in that way.

Once you can sit and say "My book is about X", it might be easier to chop stuff out, put other stuff in, etc.

[Nikia]

38. I suck at revision

I was always turning in first drafts in college. I got mostly Bs on my papers. I did get some As, but probably would have gotten more As if I would have went back through the paper. For the most part though, it wasn't just being lazy. I tried my best to write a good paper and often it seemed like a work of art that would be ruined if I changed it. Other times I realized that it was crap, but didn't have enough time before it was due to make enough changes.
I would let it it for a while longer. Reread it and then ask yourself if it really does need any changes. Let other people read it too and comment.

[BikeWriter]

39. If you figure it out Please tell me. I'm working on three.