What Will You Change, Later On?

mfarraday

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So it's getting towards the end of November. What will you change in your novel if you decide to stick with it and edit it, after November?

I am already starting to see that I need to give my antagonist a better reason or motivation to make people miserable. I also need a trigger that is clearer, so that the reader can start to see how/why he emerges. I need to create more rising tension around the times that he emerges, so that his fury and destructiveness is evident. Right now, I allude to stresses and weakenesses in the (one of two) main characters that causes his alter ego to come out of hiding. But they're not really fleshed out. I will have to add that in later on.

Are your novel's problems already clear to you? Can they be fixed? What will you change? :)
 

meowzbark

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I had the church as an important part of society, yet not one member of the church makes an appearance in the entire novel. During revisions, I'm going to make the head of state and the head of church be the same person.

I also need to work in some better history during the beginning of the novel, while condensing all the unimportant aspects of the story. Overall, I'm fairly satisfied with what I've written. I just have no idea how long the full story will be. It might be another 50k words at this point.
 

AshleyEpidemic

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I'm going to need to tighten and add more events to the beginning of my novel. The last first third is very much getting to know my MC and her world and the new circumstances she's put in. The second third we get a solid string over hints and clues as to how bad things are going to get as a relationship devolves. Then things get positively crazy in the last third that I feel like you almost can't breath during it. So it's a slow build to crazy, but I want to even it out a bit.
 

IdrisG

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This story needs more action sequences. A lot of it so far is just my character moving from point A to point B without a lot of tension, save what her gut is telling her. I'm enjoying incorporating that continuing note throughout the story, which isn't enough IMO.

I've devoted a whole OneNote section to aspects of the plot that need cleaning up and questions that need solid answers given. My FMC is anxious about not being a tiptop seer because...why? Because she thinks they're cool? Because she's obsessed with being an oracle of prophecy? No clue. And why do the people who ultimately become the big bad care about her? Why is she anything special? I've come up with a couple of answers for that, but I'm not impressed by them just yet.
 
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Mark Moore

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I definitely need to revise it before I self-publish it. Among the things on my to-do list:

*fix continuity hiccups

*add physical descriptions of the characters

*add location descriptions

*add date/location headings when a change occurs

*reword some passages, so they're not simple copy-pastes of what came earlier

*try to spice up the sex scenes a bit (they're very matter-of-fact right now)

*move some flashback scenes to their proper location (as of now, I've written some framing sequences for the flashbacks, but I'm holding off on writing the flashbacks until I approach the end of the month)

*check to see if I can legally publish this with my characters being 13 years old
 

CQuinlan

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Short Version: Everything.

Long version: Structure, delete some characters, make the plot get going faster but add in way more detail and emotion, make a map so my directions aren't all over the place and work out the details for the social classes and laws.

I also have a problem with the fact that I have two separate story-lines in the book, with one later being revealed as a prelude to the rest and I don't know if I'm going to keep that or change it up.
 

Sage

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I feel like I have too many threads that I didn't emphasize enough in the beginning, particularly related to the parents. The problem is that there are too many threads, period, so focusing on the parents pushes other things back and then I'll feel like I didn't emphasize them enough at the beginning.
 

mfarraday

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Does anyone feel their novel is too long, or too short? I feel like mine is too short.
 

LJD

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I'm not sure. Right now, I think it's a big pile of crap, possibly unsalvagable. We'll see what I think when I read it over in a couple months...
 

Lena Hillbrand

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I need to add in some more scenes b/t my character and his family.

And something I thought of today and didn't write down and now I can't remember...I'm going to be so mad if it never comes back to me!

Edit: And look at a real calendar to check date headings on every single section to make sure no one is at school on weekends. There are about 200 section headings. *pulls hair out*
 
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