First Cup of Coffee - September 22, 2022

Discussing my revision process today, how it works for me and what I learned about it in writing this book regarding revising with more than two POVs. Also a tidbit on what NOT to do with review requests.

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Transcript

00:00.70
jeffekennedy
Good morning, everyone! This is Jeffe Kennedy author of epic fantasy romance I'm here with my first cup of coffee.

00:14.25
jeffekennedy
At this point I feel like I need 27 cups of coffee today is Thursday September Twenty Second 2022 it's the autumn equinox cheers.

00:33.95
jeffekennedy
Um, love the Autumn equinox first day of autumn and autumn is such a glorious season here. So um, what have I been to. I have been working on this revision. Um, so so there's like good news. Bad news. Good news is is I technically finished my revision as and I made it all the way through the final page yesterday.

01:11.40
jeffekennedy
I um, my SFWA people bless them bless my ah vice president John Murphy cfo Erin Hartshorn executive director Kate Baker and deputy executive director Terra Lemay they just like. Excused me from stuff this week and john and Erin handled something yesterday because they all knew that I was buried under this revision and I am just really so grateful for them all. Um, ah I think. Even though I I make noises about being good at delegating I sometimes forget that I don't have to do everything myself and so this is um, yeah, great to have them do that. So I've just been. You know like working nonstop on this revision.

02:08.24
jeffekennedy
Um, the caveat to the fact that I made it through the final page and I did end up adding a scene near the end that I felt like needed to be added I think that I probably need to tweak again because here's what I have discovered. Um, when. I decided to have multiple povs multiple meaning more than two. So what I did on this book this time for those of you who have not been following along avidly with the blow by blow. Is with shadow wizard I have my 2 main characters Jadren and Selly and the bulk of the book is told in their 2 povs. Um I think you know because you all know I love my spreadsheets I keep track of the proportions. Um, word count in each pov and it's worked out to Selly has 44% and Jadren has 42% the other excuse me the other percentages are Nic and Gabriel.

03:21.53
jeffekennedy
Because for the first time I decided to have more than 2 povs. This is big, big step for me big step I know it probably doesn't sound like it but it was and I was happy with Carien's read that she thought that. That worked and that they were good to have them in there I know lots of writers do this I hadn't done it before and it worked fine except 1 thing that I discovered is and this is gonna be a long explanation. Way my revision process works. So so let's back up to that because ah, aspiring author friend asked me the other day about my my revision process like what the proportion it is to drafting and the short answer is is that my revision process is much much shorter. The drafting process. Um I think and I had to pull out these numbers for him but the drafting of shadow wizard took me 62 working days I think it was a span of like ninety four days and the revision is well now it's gonna be six days six working days because I've got to work on it today. Um I've put in five days on it. this is because. um angry honking ah this is because

04:56.99
jeffekennedy
I Write pretty clean drafts Now this is not always been the case I have not always written in this way and I Um yeah I in the beginning It took me much much longer to revise.

05:16.52
jeffekennedy
But at this point yeah I can generally do. It's like a solid week. Um, you know space for weekend. What have you because what happens with my revision is i. Ah, usually don't change tons and in this case I did not change tons on this book I ended up I keep a file with my what I cut my drafting outtakes and my um cut file is like 1500 words I added in like. 3 or 4000 something like that. But on revision. That's my opportunity to go from the beginning and read all the way through it and layer weave smooth. Check continuity all of that sort of thing. Um, you know other people, their revision process can be much more much more like major surgery. For me, it's it's pretty much cosmetic. However, what I discovered with having the 2 new povs is my revision process did not work for those because.

06:43.29
jeffekennedy
They're happening at a different place in time different people and my whole thing of and I was trying to explain this to my writer friend that what I try to do is um.

07:01.24
jeffekennedy
And then and it sounds so weird. So I was checking I should have checked it before but there's this quote that's attributed to Albert Einstein who knows if they actually said it. But how do I work? I grope. And that's been coming to my mind and trying to explain how I do this revision I don't feel like I'm groping but I feel like it's um, ah, it's almost It's hard for me to put it in analytical terms. What I do is I...

07:38.20
jeffekennedy
Try to hold the whole story in my head. Ah, which is how I used to write short. It used to be fairly easy for me when I would write a short story or an essay I could hold the whole thing in my head and get it down and and into its correct shape. Um, with novels I had to give that up because it wasn't possible for me to hold the whole thread of the novel in my head working on it incrementally which is pretty much how you have to write a novel unless you are. On cocaine and writing interview with a vampire over the course of a long weekend. Not throw east stones actually I don't know that she was on cocaine but I'm guessing there that is how she wrote interview with vampire. Anyway, ah so when I revise that's when I hold the whole story in my head which is one of the reasons 1 of 2 major reasons why I think it's um, mentally exhausting for me. Um I start from the beginning and I go through and i. Build the whole thing up in my head and it feels like a big globe and and that way I can like I don't know tuck in all of the threads and smooth it out the thing about those other 2 povs.

09:15.58
jeffekennedy
Is they did not fit inside the globe. So what I have is the globe of the main story. We have a flock of Bush tits coming through. They're these tiny little birds and they make such happy happy noises and they've. Kind of come in like a well like a flight of birds I am out of metaphors. Um, and and now they're gone they come in and they go they land and they get stuff and then they leave.

09:51.52
jeffekennedy
So what I have is. It's turned out is the globe of the main part of the story and now I need another globe for those for Nic and Gabriel's POVs. What I have to do is go back and read through just their povs to the end which I'm guessing. It's only well one's like 7 % 1's 8% um, so was that 15% of I think I'm at 350 pages. So right? So um, you guys are probably doing oh you all are probably doing the math. Faster than I am but let's see thirty five plus seventeen - 52 pages 55 pages something like that actually a little bit more than that because I need to also read where they overlap with Jadren and Selly. Which is not much but there so I still have to get through like I don't know maybe 70 pages of revision today I'm hoping it'll go fast I'm hoping that I've already gone through some of it before I decided that it wasn't being productive and I need to skip it.

11:25.88
jeffekennedy
So I'll do that and then I need to do my out loud proofing which is probably going to take me I should just open up this file so I could see what these numbers are it's 334 pages so close enough for government work.

11:45.30
jeffekennedy
It's going to take me about 11 hours to do the out loud proofing. So I mean I do have all day tomorrow. So if I can get through those pages today. Get a start on the out loud proofing um might the trick with the out loud proofing.

12:03.68
jeffekennedy
Is to spare my voice I have to remember that I don't need to project. Ah I'm not reading for anybody else. So I always have to remind myself just to take it down and read very quietly because all that matters is that I go through and speak every word. And that's where I catch the errors. My um, if I have to all work on Saturday I want to send it for formatting by tomorrow night but my drop dead is by Saturday evening. So. Does it sound too. Terrible doesn't this sounds doable I can do this? Yeah, the other piece of why I find revision mentally exhausting is that I push myself a lot more on it because I can. When I am drafting um I can only push myself so far before I come up empty and I you know I can only write so many words a day before you know like the fuel runs out the water the will is dry and I sputter to a stop. With revision that doesn't happen I get mentally exhausted and I could tell I'm being I have less acuity than I did but I can take a short rest and go back at it I'm not done for the day like I would be with drafting. Um.

13:29.80
jeffekennedy
And I mean is it fortunately or not fortunately or unfortunately that means that I can do like I've been doing the last few days um you know that I do like 5 or 6 what hour writing sessions instead of 3 and that does. Take its toll but it's fortunately in that it's enabling me to get this book done on time. So and then I can rest afterwards right? Still want to start on secret movie project next week looking forward to that. So. Over I mean I must feel pretty good if I'm you know feeling perky enough to contemplate writing that there's been times when I've you know like contemplated turning to the next project. But I feel that just empty tank sense of dread. So so there's money. Update my thoughts on revision I feel like I do not have helpful advice on how to revise, but you know it's one of those own your process things right? find out what your process is and own it. It does make me think of something I heard Susan Elizabeth Phillips say about her revision process is that she makes a pass for different aspects of the book. So she makes a revision pass for each pov and she does multiple biovs. So now I understand.

15:03.31
jeffekennedy
Um, now I understand scrambled eggs. Ah, that's an epiphany joke for those of you who don't know my favorite epiphany joke and um, no context for you.

15:23.18
jeffekennedy
And she'll do a pass for like I don't know like for plot and for character arc and all of this. Um, if I was making millions off of each book I would probably do longer revision passes to but would I be making millions on each book. If I did this I don't know I don't think so I I do think you hit a point of vanishing returns. Um, you know something that newer authors ask all the time is how do you know when you're done. How do you know when to stop because you can tweak a book forever. Um. You know? and and I always think of the you know the graph the the asymptote where it approaches 0 or approaches affinity but never quite reaches. It. Um, yeah, you know there comes a point at which you are so close to. Not making any viable changes that you may as well not and like I said I just think it changes over time that the more books you write the more you know that you um.

16:36.86
jeffekennedy
You know that you're not going to make a difference at this point at some point you have to stop going over your answers and just turn the test in right in other news. Um, this guy dmed me on Twitter that I ah foolishly followed back apparently. Ah, because only people I follow can Dm me and I dm him and he ah. Or no, he demed me sorry I started thinking about something else I was thinking out is that true because I know that there are people who try to damn me that I'm sure I don't follow but anyway doesn't matter this guy Dms me very very long dm and I'm sure it was either. He has a bot set up for it or he's copy pasting but he sends me this long thing. First of all, it's about his book which he asks me to review and offers to send me a free copy if I'll review it and then says um, all that we ask is that you so. Support the other author and the whole thing is written as we we think you might be interested in this book and all we ask is that you support the author by engaging on social media and talking up the book and I was like excuse me what excuse me.

18:10.61
jeffekennedy
So I did check around with a couple people asking if they knew this person because I thought well if he's a connection I didn't know he who he was if he's a connection I don't want to necessarily smack him down but nobody knew who he was so I felt ah smack permitted. So all I did was replied and said no I am not a book reviewer which reader I am not a book reviewer you know this I know this anybody who bothers to look at anything to do with me notices I get a reply It's probably an auto responder of some sort. Ah I should read it to you? Okay I'm gonna read you a little bit of this so it says um, please have a look at book one on Amazon and then says we are happy to send you an ebook in pdf movie or epub format. All. Ask is that you support the authortar by posting a brief review on Instagram Amazon Goodreads or your blog and that was regards team this series name right? Um, who is 1 guy right? You know if you self publish just. Own the self-pubishing. Don't try to make yourself sound like you are part of some team some publishing team right? You know I mean come on. It's not like we can't figure it out so then the reply is hey thanks for taking a peek at it.

19:41.83
jeffekennedy
We wish you the very best with your projects have a smooth day. Um reader I did not take a peek at it I said I'm not a book reviewer anyway, these are the perils of of well not knowing what you're doing. I one of my friends who I asked who I thought might know this person. Um and she did not she and I paced her or what he had sent me and she said amateur and that's exactly what it is. It was an amateur move. Um don't randomly Dm people. A ah to be review your book I don't know there's there's so much here I don't know if I can even unpack it all. But um, don't do this really you know just I can't. Yeah I can't even on that note I'm going to go get after this revision. Um, at least it's coming along pretty well so you all must be lighting your candles for me. Thank you and I will talk to you all tomorrow you take care bye bye.