Researching

OMG i hadn't realised just how long it would take or how tricky researching would be.
I've spent the last 5 or so weeks reading through my first draft and researching in history when i will place it. I chose the Hebrides - i don't know why, it seemed to call to me :) - and have narrowed my timeframe to be somewhere between 1103-1156.
The 12th century is rather interesting and because i've chosen the Outer Hebrides it is particularly hard. So many disputed rulers, from Ireland, Norway, and the Isle of Mann.

I've been looking for a peaceful period and i think i've found it during these dates. I do know that just after 1156 is when the Hebrides is broken up into the Inner and Outer Hebrides by a man called Somerled, which will fit perfectly for my last story planned for the trilogy - if it gets that far!

Now i've realised i need to know things like how people travelled in the 12th century, what they ate, what they hunted, how they built their houses, what they farmed, what they wore... and i haven't even really begun to look at the terrain of the Hebrides, which in my story has importance.
I'm rather enjoying it but i can tell if i let it, the research will become very consuming.

So i think i am going to approach the research when i need it. I'm going to start editing until i come to a part that needs specific information. Do you think that would work?

How do you do your research?
I can definitely see the merits of hiring researchers like Nora Roberts does!

Editing

So a few posts ago i asked for help with Editing. Where to start?

One of my writer friends suggested i load my story to my kindle to have a read through first, looking for flow and any major mistakes/flow problems. This is working a treat. I have noted about 170 parts that need either tiny tweaks or major rewrite or even deletion and i'm only 3/4 of the way through!

Another writer suggested i scrap the whole first draft and start again! Apparently this worked wonders for her story. I for one, am too afraid to! But after doing lots of research for 'when' and 'where' i'm going to set my story (it is currently in fantasy land!), i'm going to try and majorly edit to fit and failing that - *gulp* - i'll start over!

Another writer, Jackie Ashendon replied with the following:

Good question. Okay, what I do is first read over the whole thing before I do anything. Then I always do the big things first - characters and conflict since both drive the plot. Are your characters consistent? Does the internal conflict work? Have you gone deep enough with it? Are their motivations clear? Have the h/h got clearly defined character arcs?

Once you're good with that, then look at each scene. Do the scenes move the plot/conflict along or are they just filler? Or do you need to add more, etc, etc.

After I do that kind of stuff, then POV fixes, language, grammar etc is next and that's usually the easy fixes. I know some people advise doing the small things first but there's kind of no point fixing POV in a scene if you actually don't need the scene at all.

I think a combination of all this makes sense to me.
I've already noticed that my hero's GMC is seriously lacking - so that will be the first thing i work on, Oh and he seriously needs to alpha up! I can't believe i wrote him so wussy!
Then i'll take a deeper look at my heroine's GMC - just to make sure my h&h clash and meld with the right things!

So thanks for the advice everyone, i feel i am better equipped at tackling this edit :)

Does anyone approach their edits differently?

Learning my craft

I love learning my craft. KM Weiland's blog is always a great source for craft.

I found this post about Character Arc and how for your story to resonate with readers, you character needs to go through a moral or emotional change, a growth from beginning of the story to the end.

Have a read here!

I will be looking more carefully for small, but important changes to my characters as i work through my WIP's.

Synopsis

Yep, that's what i'm doing at the moment!
I had gone through and put a comment at the beginning of each chapter with a brief overview of what happens to the characters, their arcs etc and am now going through and trying to piece it together.
So far i'm up to two single spaced pages!
HMB like 2 double spaced pages, so this is going to be hard!

Do you have any tips you want to share about synopsis'?
I'll be posting some over the next week, stay tuned :)

weepy moments

How do you feel writing those moments that really tug on the heartstrings?
I find them the easiest to write, always have, even when i was at school.
Why am i asking this?
Today my son is 5 and it's his first day at school. I'm feeling emotional.
check out the photos from my family blog of one of my biggest weaknesses: My gorgeous little man!

Book of your Heart vs Book to sell

eHarlequin, as part of their editorial week have a great podcast on this topic.
They talk about giving readers what they want and what they didn't know they wanted. This is the combination of a story of your book and a book to sell, which uses the themes and hooks of popular stories, but giving them your unique voice and twist.
It really is about how to stand out from the crowd and selling your book, and still writing the book of your heart.
Well worth a listen!