#write-gallagher

after finishing up 3 chapters in the past couple of days (7.3k words, give or take some), I wanted to share with all of you what I’m doing now to simplify my process later.

first off, this is not specifically EDITING, but in a way it is. editing is a long process, and it’s usually aided by other people. this is a solo process that can streamline the editing process that comes later after the final draft.

evaluate the first thing I always do is evaluate my piece. I like to do this by reading through my first chapter and figuring out if it has everything I wanted to include in it, and figuring out if it sets the right mood for the rest of my story. if it doesn’t, I move onto step 2.

find my weak spot every writer has an Achilles heel. mine is usually secondary character development. I develop the hell out of my main characters, but sometimes, my supporting characters can end up a little weaker because of this. this won't always be the case. for you, it could be world building, or not writing in detail. whatever your weakness is, catch it here so that you can be more conscious of it and weed it out of the rest of the draft.

read through the rest of my draft so far usually, I start the clean up process at 3-4 chapters or 10k words, whatever comes first, but I might have written more than expected, so I’m going to take the time to give it a once through and read what I have to pick out if there’s anything I wanna add or subtract.

add and subtract usually, I will have scenes I don't think I gave justice to, and in that case I will add to them so that they can be more pronounced, and sometimes I'll cut a scene all together, it really depends on how the chapter should feel in my opinion.

smooth and detail usually, once I've added and subtract, now it needs to be smoothed out with filler scenes and transitions. this is where you’re going to do all of the smaller touches and detailing.

finish up once I've finished doing all of this, I'm usually good to go, and start on writing my next couple of chapters. it might be good to do this once every few chapters, usually ever 3-4 depending on how much you’re writing, if not, pick how many words you’d like to do it after and do this process over again.

now you have a cleaner draft so that you can streamline your editing process at the end of your first draft, and you’ll be on your way to your next and/or final draft soon!

Inenysa Seroeg'k is a firecracker in a 5′0 body. But it takes a lot for her to get to the point of explosion. She’s more detached and doesn’t make relationships/friendships easily. As a thief, she has to be sly and cunning, but she’s also cautious in who/what she decides to steal from. She is a half-breed AAphelion, meaning that she is blessed with the gift of magic but also cursed with knowing half of her will always have soul-sucking tendencies.