Corey Konieczka
CREATOR
5 months ago
Project Update: Writing Process + Update
Hello Everyone!
I thought it would be fun to give you a behind the scene look at my writing process and how I created Twelve Endings. Oh, you're not interested? You just want the update? Ok, the short answer is that there will be a slight delay finishing the book (about 1 month).
For everyone who IS interested in a behind the scenes look, here's how the cake is baked.
I thought it would be fun to give you a behind the scene look at my writing process and how I created Twelve Endings. Oh, you're not interested? You just want the update? Ok, the short answer is that there will be a slight delay finishing the book (about 1 month).
For everyone who IS interested in a behind the scenes look, here's how the cake is baked.
- Rough Draft: When an idea takes hold, I try to write the first draft as quickly as possible. Depending on length of the story this can take me a day or a week. (We're talking short stories here folks, not a novel.)
- First Edit: Then I READ what I've written. This always reveals some gaping holes that need to be patched up (rewritten) as well as obvious typos that need to be fixed.
- First Reader: I'll usually share my story with my wife and see what she thinks. She'll usually call out some confusing elements or unsatisfying moments. I'll make some minor rewrites based on these suggestions.
- Beta Readers: I send the full book to 8-10 trusted friends to provide critiques and suggestions. I ask them to rank the stories from best to worst and provide feedback on what they found confusing. I then do a round of rewrites based on this feedback with extra focus on the lowest ranked stories. With Twelve Endings, beta readers consistently loved some stories, but the other ratings were wildly divergent. For example, a few stories were LOVED by some readers, but ranked low by others. It was fun digging into the details and figuring out exactly why this happened.
- Professional Editor: After beta rewrites, I sent the full book to a professional editor (Tim) who is currently scrutinizing every story and asking tough questions. Tim is sending me hundreds of notes for each story, many of which are typographical, but some are larger such as: awkward dialog, unsatisfying payoffs, and unrealistic moments. I'm rewriting the stories based on his feedback, and the results are phenomenal. For example, I completely rewrote the ending of one of story yesterday, turning a 6 star story into a 10.
- Proofreading: After the final edit, we'll do a proofreading pass to make sure the most recent round of changes didn't introduce any new typos. Then it's ready to print!
We're currently about halfway through step #5. It's taking longer than expected, but the end result will be well worth it. Based on our current pace, I expect about 4 more weeks of editing before we are ready for proofreading. I expect we'll have the book completely done mid-late November and then start printing and shipping them out.
I apologize for the delay, but it will be well worth it.
-Corey
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