Sunday, May 2, 2010

When to let people read your novel...

Revision stages…


What stage of the revision process do you give out copies for people to read?

My stages… or at least my plan so far goes like this: 1: First draft 2: story revision 3: complete grammar edit 4: then let people read the work 5: process the critics and do one final rewrite and edit.



And one more question: I have to come up with a few names, hopefully names that roll off the tongue and or catchy. Names for creatures such as these: Half-man half-scorpion and a half-man half-spider, like the body of the creature and the torso of a human.

Edit: (Names of the entire species not specific character names... thx)
Thx for your time and any response you might leave…

6 comments:

  1. Personal names or creature names?

    I don't send out the first draft to anyone, except, perhaps, my sister. Even then I like to at least read through with Lee once.

    Once I have an at least once-through edit, I'll send it to some friends I trust to tell me the truth.

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  2. Names of the entire species not specific character names... thx

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  3. I usually wait until mine has been through several edits before letting anyone read it.

    Those are interesting creatures. I don't have any ideas though. One idea would be to use another language by translating the words and see if you can come up with something cool.

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  4. I'm like Blee Bonn and use foreign language and/or Latin. I use Latin, for instance, on the "true names" of my demons. In "Cauchemar" (nightmare in French) I used French for sects and powers and even personal names. I reused "bete" (beast in French)from there for my shapeshifting novel to describe people who can change into animals.

    If I were in your position, I'd be going to Latin. Looking up scorpions, you'd find scorpio/onus/us and napa. I'd probably use napa since it's less well-known. Ditto, there are a number of spider related terms in Latin including the well-known Arachne, aranea, casses and tela. I'd start there to build my name, either choosing a self-explanatory base, like the Scorpi or the Arachni, or going with the more obscure: the Napan or the Araneus.

    There's something about having a name that makes someone feel like it fits (Bete=beast=shapeshifter) even if someone doesn't speak the language.

    For more on latin, check out this on-line dictionary: http://www.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/lookdown.pl

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  5. Thx for the input... I hate to admit I didn't think about a different language for the names. Great idea ladies, translating a common name to a unique one sounds like a good plan--and one I will implement. Thx again—

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  6. I used to have my wife read every chapter as I wrote it, but now I at least try and wait until the first draft is done . . . so hard. I crave the feedback.

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