Not much to report this week. I did some hiking this weekend, and spent the rest of the week doing prep work for revisions—a read-through during which I took a lot of editing notes; created a scene chart listing the POV, summary, location, goal, motivation, conflict, and disaster/resolution for each scene; and did some more character background work before I dive into revisions this week. Hopefully by the end of round 2 (June 26) I have a solid second draft!
My ROW80 progress this week:
1.) Writing:
- Finish the second draft of the novella I finished in Round 1, “Good Old-Fashioned Magic.” Finished the read-through earlier this week. I also did some more character background exercises and made a scene chart.
2.) Read 4 books on the craft/business of writing.
- 3 out of 4 books read. No progress to report for this week.
3.) Social media:
- Check in on Twitter daily. Target met.
- Comment on 3-5 blogs per day, Monday-Thursday. Target met.
- Blog 2 times a week. Target met.
A Round of Words in 80 Days is the writing challenge that knows you have a life. It’s also a blog hop!
What about you? How are your goals, writing or otherwise, coming along?
Denise D. Young 
Sounds like a plan to me! Good job this week.
Thanks, Ryan! Have a great week.
You’ve done very well this week! What exactly is a scene chart? I’m working on the revision of a novel right now, getting ready for the second draft and the process I’m following (Susan Dennard’s revision guide) uses index cards. But a chart sounds interesting. I imagine it’s something you can pin up and look at everything at once?
It’s from Cathy Yardley’s book “Rock Your Revisions.” You basically list the POV, the POV character’s goal and motivation, and the disaster/resolution for each scene. I added location and a summary of the action so I could keep things organized. I haven’t tried Susan Dennard’s system yet. Yardley’s scene chart is just an easy reference to use while editing.
Must be nice to look at a list and see so many ‘Target met’ 🙂
It ended up being a productive week. Let’s hope this week is equally as productive. Thanks for stopping by!
I have read about those scene charts. I tried once and couldn’t get it to gel in my head. I don’t know if that means my writing is off or my head/understanding of the principle. Congrats on moving forward in any case.
BTW love your inspirational post today for ROW.
This is the first time I’ve ever created a scene chart to use during revising. We’ll see if it ends up being useful. One thing I forgot to add was a time stamp so I could make sure I know the date and time of each scene. I wouldn’t worry too much if the scene chart didn’t work for you. Not every tool works for every writer, so if it’s not your thing, there’s nothing wrong with that.
Thanks!
Great progress, Denise. 🙂 Finishing a read through always helps me to focus. Good idea to work on character exercises when your story is fresh in your mind. Here’s to another great week. 🙂
Thanks. Have a great week!