Scene by Scene

I've taken a long break from Conventional Demon and quite a break from writing-related stuff in general. No, wait. A look at my calendar showed me that I finished Book 2 a mere two weeks ago, and in that time I've submitted to a literary agency, sent off a query letter, and done some preliminary editing setup work for CD, so I guess this feeling of not doing anything is all in my head. Nice.

Today was all about going through CD scene by scene, using an Excel document to note trackable elements (scenes, subplot, character introductions, Madison's knowledge of her abilities, etc.). I got about halfway through the novel. It's tedious and uncreative and probably frowned upon by many free-form writers out there, but I'm finding that this method is helping me see holes in plot and flaws in logic in a very precise, clean way.

I originally decided to use an Excel document in this phase of the edit because I need to go back through the novel and flush out a plot line, and it was too hard to keep it all straight in my head. While I was still debating the merits of turning a novel into a spreadsheet, I ran across DeAnna Cameron's blog, where she even provides a picture of the spreadsheet she uses. I took it as a sign.

Another couple of hours' work, and I'll have the whole book before me in a new form, and one that hopefully will enable me to get through the next round of edits even more efficiently than the previous ones.