Chris Bostic's Blog - Posts Tagged "lesson-learned"
Lesson Learned
I'll admit it. I make mistakes sometimes. My latest was a truly, epically dumb one that wasted A LOT of time. But at least I learned a valuable lesson.
I have a number of difference series in the works, and typically skip between them. I'll draft a book or edit a book, then put it aside and work on something else. It helps keep things fresh, but apparently not fresh enough.
A short while back, having finished with another series, I started working on a sequel to my latest dystopian/adventure/thriller book. Somehow, and rather foolishly, I paid no attention to the fact that the first book was written in first person, past tense. So I wrote the ENTIRE first draft of the second book in third person. Thankfully past tense, but still a huge 75,000 word mistake.
Long story short (pun intended), it's taken days(seriously!) to fix all the pronouns and make it flow right. Zach = I, him = me, his = my, their = our... and so on a thousand times over. No simple 'Find and Replace' could be done.
The worst part? It was totally preventable. I like to write different series in different POV, and often different tenses. But all I had to do was take a quick look back at the first book. Maybe the problem could be that I know my characters a little too well, and didn't think I needed to look back for something so simple as POV.
But the edits are all finished...finally. Lesson learned--big time. And just in time to get my NCAA Tournament bracket filled out. Not a moment too soon. Sounds like it's time to take a little writing break and watch some basketball games.
I have a number of difference series in the works, and typically skip between them. I'll draft a book or edit a book, then put it aside and work on something else. It helps keep things fresh, but apparently not fresh enough.
A short while back, having finished with another series, I started working on a sequel to my latest dystopian/adventure/thriller book. Somehow, and rather foolishly, I paid no attention to the fact that the first book was written in first person, past tense. So I wrote the ENTIRE first draft of the second book in third person. Thankfully past tense, but still a huge 75,000 word mistake.
Long story short (pun intended), it's taken days(seriously!) to fix all the pronouns and make it flow right. Zach = I, him = me, his = my, their = our... and so on a thousand times over. No simple 'Find and Replace' could be done.
The worst part? It was totally preventable. I like to write different series in different POV, and often different tenses. But all I had to do was take a quick look back at the first book. Maybe the problem could be that I know my characters a little too well, and didn't think I needed to look back for something so simple as POV.
But the edits are all finished...finally. Lesson learned--big time. And just in time to get my NCAA Tournament bracket filled out. Not a moment too soon. Sounds like it's time to take a little writing break and watch some basketball games.
