Alex.J.Cobalt

When I sat down to write this blog, I was concerned I wouldn’t have anything to write about. The last few months have been filled with everything other than novel writing (including downloading new computer games, woops). As such, there hasn’t been much progress on my novel to speak of.

However, when I look back over the past year, especially when I look back to my blog posts from last year, I realise that this story has come a long way over the course of the past year. A lot of the “lack of progress” that I feel comes from the lack of words on the page, but there has been a lot of thinking that has gone into trying to unpick the different plot threads.

I’m currently working my way through the first third of the novel (again), trying to delve into each character’s motivations so that they move the plot rather than the plot moving them. I’ve shifted around the locations so there is less need to travel around to multiple places, and streamlined the overall focus of the novel around some simple core themes. Now I have a nice long to-do list of scenes to tidy up and iron out so I can plug on through the key sequence in the middle of the book and actually get to the Assassins section that the WIP title is named after.

My goal for 2022 is going to be the same goal I had for 2021, finish this damn edit. I’ve been working on this story for over three years, and it would be great to get it to a place where I can put the story in front of someone to give some initial feedback, and so I can feel like I have beaten this edit.

If you’re in the throws of editing your own story, I wish you luck for 2022. Editing is a long, hard road but your story will be the better for it.

Alex.J.Cobalt is a fantasy writer from the UK. When she’s not working away at her fantasy novel series, she posts free flash fictions on her website, along with regular blogs about writing.

Featured Image Credit: hannah grace on Unsplash

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