PD Martin's Blog

July 25, 2009

Event madness

Filed under: Writing — Tags: , , , , — PD Martin @ 5:02 am

It’s event madness for me at the moment (plus editing of course).

Last Friday night I was in Foster for an author talk, and then headed back on Saturday to catch some other authors talking about their books and work at The Crime and Justice Festival. In the end, I only went to two sessions – one on the criminal mind (right up my alley) and one on being an undercover cop in the mafia. Really enjoyed both and was dying to see more on Sunday, but decided I should focus on editing.

I’ve got a few other events coming up:

August will be busy! But for now, I must focus on edits…10 days until my deadline – ahhh!!!

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July 17, 2009

Editing, editing, editing

Filed under: Kiss of Death,Writing — Tags: , , , — PD Martin @ 4:59 am

For the most part, I love the editing process. You submit your book with the initial panic that it’s crap and your publisher will hate it, but then you get the thumbs up. Phew! And then comes the detailed editorial report, which not only points out all the good things in the book, but also how to improve it. And like every writer, I’m all for making each book the best it can be.

But one of the things I HATE about editing is the scenes and lines that end up on the cutting room floor, so to speak. I’m talking about chunks that no longer fit because of other, bigger changes. In the case of KISS OF DEATH, I’ve got some major changes in chronology, which means some serious cutting and pasting and some ruthless cuts.

For the moment I’m storing all these paragraphs and scenes in a Word document titled Deletions. Perhaps once I finish my first major pass of the book and get a handle on the plot and chronology changes these scenes will fit elsewhere. Who knows?

To give you an example, this week I’ve deleted a five-page scene on a suspect interview. Problem is, that scene divulges heaps and heaps of my research – stuff that I worked hard on and I need to get it across somewhere! But where?

I’ve also deleted a half-page phone call, but that call included some key character insights – can I fit these elsewhere?

Sigh…I do love editing, but it can be hard to cut, cut, cut!

Upcoming events
I’ve got quite a few upcoming events – more about that next week. But in the meantime if you’re based in Melbourne you might be interested in the Crime and Justice Festival. I’m not appearing this year, but I will be attending!

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July 10, 2009

First week of editing

Filed under: Kiss of Death,Writing — Tags: , , , , — PD Martin @ 4:57 am

This week has been devoted to editing – and looking after my daughter of course!

I’ve completed an initial pass of the first 140 pages of Kiss of Death, but decided I needed to stop and go back to the start to begin work on some of the bigger picture elements my editor suggested. And that’s what I started today, plus I’ve got most of the weekend set aside for editing.

To date, I’ve made all the minor edits to the first half of the book, plus made some of the bigger changes as I’ve gone through each chapter. For example, I’ve moved the questioning of two people to about sixty pages earlier than in the original draft and I’ve added in a sex scene! Some of you may have seen my posts on Facebook about the sex scene.

Like Wednesday’s post:
Had to stop writing today in the middle of a sex scene and I feel strangely unfulfilled.
That got a few comments

And Thursday’s post:
Sex scene done…moving on with other edits now. But I’m sure they won’t be as exciting. :)

More about the editing process next week and if you want updates via Facebook, please go to www.facebook.com/pages/PD-Martin/52563435424

Kiss of Death is the fifth book in the Sophie series, and it will be released first in Australia on 1 January 2010.

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July 3, 2009

Sophie’s back!

Filed under: Kiss of Death,Writing — Tags: , , , , , — PD Martin @ 4:55 am

Another action-packed week. First off, Fan Mail is now available in the US and Canada! Find out more here:
www.pdmartin.com.au/menu.aspx?mID=3&nID=22

This week I also sent the first three chapters (and the only chapters in existence) of a new book to my agent. It’s not crime fiction, but if she likes it she’ll try to find a publisher for it. Fingers crossed!

This week Sophie also came home – back from my Aussie editor at Pan Macmillan. The editing process is quite a lengthy one, from my first submission in mid June to its 1 January 2010 release date (Australia and New Zealand only).

During this first editorial stage, my editor and publisher give me detailed feedback on the characters, plot and structure of Kiss of Death. So, what sorts of things do they suggest?

Some examples of recommendations for this book include:

  • Creating more tension between Sophie and some of the other characters
  • Adding an additional murder/body
  • Splitting the investigative team in two directions, with Sophie exploring one angle and the police (LAPD) another

Of course, I can’t give you too many details because that might give things away – and I hate spoilers!

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