Today was what I consider to be a productive day. I finally got over the slump in my story (still working on that NaNo story - it's now just shy of 77K!) and hit a part I'm really enjoying writing again. Occasionally, I hit a part in a story where it's just about torture to keep putting words on the page, either because I need to recharge or just because I'm not really interested in that part of the story right then. That would be what the last twenty pages before today's spree were.
A few of the NaNo emails have addressed this issue in the past, so I know it's not just me: somewhere in the middle of the first draft, the author wants to do anything besides keep writing. If the story could just magically finish itself, that would be great. I figure there are a few reasons behind it: boredom or a short attention span on the part of the author, it's a part the author just doesn't want to write, or that part just honestly is not that interesting.
In the case of the last one, that's a problem, because chances are good that your readers will feel the same way. At best, they'll skim along until things start getting good again. At worst, they'll put your book down and find a better one.
Approaches to fixing this vary. Some writers take a step back, do a little reworking, and fix the problem. Sometimes that works for me, but I have heard revision horror stories where a writer just keeps trying to fix the problem right then and there and ends up never moving forward. Personally, I'm a big believer in finishing the entire first draft before starting in on the revision cycle. This also means I keep a notebook or stack of Post-It Notes nearby so I can write down the big revision ideas to implement later. After all, chances are that I'll be doing multiple revisions anyway, no matter what I do to the story, but I can't actually revise until there's something to revise!
In other news, my hand has decided it's capable of drawing again, so I've gotten started on this week's Strawberry Syrup page. You have no idea how ecstatic this makes me.
Showing posts with label revision. Show all posts
Showing posts with label revision. Show all posts
Monday, May 24, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Roadmapping
While I'm letting the stories and whatnot I've been working on for the past month stew and get a little distance on them, I've been going back over 2009's NaNo. I'm pleasantly surprised by it (this being the first time I've read the whole thing through from the beginning). Sure, there's plenty of work to be done, but it's not headdeskingly bad. There is hope!
Of course, before I can do anything serious editing-wise, I need to finish the sucker. Unfortunately, as I got to the end, I realized why I lost steam in the first place: I had no idea what the next scene should be. Not a good start.
Fortunately, I have a few things to try. Option one: outline. Yeah, I know, that's usually something you hear people doing before they start writing. Well, if that's what works for them, that's great. I've tried it before. Snowflaked my first NaNo novel back in 2006. Still need to finish that novel, actually, whenever I swing back to high fantasy mode and feel like trudging through one giant mess of prose. While I never had to think about what came next, I also wrote on autopilot... which meant I didn't realize things were getting horribly horribly tangled until the very last major plotpoint. There is going to be a lot of major restructuring in that one.
No, this time, I'm using the outline to track where I've been and hopefully see what needs to be the next scene. I'm mapping out POVs and the three main plotlines while I'm at it, and I won't be outlining any further than I've already written. I'm using it as a chance to keep all those little threads from getting hopelessly snarled and back into a nice, neat braid again. Really, all I'm looking for is a next step.
I'll let you know how it works out.
Of course, before I can do anything serious editing-wise, I need to finish the sucker. Unfortunately, as I got to the end, I realized why I lost steam in the first place: I had no idea what the next scene should be. Not a good start.
Fortunately, I have a few things to try. Option one: outline. Yeah, I know, that's usually something you hear people doing before they start writing. Well, if that's what works for them, that's great. I've tried it before. Snowflaked my first NaNo novel back in 2006. Still need to finish that novel, actually, whenever I swing back to high fantasy mode and feel like trudging through one giant mess of prose. While I never had to think about what came next, I also wrote on autopilot... which meant I didn't realize things were getting horribly horribly tangled until the very last major plotpoint. There is going to be a lot of major restructuring in that one.
No, this time, I'm using the outline to track where I've been and hopefully see what needs to be the next scene. I'm mapping out POVs and the three main plotlines while I'm at it, and I won't be outlining any further than I've already written. I'm using it as a chance to keep all those little threads from getting hopelessly snarled and back into a nice, neat braid again. Really, all I'm looking for is a next step.
I'll let you know how it works out.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Discovering Kirtles
Well, my beta reader for my story got back to me last night, and overall, it was a pretty positive critique. One comment, though, suggested I hadn't really set my setting as well as I might have. Seeing as it's high fantasy, this was a serious concern.
On reading back through with fresh eyes, I realized that I really had left the environment somewhat sparse... along with character descriptions. I blame one of my old creative writing teachers for that - he preached the "never describe your characters" philosophy, and he was very convincing. It made sense that the readers would paint the picture in their head, and I see it working in some of my favorite books, but still - there are some details to sketch out their appearance.
So, I spent most of Wednesday working out what details I need to add and where. One of those details is clothing (kind of an important part of a high fantasy). Of course, "skirt" and "shirt" didn't seem to quite do it, so I grabbed a few references and hit the Google image search.
And that is how I found... the kirtle.
I am familiar with a lot of medieval clothing - chemises, shifts, petticoats, bodices, surcoats, tunics, all that fun stuff. I had never in my life heard of a kirtle. Turns out, it's a dress. Yeah, shocker, I know. This particular dress can be long-sleeved, short-sleeved, or no sleeved, worn over a chemise or shift and worn under an "overkirtle", outer gown, surcoat, or any number of other other gowns. Sources vary on whether it can be the top layer all by itself.
Basically, perfect for what I need, if not for the fact that it's probably going to leave readers going, "what the heck is a kirtle?"
For those of you who are curious, THESE are kirtles.
Yeah, they look kinda like something a first grade teacher would wear to me, too.
On reading back through with fresh eyes, I realized that I really had left the environment somewhat sparse... along with character descriptions. I blame one of my old creative writing teachers for that - he preached the "never describe your characters" philosophy, and he was very convincing. It made sense that the readers would paint the picture in their head, and I see it working in some of my favorite books, but still - there are some details to sketch out their appearance.
So, I spent most of Wednesday working out what details I need to add and where. One of those details is clothing (kind of an important part of a high fantasy). Of course, "skirt" and "shirt" didn't seem to quite do it, so I grabbed a few references and hit the Google image search.
And that is how I found... the kirtle.
I am familiar with a lot of medieval clothing - chemises, shifts, petticoats, bodices, surcoats, tunics, all that fun stuff. I had never in my life heard of a kirtle. Turns out, it's a dress. Yeah, shocker, I know. This particular dress can be long-sleeved, short-sleeved, or no sleeved, worn over a chemise or shift and worn under an "overkirtle", outer gown, surcoat, or any number of other other gowns. Sources vary on whether it can be the top layer all by itself.
Basically, perfect for what I need, if not for the fact that it's probably going to leave readers going, "what the heck is a kirtle?"
For those of you who are curious, THESE are kirtles.
Yeah, they look kinda like something a first grade teacher would wear to me, too.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Fine Tuning
Last week, I said my little revision project should be just about done by today. Well... it is. It has been tweaked and poked and prodded down to 25 pages, the plot kinks have been worked out, the characters have all been given important roles, and I'm fairly certain each and every scene is necessary (very important in a short story, I'm told). Which means it's time to break out the polish and make this sucker shine.
So what does that mean? Well, mostly it's playing around with word choice - making the characters pop and the language flow while keeping it interesting and enjoyable to read. On the list of things to do with the story today: figure out my most common words, hunt them down, and add a little variation.
Sometimes, you have to use the same word. There are only so many ways you can refer to a door without whacking your reader over the head with a thesaurus or straying into purple prose territory. But for, say, verbs, you want to take a hard look at some of your favorites, the old stand-bys you toss in while writing that first draft when you don't think too hard right then.
There's usually nothing wrong with the word itself, but it doesn't hurt to take a second look and see if there isn't a verb that would work better, one that paints a more precise picture in your reader's mind.
For example, "He headed across the street."
It works, but that is about the least precise way of saying that. How did he cross the street? Did he walk? Run? Sprint, slink, sneak, saunter, stroll, jog, waltz? Pick the one that best fits the image in your mind.
The word I'm currently reworking is "peek." Yeah, of all the words to toss in, I had to use "peek." The MC "peeks" several times - out from under the covers and around a few corners. Light and the sun "peek" out from behind the clouds. Everything's "peeking." It's a wee bit repetitive, so time to search out better words and cut the use of "peek" down to maybe two. Three, if it's absolutely necessary.
Also on chopping board: "peer," "bolt," and "glance." Yeah, your time is coming. Let the hunt begin!
So what does that mean? Well, mostly it's playing around with word choice - making the characters pop and the language flow while keeping it interesting and enjoyable to read. On the list of things to do with the story today: figure out my most common words, hunt them down, and add a little variation.
Sometimes, you have to use the same word. There are only so many ways you can refer to a door without whacking your reader over the head with a thesaurus or straying into purple prose territory. But for, say, verbs, you want to take a hard look at some of your favorites, the old stand-bys you toss in while writing that first draft when you don't think too hard right then.
There's usually nothing wrong with the word itself, but it doesn't hurt to take a second look and see if there isn't a verb that would work better, one that paints a more precise picture in your reader's mind.
For example, "He headed across the street."
It works, but that is about the least precise way of saying that. How did he cross the street? Did he walk? Run? Sprint, slink, sneak, saunter, stroll, jog, waltz? Pick the one that best fits the image in your mind.
The word I'm currently reworking is "peek." Yeah, of all the words to toss in, I had to use "peek." The MC "peeks" several times - out from under the covers and around a few corners. Light and the sun "peek" out from behind the clouds. Everything's "peeking." It's a wee bit repetitive, so time to search out better words and cut the use of "peek" down to maybe two. Three, if it's absolutely necessary.
Also on chopping board: "peer," "bolt," and "glance." Yeah, your time is coming. Let the hunt begin!
Saturday, January 30, 2010
In an Editorial Mood, Part 2
There are some dangers to getting very involved in a project. One of them is losing track of time - or day of the week (watching the Australian Open, which is about a day ahead of my time zone, hasn't helped there). But, I think it's paying off.
Draft #3 is well on its way, with two pages worth of material already cut out. Unfortunately, those two pages were eaten up by two scenes that needed to be added to make my protagonist a little more proactive. So length-wise, I'm right back at 27 pages. Ah, the joys of editing...
On the bright side, there are plenty of places where my prose can be tightened. I'm a rambley writer by nature (yeah, I know, shocker there), which makes it a matter of how much rambling can I cut without destroying all personality in the piece.
Yeah. We'll just pretend that's as simple as it sounds.
Alright, back to work I go!
Draft #3 is well on its way, with two pages worth of material already cut out. Unfortunately, those two pages were eaten up by two scenes that needed to be added to make my protagonist a little more proactive. So length-wise, I'm right back at 27 pages. Ah, the joys of editing...
On the bright side, there are plenty of places where my prose can be tightened. I'm a rambley writer by nature (yeah, I know, shocker there), which makes it a matter of how much rambling can I cut without destroying all personality in the piece.
Yeah. We'll just pretend that's as simple as it sounds.
Alright, back to work I go!
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