I’m trying to get back into regular blogging again, but this new job is kicking my butt. But for three or four days in a row now I’ve managed to get through my blog feed so I think I’m finally getting there. And I think I need this outlet, because all of you and your thoughts, and being able to share mine, keep me motivated to write.
The two short story acceptances last week didn’t hurt either ^_^
But I’ve hit a stumbling block in my novelizationing. I hear all you writer people talking about story edits. You finished a first draft or second, or final, and are making a few tweaks here and there. Maybe replacing an entire chapter. Revising a sub-plot. Stuff like that.
How do you do it? I ask this because I don’t seem to revise so much as obliterate the original concept and completely start from scratch. Okay, not completely. There’s probably 10% of the original story in there when I’m done. Not 10% of the words, but of the story. So what I have to wonder is, if the new version is the right version, or the better version, why didn’t I realize that before I spent one-three months writing the first version? What’s the block that kept me from plucking out the story that needed to be told the first time around?
Or maybe I’m not the only one that blows away that much story during edits. For instance, I have two NaNo novels that have become one, and start much later for both, making all the previous stuff I wrote 100k words of pretty back story. I know, back story is good, but did I really have to write it all down?
So that’s my question. Once you’re done with a novel and you’re editing it, how much of the actual story changes? Are you just tweaking sentences, or are you doing full-blown revisions that obliterate entire sections of the book? Is it make-up or plastic surgery? Or somewhere in between?
Is my neurosis normal?
I tend to add subplots, and then need to tweak and smooth the edges. I don’t tend to delete much, but that’s just me.
I did major surgery on my new book when I went into the second revision. The first revision was all about filling it out, finding the places it was rushed and filling in the gaps. The second was where I changed major plot points. The there was the third round where I changed the ending which meant changing large parts of the 12 chapters leading to the ending.
So you’re on the right track. Writing is re-writing they say. I’m beginning to think they’re right.
Congrats on the short story acceptances and good luck with the job. Dang real life for getting in the way of our passion! =D
I’m too much of a plotter to ever rewrite that drastically. In fact, I prefer to keep editing to a bare minimum.
I *thought* I had written everything and just needed tweaks, tightening up, when I finished my book. My writing group thinks differently. I don’t have to re-write things, I have to ‘write’ things. There seems to be whole paragraphs missing where I need to fill out the action and emotion. I am amazed to find out I’m a ‘bare bones’ writer. I sketch first and fill in later. I think the key for you is to not listen to ‘how other’s do it’ and trust that this is your process. You needed to get that first draft out and on the page in order to get to this draft. I don’t think you could have gotten there another way, so the 1-3 months you sent wasn’t wasted, it was working it out. Good luck with it!