But holy cow, folks! Revising a novel is waayyy harder for me than I imagined. First, I had to overcome the temptation of reading my paragraphs and murmuring, "Oh, that's good. Man, that's poignant. Wow, how did I come up with that? Total genius." :) Next, I had to figure out how to move further than two sentences in one hour. The freedom to revise really sunk me for a couple of days. Only after many attempts did I fiiiinaly shift into a gear that works: cutting. Right now, I'm cutting. I'm not making better, I'm not improving or embellishing. I'm just cutting. I've cut 6 of 15 pages so far.
Yowza! I hope that's not the trend! I'll have a straggling scrap of a story remaining if it is! But my plan is to cut the remaining pages this coming week. The next week, then, I'll spend taking notes and researching. Hopefully, then, the third week will be a grafting week---attaching new green shoots to my scenes.
I already miss the zero draft process. How fickle am I? But I do. I miss sitting in the dark and dreaming up crazy conversations or peculiar scenes. I know more creation time is ahead for me; I just have to cut, cut, cut right now to find the real golden threads of my story.
How are you doing? Jennie wrote about how she's found a whole new beat she needs to follow. Are you writing that now, then, Jen? Are you back into the creating part? Jay, how is your story coming? And guys, Jay told me about a blog he wants to start soon that I think will be hilARious. Can't wait to read it! Sophia? Jldy? Sarah? Jen? How are your stories coming?
Wishing you all happy writing!
I output 839 words of Chapter 15 this past week in my young adult fantasy novel. I also wrote two paragraphs of a brainstorm I was having about a children's television show concept. I heard you have some experience in that area, Jennie... maybe you would have some advice!
ReplyDeleteJess mentioned a blog that I am thinking about putting up that will be my domain for a very silly series of short stories that parodies the sword and sorcery genre and, in some respects, the gamer-geek realm of my youth. Not for everybody, I am sure. But such incredibly fun stuff to write. I haven't typed up much of it yet (except a bit of a Christmas-themed story that is not yet complete), but I wrote 24-and-a-half notebook pages of another tale the week before last. I seem to write these particular stories best by just scribbling them out by hand. It was fun, and, it was actually a good therapy for me during which was a very difficult week.
I did a first pass through my entire WIP this past week, cutting out the old bits and making notes for new scenes of the new bits. That was all done by hand and with post its. I should really take a picture of the WIP now. You would laugh! It's very colorful. I allowed my anal side some satisfaction - color coordinated the sharpies to the post its. Hey, I had to make the rewrite fun somehow! Today I sat down with my notes and starting to MIS - Make It Shine! That's the motto for the month.
ReplyDeleteI miss the Zero Draft, too, Jess. There was some comfort in it. We didn't have to be judgemental. We could just let our creativity flow. Now we really have to think in terms of moving our story forward, what fits our characters - it's like we have grown up and have more responsibility now!
Jay, my experience is strictly with adult sitcoms. I don't know how much help advice I could give where children's programming is concerned, but I'm more than willing to try. Let me know when you're ready or if you want me to look at something or if you need format advice - whatever you need. And as for your blog, it sounds very clever. I think it could take off so fast your head would spin! Okay, that may be a bit dramatic. But Patrick Rothfuss loves blogs like that and even recommends them with links on his site! You would end up with tons of hits and who knows where that would lead you (yes, I dream BIG). Have you ever watched The Guild on you tube?
Onward and upward and forward we go!
Where is our Sophia? I miss her posts!
I'm still alive, I'm just not writing much. I got distracted by the 'real world' and then the story went so long without being touched it's turned cold on me. I know, I have only myself to blame (and I certainly have been!).
ReplyDeleteIt's great to hear everyone has moved on to revision stages; best of luck to you Jess and Jennie and I am really liking the sound of your blog, Jay!
- Sophia.