I've already discussed how being a visual writer is fun for assembling and living story, but not so hot when it comes to how I get it dashed down. ( Read more... )
I really enjoy the whole revising process, doing all the finetuning (I think of it as similar to my dad working on a project in his workshop, sanding off the rough edges of an adirondack chair he's made, putting on a coat of paint, making everything smooth and perfect -- sorta like Fred).
But I imagine doing the revising on a deadline adds a bit more stress and urgency to the process... Good luck on meeting that deadline. :)
Makes sense to me. I really like your description.
Depending on the book, I might go back and fix something if I think I will forget later to fix it. (I tend to lose notes.) Way back in the beginning, I had notebooks for stuff like that, but nowadays, with technology, notes are much more easily lost.
Sometimes, though, things just show up and I don't realize the significance until much later when it all falls into place and I realize my subconscious has been working overtime and I didn't know it. Which is kind of scary, in truth.
...whereas my process involves endless going back and tinkering, but always as I move forward and go "Oh, wait, the foundation under this wing I didn't plan but now see I need to house the baby never got poured--fortunately, I can just hop in my time machine and go back and pour it now...."
On the other hand, my drafts are reasonably clean, except for where somebody else has to point out my stupidities, inconsistencies, and errors to me. *g*
Yeah, I'm an endless go-back-and-tinkerer too, but in this case it's a major-league rewrite, because a whole line of motivation felt more and more false (didn't feel right at the time, but was close enough to keep going) and I finally figured out why.
ew, motivation problems. I think, personally, those are the absolute worst of all the things one can royally bitch up. *g* Well, maybe serious logic/narrative problems are worse.
I'm still learning how I do this thing, but I do know that I have to get the opening solid enough to work as a foundation. Which means it has to have the right voice and enough sense of the characters I can toss an event at them and know how they'll react - and if that means reworking it a couple times, so be it. It helps if I open with the right scene, even if I get it completely wrong - but that's flexible. It's not like I know it's the right opening until I get to the end and so have the other half of the frame.
He said, having spent yesterday fleshing out a first chapter and a half as he tries to feel out what might happen next.
It does occur to me that how to find the opening is another topic worth exploring. The best advice I've heard is "the moment where things change and so the story begins," but that's less helpful than it sounds, and in any case ignores the fact that the open and close have to reflect each other (it's not one-way).
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I don't have any further comment, just that I like it!
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But I imagine doing the revising on a deadline adds a bit more stress and urgency to the process... Good luck on meeting that deadline. :)
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Depending on the book, I might go back and fix something if I think I will forget later to fix it. (I tend to lose notes.) Way back in the beginning, I had notebooks for stuff like that, but nowadays, with technology, notes are much more easily lost.
Sometimes, though, things just show up and I don't realize the significance until much later when it all falls into place and I realize my subconscious has been working overtime and I didn't know it. Which is kind of scary, in truth.
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On the other hand, my drafts are reasonably clean, except for where somebody else has to point out my stupidities, inconsistencies, and errors to me. *g*
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So back I go for major road repair.
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May the force be with you :-P
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He said, having spent yesterday fleshing out a first chapter and a half as he tries to feel out what might happen next.
It does occur to me that how to find the opening is another topic worth exploring. The best advice I've heard is "the moment where things change and so the story begins," but that's less helpful than it sounds, and in any case ignores the fact that the open and close have to reflect each other (it's not one-way).
---L.
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