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jon_chaissonSo what have I been doing lately, in terms of my writing? Well, this time out it's a major revision of A Division of Souls. I know, I know...I've tooted that horn quite a few times over the last few years, only to get to a certain point and have it fall apart. Why should this be any different?
I think the difference this time is a confluence of a number of things, of which I'll probably go into in a later post. For now, I'll just say that it's a combination of winding myself up doing the 750 Words, ramping up my reading, focusing on only one fiction project,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dancinghorse's words of wisdom in the margins, and basically having found that personal sweet spot where I'm in a good writing groove. Or maybe it's just that I'm finally "getting it" in terms of what's good prose and what's half-assed or just plain bad.
Of course, I know that this sweet spot is fleeting. What's perfect for one book might not be for another. I know that the writing for Walk in Silence has been completely different, considering it's nonfic. Then there's the distractions that can take it away or change it without us noticing right off.
Then there's also the method of how I'm reading ADoS. The first draft was definitely an excited freeform of scenes, knowing what was coming next and writing it, but not really "crafting" how it was written. Which is par for the course for me. The next few drafts improve on this freeform, making the story sound better and giving it more logic. Eventually I'll be happy enough with that part of it. [Side note: in the past, this was where I mistakenly thought I was done and started sending a few submissions out. Bad idea.] The trick was to move in the other direction--not so much disassociate myself from the novel, but to see it from a different point of view. But that's not the only thing; revision is a LOT of things other than polishing and making it sound better. You have to figure out HOW you're going to do that.
And to do that, you have to figure out what's wrong in the first place. For me, it was too much internal dialogue and not enough physical action, a few too many in-jokes and Hollywood visuals that served little purpose, a handful of dead-end ideas, and a lot of worldbuilding without much explanation as to why it was there in the first place. There was also a somewhat limited command of the prose...too many weasel words and overused phrases. That's fine during an early draft, considering my main aim is unfurl the story, not create a work of art right out of the gate.
So how am I doing this differently now?
Well, that's a good question, and I'm not sure how I can adequately describe it aside from having hit that "sweet spot" where I know what the hell I'm doing and can innately see what needs fixing or polishing up, and am detached enough from the story where I can let certain passages go without being annoyed by it. I doubt it will be a perfect revision, but I can at least believe that I'm improving on each successive runthrough. I know there's also the fact that my trilogy is ridiculously long (the books average about 115k each, if I'm not mistaken), so I've got quite a long way to go before they're finished. The level of revision will vary as well...I know some of The Process of Belief will need a complete rewrite, but there will also be some passages that need merely a tweak of a sentence or two.
At this point, I'm not on a schedule, other than "work on it every day." And as long as I follow that, I'll be getting ever closer to my goal.
I think the difference this time is a confluence of a number of things, of which I'll probably go into in a later post. For now, I'll just say that it's a combination of winding myself up doing the 750 Words, ramping up my reading, focusing on only one fiction project,
dancinghorse's words of wisdom in the margins, and basically having found that personal sweet spot where I'm in a good writing groove. Or maybe it's just that I'm finally "getting it" in terms of what's good prose and what's half-assed or just plain bad.Of course, I know that this sweet spot is fleeting. What's perfect for one book might not be for another. I know that the writing for Walk in Silence has been completely different, considering it's nonfic. Then there's the distractions that can take it away or change it without us noticing right off.
Then there's also the method of how I'm reading ADoS. The first draft was definitely an excited freeform of scenes, knowing what was coming next and writing it, but not really "crafting" how it was written. Which is par for the course for me. The next few drafts improve on this freeform, making the story sound better and giving it more logic. Eventually I'll be happy enough with that part of it. [Side note: in the past, this was where I mistakenly thought I was done and started sending a few submissions out. Bad idea.] The trick was to move in the other direction--not so much disassociate myself from the novel, but to see it from a different point of view. But that's not the only thing; revision is a LOT of things other than polishing and making it sound better. You have to figure out HOW you're going to do that.
And to do that, you have to figure out what's wrong in the first place. For me, it was too much internal dialogue and not enough physical action, a few too many in-jokes and Hollywood visuals that served little purpose, a handful of dead-end ideas, and a lot of worldbuilding without much explanation as to why it was there in the first place. There was also a somewhat limited command of the prose...too many weasel words and overused phrases. That's fine during an early draft, considering my main aim is unfurl the story, not create a work of art right out of the gate.
So how am I doing this differently now?
Well, that's a good question, and I'm not sure how I can adequately describe it aside from having hit that "sweet spot" where I know what the hell I'm doing and can innately see what needs fixing or polishing up, and am detached enough from the story where I can let certain passages go without being annoyed by it. I doubt it will be a perfect revision, but I can at least believe that I'm improving on each successive runthrough. I know there's also the fact that my trilogy is ridiculously long (the books average about 115k each, if I'm not mistaken), so I've got quite a long way to go before they're finished. The level of revision will vary as well...I know some of The Process of Belief will need a complete rewrite, but there will also be some passages that need merely a tweak of a sentence or two.
At this point, I'm not on a schedule, other than "work on it every day." And as long as I follow that, I'll be getting ever closer to my goal.
