With an armful of devilcat (making it hard to type), I am happy to report a strong showing on the writing/revision front this week. I enjoyed reading through my writing journals (mostly) and have been thinking deeply about what needs to be done with this book — and how I’m going to do it.
I’m now at a dangerous stage — the stage where I start mapping out the planned changes. It’s dangerous, because I have a tendency at this point to reinvent things. Perhaps more than necessary.
It’s at this point I look at what has made it onto the page, and what has not. And then I have all these other ideas about what I’d like to incorporate in order to achieve my grand vision. Only, my vision keeps getting bigger and bigger with every revision.
That can lead me to throwing all the scenes up in the air after ripping them into confetti… And then lots of rewriting.
A friend said something wise to me last night — something along the lines of ‘decide what the book is, and focus on that’. Good advice. I will try to keep it in mind as I get lured by all the magical possibilities of what the book could be.
Keep it… not simple, but perhaps true. True to itself. Undiluted. Texture is important, but it needs to be all part of a coherent unified pattern.
Anyway, that’s where I’m at. It’s somewhat daunting but also tremendously exciting. This is the part I love. The story is down (sort of) and now I get to mould it into something better.
The goal for this week is thus to come up with a revision plan that builds upon the first draft, but doesn’t reinvent it. And I’m looking forward to it!
E V Gregory 
Looking forward to seeing how your revision plan unfolds, Ellen. I’m about two weeks out from tackling revisions of my first novel and the anticipation is unnerving and exciting!
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Oooh, yes, exciting! Sounds like we’ll be travelling along together for a while. 🙂
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You might try looking at a new writing book out called WonderBook. They have a section on revision that’s quite different than what the standard advice is. Book is very pretty to look at anyway — lots of pictures!
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Thanks, Linda – I might check it out. I could probably do with some books dealing with revision.
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Discovering what the book is about, what is at it’s core, helps so much since any decision you come across can put into the context of whether is is helping achieve that core or is detracting from, or just irrelevant to it.
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Yes, exactly! That’s the plan. 🙂
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Just put all those new ideas in a file – then you’ll be ready for sequel 🙂
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Heh – if you only knew… I actually started with the sequel years ago, and now have many many ideas in place for its revision, once this one is sorted.
Actually, one of the complicating factors is layering in some of the elements I’ll need for that sequel, which takes a slightly different path to this one.
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Oh, I so relate to your vision getting bigger with each revision! Your friend’s advice is good — I often get overwhelmed with endless possibilities, too, and it’s grounding to come back to “what is this book about?”. Good luck this week!
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Yes, grounding – and sometimes so very hard! Thanks, Jill.
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I’m so guilty of revising my stories into things way different than what they started out as – and not necessarily for the best. Revision is a multi-layered beast, much like our stories. I love it and hate it all at the same time. Best of luck to you on this journey. 🙂
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So glad I’m not the only one with a tendency to reinvent. I think I mostly love it, though. I much prefer to work with something that’s there, rather than come up with it all from scratch. I have so many plans – eek!
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