My Mini Vacation
Unofficially, my vacation started on Christmas Eve. (When you work in educational software, there isn't much to do between 12/24 and 1/2.) Officially, it starts tomorrow at noon and ends the moment I wake up on January 4. And I've got plans.
What are they?
Besides doing a fabulous hat exchange with two good friends, writerly stuff.
Like what?
Revising my YA project, FALLING TO NORMAL.
This was supposed to happen on December 1, but I was hijacked by my NaNoWriMo project until mid-December. (A separate entry will happen discussing that later this week.) All Hubby heard while I sat at the kitchen table over the weekend was me huffing in five minute intervals. It was just as I feared - I have to go back a version.
Isn't that counter-productive?
Well, yes, but sometimes you have to go backwards before you go forwards. Think of it as a weird version of Mother May I? If you forget something crucial in the game, you're sent back to the starting line. In writing, it's the same thing. If something wasn't added at a crucial turn, the whole draft can go to shit and ultimately change the course of the plot.
In FALLING TO NORMAL's case, I pulled some subplots out that would have most likely made the draft stronger if they remained, but in the current draft those plots don't work the same way anymore. I'll be spending weeks recrafting these cut scenes and seeing how they can be incorporated in the current draft.
How the heck are you going to do that?
I've used the plot card technique to write down all the major events that happened as I remembered. Then, I reread my entire draft to see what I added or what I forgot. From there, I'll evaluate which of the missing scenes from the plot cards can be canned.
In addition to that, I have a couple of questionnaires received from different seminars I've taken this year to help hone this what-hopes-to-be-final draft into a fantastic piece of fiction.
Do you have any further plans on making this revision complete?
I have to admit, not really. Unless I want to forget everything I've ever written and start from the beginning... But that's crazy talk.
You say crazy talk. Are you insane?
More than likely.
I'll blog more about this over the next few weeks while I churn this out. No more Bejeweled for me. I have things I have to do. (Hear that, Bejeweled? You don't own me.)
Do you have revision tips? Comment below.
What are they?
Besides doing a fabulous hat exchange with two good friends, writerly stuff.
Like what?
Revising my YA project, FALLING TO NORMAL.
This was supposed to happen on December 1, but I was hijacked by my NaNoWriMo project until mid-December. (A separate entry will happen discussing that later this week.) All Hubby heard while I sat at the kitchen table over the weekend was me huffing in five minute intervals. It was just as I feared - I have to go back a version.
Isn't that counter-productive?
Well, yes, but sometimes you have to go backwards before you go forwards. Think of it as a weird version of Mother May I? If you forget something crucial in the game, you're sent back to the starting line. In writing, it's the same thing. If something wasn't added at a crucial turn, the whole draft can go to shit and ultimately change the course of the plot.
In FALLING TO NORMAL's case, I pulled some subplots out that would have most likely made the draft stronger if they remained, but in the current draft those plots don't work the same way anymore. I'll be spending weeks recrafting these cut scenes and seeing how they can be incorporated in the current draft.
How the heck are you going to do that?
I've used the plot card technique to write down all the major events that happened as I remembered. Then, I reread my entire draft to see what I added or what I forgot. From there, I'll evaluate which of the missing scenes from the plot cards can be canned.
In addition to that, I have a couple of questionnaires received from different seminars I've taken this year to help hone this what-hopes-to-be-final draft into a fantastic piece of fiction.
Do you have any further plans on making this revision complete?
I have to admit, not really. Unless I want to forget everything I've ever written and start from the beginning... But that's crazy talk.
You say crazy talk. Are you insane?
More than likely.
I'll blog more about this over the next few weeks while I churn this out. No more Bejeweled for me. I have things I have to do. (Hear that, Bejeweled? You don't own me.)
Do you have revision tips? Comment below.