posted
Well, this has been a sobering few days. I set out to reread my first novel THE SHAMAN'S CURSE to see if I could cut it down some. I thought the middle lagged a bit and the overall wordcount at around 110,000 was a little high. I have so far managed to cut 4,000 words. And come to a revelation.
I was in love with this thing a year ago. Not so much, now. In fact, in places, I find the writing flat. The scenes are choppy. I don't know whether I just revised it to death or whether I was just that bad a writer a year ago. Maybe it's some of both.
Some parts, I still like. Usually the parts on which I have done the least revision, I notice. Hmm.
I still love the story. I think the plot would work well--if it was written well. Besides, it's the first book of my series. One sequel is already written. I'm not ready to just give up on it.
So now I'm thinking that what I may need to do is just go through and outline the story as it is, capturing all of the plot points. And then rewrite the whole thing from scratch. There may be a couple of scenes or chapters I can reuse, here and there, but mostly just start over.
Sigh.
Needless to say, I won't be sending out any more queries on this one until I do something. I'll probably shift my attention to BLOOD WILL TELL for that. And stop revising that one right now.
posted
I've found myself in a similar place before, though with my main WIP "City of Magi," I've tried a different tack. When I look at old chapters, in many cases I hate the way they read. Rather than rewrite the whole thing (checking in at over 95K words), I rewrite just one chapter and ask myself whether or not it was an improvement. If that works, I rewrite another of the cringe-worthy chapters. I've thrown away a few chapters also, and I think that changed the work for the better.
I think the plug & play approach is more appropriate, provided you think the work is at a level that this is the one you want to go forward with and seriously try to publish.
Older works that got to a "rewrite" phase went more or less into the junk bin, and I chalked them up to my education and experience as a writer.
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-- I left out a key bit of information above. Those older works that are collecting dust were around 50K to 70K words in length, though some of the absolute earliest ones died at around 20K.
I might one day go back to a few of them, but I want CoM to be completed first.
posted
Well, I feel much better. I just read a couple of chapters I actually like. It's not completely worthless after all. Posts: 4633 | Registered: Dec 2008
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posted
I am in the middle of a complete rewrite. I got to the climax of my novel and realized it was anti-climatic and lagged a bit in the middle. So I streamlined the plot and started chugging through it again. I am almost done with the rewrite, and I can already see that it is much better.
I know a lot of people say don't rewrite just start a new novel, but if you love the premise and the characters, I don't see why you should give up. You can learn as much in a rewrite as you can starting a new novel.
But Meredith, you are a super fast writer. I expect you to be done with your rewrite in a few weeks.
posted
A lot of my novel-length projects I've been working on, off and on, since high school. They've slowly been revised over several years, to the point where there's probably not a single word of the original drafts (okay, other than maybe "a" "the" and "and") that survived the entire revision process. The novels are definitely the better off for it, but setting aside my "exploratory drafts" was (and still is) a painful experience.
If you're seriously considering a rewrite, I think going through to find all your plot points, character development points, etc. is a good place to start. Maybe then rewrite just your first three chapters (that plus the query is what gets you the request for the partial/full, right?) from scratch and compare and contrast. How much did it help? Is it better, worse or just different from the original? Unless you're seeing massive improvement, to the point where rewriting the whole thing is clearly the route to go, then I think micmcd's approach might be the most helpful.
Slightly off-topic thought on the sequels thing. How much do your sequels lock you in to the story as currently written? If you see the story start off in a direction that is inconsistent with your sequels, is that something you can follow up on or will you have to nip it in the bud?
posted
I am revising the first novel I have written seriously (the other complete one I have is very happy sitting on a shelf forever and the partials, I might steal ideas but start from scratch). So far, my revising has been basically rewrite. I have kept a few treasured lines and images and the outline is identical, but the wording and subtext and even motivations are redone. It is somewhat depressing to realize even the scenes that I thought had promise, only a paragraph was really worth saving. So, I feel your pain. No good advice for you, but I can empathize.
Posts: 303 | Registered: Mar 2006
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posted
I'm actually in a very similar position. My novel had been pieced together over many years. I wasn't nearly as good of a writer when I started it and I have a lot of world building to do.
I am going to go back, world build and re-plot as the new world requires. But I will be building the new story on the bones of the old and keeping the characters that I so love.
I also have future books in that series outlined and they will change accordingly.
The challenge is going to be not staying too attached to the old stuff so it doesn't get in the way of the new.
quote:Slightly off-topic thought on the sequels thing. How much do your sequels lock you in to the story as currently written? If you see the story start off in a direction that is inconsistent with your sequels, is that something you can follow up on or will you have to nip it in the bud?
I don't consider anything locked in until the thing is sold. Probably not until it's printed.
Seriously, when I did the second book, I went back and wove in a couple of elements that weren't in the first version. I like them. I think they enrich the story as well as support things that happen in Book Two.
Books Three and Four are really still just concepts. They could go anywhere.
posted
I got so sick of rewriting my last finished thing that I'm swearing off that kind of heavy nitpicking work for awhile. My current thing has a lot of problems but that's not going to be one of 'em, not if I can help it. Sometimes it is just better to write something else.
Posts: 8809 | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
I was listening to the podcast of a professional fiction writer who said that the sign of an amateur is that they rewrite (apart from a grammar check). The primary reason given was that the professional doesn't have time. I wonder too whether they have developed enough of their story writing ability to not need it.
Posts: 789 | Registered: Aug 2007
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Regarding rewriting being a sign of an amateur, I don't buy that. Even for a skilled professional, I have trouble believing a "pantser" can avoid rewrites. Perhaps if you started with a detailed outline and a complete world, rewrites would be less necessary. But it kind of annoys me when writers assume their method is the only method that works.
Posts: 303 | Registered: Mar 2006
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I like to start off my writing sessions with rewrites. I'll read over the last bit I wrote, fix it, and then add to it. THe next day, I look over the parts I added, fix those, and then add more. THe revisions tend to make things tighter and help me slip back into the work.
Posts: 823 | Registered: May 2009
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Well, the later chapters I still like. That's something. As I think about it, I do think that there's at least one conflict that I could do better in the early chapters, though. As well as just making smoother transitions, etc. So it looks like at least the beginning is going to get a rewrite and then whatever ripples through to the end.
Now I have to decide if I start in exactly the same place. Where chapter one ends is, in fact, the right place for the story to start. But there is a little room as far as where chapter one begins.
posted
I feel like I've been facing the same thing, in a smaller scale, in a short story I've been revising. And similar to micmcd's method, my approach has been to review the synopsis, rework the plot in some areas, and then redraft, cut or replace the offending sections only.
I believe the biggest reason I was boring both myself and my readers to tears was when I kept subtly resolving the conflict in my scenes, rather than using each scene to make the protagonist's problem worse. But then, those early scenes allowed me to worldbuild and get familiar with the characters, so as character treatments they're not wasted effort, really.
And I've heard the same thing about not rewriting, and I agree with it - for professional writers with years of publication experience. For those of us still learning, for whom sometimes there's a visible skill difference between the beginning and end of a story, we might learn from a redraft more than walking away from it. I think the not rewriting advice more applies to people who rewrite, and rewrite, and rewrite, and never finish. Perhaps what they really need to learn is to move on.
quote:Regarding rewriting being a sign of an amateur, I don't buy that. Even for a skilled professional, I have trouble believing a "pantser" can avoid rewrites. Perhaps if you started with a detailed outline and a complete world, rewrites would be less necessary. But it kind of annoys me when writers assume their method is the only method that works.
She was more making a point about how the industry works, and the expectations of the industry. It is one thing to learn your craft, having the time to repeatedly revise your "masterpiece". It is an entirely different thing to make a business out of it once you have sold your first novel(s). If you have been contracted to write a story, and your future potential to gain/keep contracts are based on delivering, then you need to get it done, even if it isn't perfect. With that hanging over their heads, work practices often have to change. Yes, some authors can grow in stature to a point where they can take their time, but by then, wouldn't they have gotten used to the more efficient work practices?
I completely agree. It makes no sense to start anew whenever you hit a slump. In the end, even if you finish something that didn't work out the way you wanted it to, it is never a waste of time.
Meredith, in the process you've grown as a writer I am sure of it. An edit/rewrite process can just help you even more.
[This message has been edited by Foste (edited January 26, 2010).]
posted
Just a suggestion, but go back to the parts you don't like and look them over carefully. They say a writer has three chores: advance plot, set scene, and and reveal character. Plot and character should dominate in terms of page space. Character is revealed through thought and action in response to conflict. If the conflict is missing (or not urgent enough) it's tough to have anything meaningful happen.
Posts: 612 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
I finished my first novel not so long ago and then proceeded to revise it more times than I can count. It started as a 160,000 word draft and ended at about 116,000, which just goes to show how poor my original style was. The process was an amazing education, and my writing ability improved out of sight -- so much so that I decided the novel itself was a dead loss. In the end, I found I was too concerned with doing it 'right' rather than doing it 'well'. Now, I think, grammar, pov, voice, and other things comes more naturally, so I can concentrate better on the art rather than the technicalities.
I finished my second novel sometimes after abandoning this first attempt. What I learned is to think modular. I used yWriter (freeware) to organise my story into nice scenes (usual of a few hundred to a few thousand words each). Rewriting is so much easier if you can limit yourself to scenes, and reorganising (eg, moving scenes from chapter to chapter, or changing their sequence) is easy. For my final edits, when I'm confident there will be no more major hacking around, I just export it into a standard document.
I ended up leaving the second novel because it's non-standard, and more than a little weird. Hard enough for an unknown author to get standard stuff published.
I'm now working on my third. I used Mindmap (freeware also) to plot out the scenes, characters, etc, and then transform them into yWriter as encapsualted scenes.
It works for me; must be how my brain is structured. Something to try, if you like.
posted
Thanks for the advice Dropbear. I outlined that first novel. I haven't really done it since. I'm afraid that writing BLOOD WILL TELL has turned me into a confirmed pantser.
When the story grabs you and won't let go, just hang on for the ride!
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