- Despite my outline, I changed course halfway through the novel in terms of how much of the Big Secret my main character knows. I decided he really did know one of the key pieces of information much earlier in the story, and had to edit out all his cranky responses to being left in the dark in later portions of the manuscript. Fun with continuity! This dilemma hasn't quite presented itself in this way before (it's always been more like mixed-up dates or similar), and now I'm paranoid that some motivation won't make sense where I missed a spot. This is where outside eyes are going to be helpful!
- Dropped a tiny subplot. It would have been interesting, but there were already a couple Big Ideas in the story and this wasn't adding too much. Had to untangle all the sections where I'd started to weave that thread.
- Although it was too long, it wasn't as long as previous manuscripts, and cutting spare words hasn't been too hard! It's still long-ish, but not epic fantasy long, and I am so grateful SF and fantasy can get away with longer word counts. I don't know how I could do anything in 80,000 words.
I had to add in a few pieces of information and worldbuilding, and still do need to find a place to insert one or two more tiny things. Overall I feel like this is one of the strongest first drafts of anything I've written, and I'm hoping my beta(s) will help figure out what needs to be patched now that I've rent so much of it. Should be finished with this second draft in a day or two!
In other news, my final (fingers crossed) year of grad school starts tomorrow, and I am lamenting my lack of vacation. I hope this semester won't be too crazy, because I know spring will be.
Do you like revising? What's your favorite part?
3 comments:
Funny -- I was thinking of posting a similar lament on revisions on my own blog (I suspect I still will as a form of therapy!). I'm about to start on the SIXTH DRAFT of my novel. Completely painful. I empathize!
You should! I love revision notes. I forgot to mention removing all the "really"s and "just"s from my dialogue. There are still a few key words I should make sure I don't repeat too often, but I'm pretty much done.
Six drafts shows dedication! After this, I'm going to go back and revise an older manuscript I have for a few little things (mainly I just want to change some background info). It's probably only the fourth formal revision, but considering how much I revise WHILE writing the first draft, I completely sympathize with your pain!
I do like revising. It presents a whole new set of challenges. Weaving in new chars/SLs or taking out old ones is probably the hardest, I think. Like you said--continuity!! I have the hardest time catching it afterwards. Good job!
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