I spent several hours today coming up with the start of my rewrite plan. However, it wasn’t until I started writing this LJ post that I realized I had only focused on the “what” of the rewrite — which in many ways is the easy part.
“Rewrite better” isn’t an achievable goal. There’s no way to measure what’s wrong, or what’s right. So after figuring out a bunch of the “what” I’m finally turning my attention to the “how.”
What has gone wrong with my previous rewrites? It’s hard to post this, to live this openly, but I think it’s important that I do.
1) Rewriting a novel, at the start, always feels like an enormous task. Now, multiply that by 3, as I’m rewriting a trilogy.
2) I like rewriting. I enjoy polishing. However — being honest here — I love writing from scratch the most, jumping off that cliff and letting the wings form. When I’m faced with months of rewriting, I get bored, and I lose focus after a while. So the rewrite takes more months and the writing (and rewriting) takes a nose-dive in terms of quality. This is honestly my biggest problem/fear/obstacle: losing momentum and focus.
3) Despite what confidence I may show to the world, I always have the fear that no matter what I do these novels won’t be good enough to sell.
I dealt a lot with item #1 this morning — coming up with the what needs to be rewritten, putting it into categories. But it still feels like a huge amorphous cloud of bullet points. I’m not sure how to hack it down more. It is a big job. I need to think about the “what” some more.
As for #2 — I’ve always told myself that I could take one Saturday a month or something and write original stories. It’s never worked out. I think it’s too much context switching, plus, then I would have to polish those stories as well, etc. One of the ways I’ve re-inspired myself before is by cracking open the history books, doing more research. That isn’t an option this time–these aren’t historic fantasy novels. So I came up with a hybrid: write the history of some of the characters when I feel the need to make stuff up. It wouldn’t have the context switching that going to something brand new would, and I wouldn’t have to actually polish the stories either. I don’t know if this is a workable solution or not. I will be pulling out the mythology books again, the ones that inspired these novels in the first place.
Another thing that I’m doing differently this time has been coming up with the categories of what needs to be rewritten, for example, character arc edit, Witch edit, world/technology edit, etc. I don’t have to focus on just one aspect of the rewrite if it’s driving me crazy–I can switch. Maybe that will help with the boredom? Without too much context switching?
One last thing–I have this push for 100 days. It isn’t months and months of time. It’s a focused, sharp point, and a lot of things to do in a hurry. Maybe that will help keep me on track as well.
Last but not least, #3. I don’t know of anyway to eradicate this fear. Except, you know, to sell the novels. I’ll keep moving ahead with confidence because that’s who I am. And when my fears overtake me go listen to the people who love me until I can move forward again.
So what’s your rewriting process? How do you deal with the amount and the fear? How do you stay on track? I’ve completely changed my writing process with these three novels. I adjusted my rewriting process with the first novel, but now I must do more.
I would love very much to see your bulleted, categorized list of “what” to get an idea of what sorts of things I should look for if I ever manage to finish anything.
As I’ve already written it up, it will be the next blog post. Tomorrow, maybe.
Oh, thank you!!!
I don’t think the rewriting process ever stops for me . . . But then, I don’t do novels. (Yet.) I try to make sure every character in a scene is doing something — and that the scene makes sense from *their* point of view, too, not just the protagonist. I try to make sure that I’ve set up the payoffs. Umm. With comic scripts, there’s a LOT of making sure I don’t have too many words per panel, that I’ve only included ONE action for each character in a panel. I check panels per page, and I make sure I don’t have un-needed panels.
That sounds a lot like the scene edit that I’ll be doing — verifying what the character wants, what opposes him or her, and the resolution. It makes for a tighter book, if every scene has conflict, however minor. . .
Depends on how completely I had plotted it in the first place. Completely planned, the rewrite is polishing. Sit down and start from word one, the rewrite can be slash and burn, rebuild, remodel, taking as long as the first draft. It all depends . . .
However, my process is:1. remove draft from drawer where it has mouldered for minimum of 3 months. 2. read without a pad and pen anywhere near. 3. get over any thoughts of brilliance/inadequacy. 4. read again, making notes – don’t mark that page just yet. 5. go through notes and make plan of any required moves/additions. 6. execute plan. 7. read version 2 making any revisions that become evident during 6. 8. read new version – which should stand up to scrutiny by now – polishing on the hoof. 9. read latest version for continuity (names are my bugbear) 10. spell check etc. 11. send out and forget, moving on to next piece.
Of course 4-8 can get onto and endless rinse and repeat cycle. Whatever, by the end of 9 you should believe it is the best you can possibly make it now. Time to move on.
That’s my process. I need a clean printed ms to revise – red pen to make any revisions on the printed page, blue for anything handwritten on lined paper. But that’s just me.
Eventually I’ll get to the printed page. But it’s pretty far along in the process. I’m very accustomed to working on the monitor. But if I’m having real problems with something I will print it out and rewrite by hand (as it was all originally written by hand, added scenes are generally also written by hand, then typed in.) In an ideal world I’d let this trilogy rest for 3-6 months, but I want it finished before I move. Thanks for sharing your process!
Seems like the scaffolding pass(es) would be 1st
Somehow I thought you’d written these three books and sold each as it was done. Man, a trilogy all on spec! But it seems like things came out of books #2 and #3 that affected the books before them? So you do the passes to “tighten the bolts” on the framework of the trilogy first, right? Make sure the scaffolding is strong. Then you can add whole pages of new content where appropriate to keep your own interest level up. Plus just rewriting for consistent tone, POV, and junk.
Also, odd how much this reads like a Jay Lake post…
Re: Seems like the scaffolding pass(es) would be 1st
Eventually I’ll get to that tightening the bolts pass/scene edit. But I think it’s going to be later in the process. There are too many other things to fiddle with first. . .
*hugs*
also, these kinds of posts fascinate me. thanks for sharing your thoughts.
You’re welcome! It also helps me formalize my thinking process, if that makes sense.