Here’s a report fresh from the front-lines of writing!
As mentioned yesterday, I needed to figure out how to rearrange some scenes in the sequence I’m rewriting as I close in on the midway point (yes!) And I’ve made progress on that, although the solution seems only short-term.
Short-term solutions are not to be despised, however. That’s one of my most cogent bits of Advice to Writers: Use whatever works.
Also, if you don’t successfully negotiate the short-term, what good is thinking of the middle and long terms?
What I did today was: get up, feed the critters, check the blood sugar and weight (not bad), do some joint mobilizations, and settle in with a cup of cocoa-and-vanilla laced coffee to read and critique the first of several massive submissions to the July authors group. Polished it off, too. Good stuff.
Too bad you have to wait to read it. Heh, heh. (Mine’ll be massive, too. Sorry, crit-group kiddies!)
Then I hopped on another read-through of the summaries of the next chapters I need to rewrite.
The problem I referred to in yesterday’s post nvolved how I play around with the scenes until I get them in effective order. The overall issue of which this dilemma plays a part is that in my last draft, which turned into my first complete draft of the fantasy (after various fits and/or starts) I split the two main narrative lines and dropped them in one after the other. As soon as I started sending in chunks of the Big Rewrite to the crit group it became apparent that was not the way to go. For all kinds of reasons I needed to blend the lines back together. Which overall I think goes very nicely, thank you very much.
The problem I just hit is a very nuts-and-bolts kind of thing: how to reshuffle the scenes for maximum effect?
The classic way to do it is the famous 3 by 5 cards, a technique I first encountered, if I recall correctly, in David Gerrold’s The Trouble with Tribbles – not the Star Trek episode, but the book about how he wrote and sold it. In it you write down the significant interactions and events that have to happen on 3 x 5 cards, then basically play solitaire until you figure out an order you like. On a recent visit to Ian Tregillis’ digs I saw he was currently making use of them.
(Stop. Time out. If you have not yet read Ian’s debut novel Bitter Seeds, the mind-fryingly awesome opening shot in his splendidly-named Milkweed Triptych, you owe it to yourself to go check it out now. And hopefully buy it {thank you for using the helpful Amazon Associates link above, and supporting this site, and also me!} You will be seeing more about this book here anon. Hint: it’s made of win.)
The cards were an option for me, but not one I favor. First, I’m a digital kind of guy. Second, I have abysmal handwriting, which even I have trouble reading. A fact not unconnected to #1, above. I like doing stuff in easily saveable, cut-and-pastable form. (And third, I seem to be obsessed with numbered lists. Ah, well.)
Reading through the summaries again today, I hit on another way to go about it: copied the necessary scenes into a new file all their own, so I can munch ‘em up more readily. Looking through that, it quickly became clear to me what I need to do.
First: reread the chapters involved. Figure out, foremost, what I can cut. (I’m doing Big Cutting on this pass-through – as is needful, given the first complete draft weighed in at a bookshelf-busting 275,000+ words. That’s working out quite well: I’m trimming much gristle whilst adding necessary vitamins and spices!)
Second: after cutting with a broad blade, I can see the exact order the scenes need to fall into. Or close enough to be getting along with.
Read that last sentence otra vez: close enough to be getting along with. For me, at least, that’s key. It’s a concept I need to pound into my brain, my soul, my very DNA again and again to fight the all-consuming menace of perfectionism.
(Quick real-life snapshot: Emma’s barking just announced the FedEx Guy bringing me a prezzy! Thank you, Mr. FedEx Guy: I love getting prezzies on my porch – except for ones like this. This prezzy isn’t for me. That’s fine: I love giving prezzies!)
Anyway … if you’re prone to the evils of perfectionism, you might try that on for a mantra too: close enough to be getting along with.
And – that’s enough. Didn’t intend this to run on so long. But I needed a break before diving into rereading the material. So I thought I’d give you one of those promised peeks behind the scenes.
Thanks for reading! And stay tuned. Big things coming soon!
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