Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Resting and Revising

For the last three months I've been working on a novel built around a new series character. I followed my usual practice of scratching out on paper a few ideas about the story and making a list of scenes or clues I wanted to include. Then I began writing. Some days I produced only a thousand words, but other days I produced up to five thousand words or more, with my fingers chasing the story across the keyboard. Now, at the end of April, I have 80,000+ words. And it's time to rest.

Using the word resting can be misleading, as other writers know. This is really a period of pausing and stepping back, of forgetting enough of the feel of the story to be able to come to it fresh in three weeks or so. During the first writing period, I might begin a scene and realize that the protagonist is going to interpret a clue in a particular way and I have to prepare the reader for that. This means I have to go back a few scenes or even chapters and set things up. I may want to introduce another character much earlier in the story, and that too may mean returning to an earlier section and dropping in his or her name, or a casual sighting of the person in a cafe or on a sidewalk. Only as I write do I know what I need, and then I can go back and make sure I've supplied it.

During the writing of this draft I rewrote the first forty pages several times. I decided to remove a specific feature of the protagonist's life, and that meant rewriting several earlier scenes. The story is stronger for it, but it means that I've redone the first few chapters several times. On some days I felt like I was never going to get any forward motion, and I might as well have been writing with a quill pen for the time it was taking me to get through the beginning. But the beginning must make sense, so I kept reworking it.

What I regard as the completed first draft is really only the first one I'm willing to print out. I've revised pages and scenes and entire chapters throughout the last three months, but I haven't printed out anything yet. Now I'm ready to print.

The draft I print now will again be revised and rewritten. I may add another character to strengthen a subplot or complicate the villain's plan. I will certainly rewrite some of the critical moments, building suspense or deepening the protagonist's feelings.

Overall I may do as many as thirty drafts. This doesn't mean the entire book has been rewritten thirty times. It means that my perspective on some aspect of the story changed and that change had to be made and carried through the entire manuscript.

In three weeks or so I'll return to the printed manuscript and read it with fresh eyes. The purpose of this reading is to find anything that is jarring or off-putting for the reader, scenes that don't make sense, missing clues or faltering suspense, anything that doesn't work. I may do three or more pass-throughs after this, but I'll know I'm coming to the end of the revision process when I read a new printout and find only a few things here and there to tinker with.


By late June I hope to have a finished novel. I'll let you know if things go as smoothly as I hope.

13 comments:

  1. I cannot believe you can write 5,000 words in one day! I think my max is 3,000. But I know what you mean about the resting and revising part.

    @Kathleen01930
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  2. Kathleen, the story took over everything. Some days I felt like I could barely keep up with it. Other days, it was a slog. My usual rate is 2,000 words a day. Thanks for commenting.

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  3. Susan, I'm literally with you! OK, not literally, but we were engaged in the blissful first draft at the same time, and now I am diving back in with my agent's and trusty readers' reads in mind. I gave myself 3 days versus three weeks--but I think your schedule may be saner.

    I am in awe, btw, of 5000 + words/day. You must feel like you're drip dried by the end of one of those days :)

    Good luck with drafts 2-hopefully not 30!

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  4. I really need three weeks, to get the whole thing out of my head so I can see it for what it is (not always a happy experience). As for the 5,000+ words, that happens rarely, but when it does I figure I'm just channeling the story and I do my best to keep up. There's no effort. It's just one of those wonderful serendipitous moments in writing. And it's rare. Thanks for commenting.

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  5. Wow... 5K in a day! That's amazing.

    I can usually get in around 2 on a good day. My latest submission was 23,870 words and it took me 5 weeks to write... Most of it done on Monday's which I set aside to write with other authors...the rest in 1 hour spurts. :-)

    Good luck and God's blessings
    PamT

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  6. My typical, good day is 1500 to 2,000 words. I mentioned 5K because it was so unusual but when it happens I feel very fortunate. I think your schedule is normal. Writing with others must help with determination and morale. Thanks for commenting.

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  7. I'm currently sitting on something right now, "resting" it. What gets me is what happens when I come back to something I wrote 10 years ago. As I improve as a writer over time, I re-write and re-write. The problem is after I've published - this could be a problem. Sigh.

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  8. I hadn't thought of this, Anne Louise. But you're right. Revising things you wrote ten years ago opens up a lot of problems. You're not the same person you were ten years ago, at least I'm not. And I'm certainly not the same writer. Occasionally I look at something I wrote some years ago and think about publishing it, but so far I haven't. I guess I think what I write now is better. But I keep wondering. Thanks for bringing up this aspect of the issue.

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  9. Susan,

    I am very impressed with your productivity and professional commitment to quality writing.

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  10. Susan,

    I am very impressed with your productivity and professional commitment to quality writing.

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  11. Thanks, Jacquie. I feel the same way about many of the writers I know on line and in person, you included. Thanks for the comment.

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  12. I could feel the work just reading this. It takes a lot to write a book. I too do a lot of revisions. I read something Lawrence Block wrote once about how he prefers to get it right the first time rather than having to revise. I envy his ability to do that.

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  13. I too envy Lawrence Block's abilities, but I don't know the whole story when I begin writing. I discover twists and possibilities as I write, and then i have to revise earlier passages to accommodate what I've just discovered. Yes, it's work but it doesn't feel like it at the time. Thanks for commenting, Linda.

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