Scene revisions completes in past week: three. Scene revisions still to be done…???? All so far have been more complicated than just weed-whacking away excess. I read it, re-read it, re-read it again, finally realize that it’s a multiple-layer problem, and devise ways to fix it. What kinds of things are complex problems? Characters not Read More…
Tag: Vatta
The Plot Thickens and the Writer Thins
Somewhere, somewhen, a philosopher or other authoritative person said that if you’ve learned something (was it something new? Anything?) you’re obliged to pass on that knowledge to someone else. The process is of course unequal and therefore stressful to the recipient of the knowledge/skill being passed on, so the good news is that reciprocal exchange Read More…
The Joys of Post-Midnight Character Intrusions
Sometime last night between 3:30 and 4 am, or maybe it was three….I woke up. There’s the usual “Do I have to get to the bathroom right now or can I have another bit of sleep first” but that issue didn’t seem urgent…what did was being wide awake. WIDE awake. I tried my usual “drift Read More…
NewBook Progress
Today–tonight, actually–I cleared up a major problem found late last week. In moving things from file to file, chunks of a secondary “transfer” file got mangled and I hadn’t noticed. Luckily, since I knew I wasn’t thinking as well as I used to, I kept multiple earlier drafts under different titles, and was able to Read More…
Baby Steps, Baby Steps…
So a long, multi-tiered discussion of my main characters with R-, *may* have kicked the chocks out from around the wheels and allowed things to move. It feels very…vulnerable…right now, so I’m not saying much, except that something under the surface is moving a little. I know some things Ky *isn’t* going to be doing Read More…
Revision Review
Since revision this time digs right into the foundation structure of NewBook, a post on where the revision is at the moment seems a good time to discuss the kinds of problems a book’s underpinnings or foundation–the deeper structure–can have, and strategies for fixing same. This is not a problem I have often, but it’s Read More…
Revision, revision, revision: still not done?
Still not done. Little chunks have come out. Bigger chunks of new material have appeared. Sequence tangles have been extricated, laid out, and put in order, with necessary transitions. It’s taken this long to get the first thirty-two days of the story cleaned up, and to introduce things that were left out. It’s gonna be Read More…
The Agent Calls
My writing for publication goes first to my agent, then to an editor, then (if accepted) to a copy editor and production. So the agent’s call or email to give me his reaction to whatever (book, shorter work) is usually my first *professional* assessment of its strengths and weaknesses. The eyes on the work are Read More…
A Good/Bad/Odd/Sad/Happy Medley
I didn’t feel great yesterday evening, so skipped the choir Zoom meeting and went to bed. And this morning….a migraine. Overnight clouds had moved in and a wind from the south. After a couple of hours trying to argue myself into wellness (waste of time and I know it, but often can’t act on it Read More…
NewBook Has an End
About 1:20 pm today, NewBook attempted the “trickling away” ending (which usually means the real ending is some pages back) and sure enough, the real ending was some pages back. It’s found its end. Now comes the chainsaw of correction, the gorilla glue of mending and patching, the jewelers’ rouge for polishing, and weeks more Read More…