My posts have been a little scarcer lately because I've been in the
throes of a big revision. It was the main thing on my mind (well,
besides Hurricane Sandy, the election, and a few major things going on
in friends' lives), and yet I didn't want to blog about it. I usually
like to blog about writing ideas after I've had time to mull them over.
Not only does writing about my work-in-progress carry the risk of
draining some of the energy I need to pour into it, but the daily
progress of a revision is not ripe for blogging (not in my case,
anyway). It resembles the journey of a roller coaster operated by a
bunch of lunatic cats. Documenting the ride would look something like
this:
"I have no idea what I'm going to do in this scene. Oh! I
know! Character A will fight with Character B! Wait, no they won't. They
just fought 10 pages earlier. But I'm getting rid of Character C,
that's for sure. No, what I'll do with C is give her an even bigger
role. In fact, she can carry D's role too, and I'm axing D. No, I'm
keeping D, and making him twins. Also, chapter 3 is going, but I'm
bringing back the old version of chapter 9. Yes! No! I don't know! A
will fight with B. And I'm getting rid of C. And D isn't twins--that's
stupid. I know! I will combine the two fights that A and B have into one
fight scene. They don't need to fight twice. And D will take on C's
role, but will not become twins. There. I've fixed it. Unless ..."
None of that refers to the actual plot of my actual book, but you get the idea.
The
most useful observation I've had from my recent revision was this:
Whenever possible, use what's already there. Find another purpose for an
already-established hobby or quirk; give more responsibility to an
already-existing character. Develop a grudge or a crush. It's so much
easier to water the seeds that we've already planted than to drag a
whole new rosebush into the garden.
I agree. I prefer to work with what I have and create solutions within that framework. Best wishes with the revision. Can't wait to read the next Jennifer R. Hubbard. ^_^
ReplyDeleteIt's turned in. Now I get to play with new ideas!
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