A 90-page day...
...and I found a whole other story strand I might pursue. Possibly only three scenes long, so, manageable. And I chopped a bit today—too many dwarf scenes. I was enjoying that dwarf way too much, so I've merged two of his visits to the other-world. So there's room for this other strand. It involves yet more sex, I'm sorry. Yes, I know, there is already a lot of sex in this book. And this is quite bad sex; there's more than a touch of bestiality and exhibitionism in it. But it'll be funny too, I hope—which makes that all okay, doesn't it?
Yes, so I've got through the big lumps that needed adding (except for this new one), and I'm coming up to the sections of the book that I just lately went through, so...is that a gleam of light I'm seeing, at the end of the tunnel?
Surely not—tomorrow I'll find some major inconsistency. Actually, tomorrow is shopping-for-Jack's-birthday day, so I won't get a lot done. Good thing I was so amazingly massively productive today, eh. :)
Yes, so I've got through the big lumps that needed adding (except for this new one), and I'm coming up to the sections of the book that I just lately went through, so...is that a gleam of light I'm seeing, at the end of the tunnel?
Surely not—tomorrow I'll find some major inconsistency. Actually, tomorrow is shopping-for-Jack's-birthday day, so I won't get a lot done. Good thing I was so amazingly massively productive today, eh. :)
posted by Among Amid While at 3:59 pm
6 Comments:
Wow! I feel all shuddery and impressed and inadequate. Ninety pages! I sat here all day, fiddling, fiddling, fiddling and maybe wrote one-ninth of a page.
Sometimes, I look at your blog to be reminded of what a writing day should really look like. Go Margo.
These are revisions, Kirsty; there's a lot of skate and pounce involved. And they're not final-final revisions, either, they're the connecting up of plot points and the balancing of story arcs, kinda small-scale finicky construction work. All told, I generated two new pages, plus a lot of marginal additions and notes for shuffling.
And, of course, who knows what will be required or requested once the publishers have seen it?
Either or it's way impressive, Margo. And glad to see there's more nasty dwarf sex in the offing.
You are way too modest. Ninety pages of revisions is breathtaking. It's inspiring. It's also very reassuring to know that solid work is being done in the realm of the possible out there in the writing world - even if it will be subject to further bruising publishers' commentary.
I am tempted to ask how you identify inconsistencies, but I don't want to dig too deep as it might impose on your work methods.
In general terms, how do you identify that a character has arrived at a certain point in their development without having passed through all the necessary preliminary stages? Do you map it on a diagram or just keep it in your head?
Trent, it is actually nasty manbear-on-bear sex. I hope that's okay with you.
Kirsty: Nah, not breathtaking. Although my brain wasn't good for much afterwards. Brain-taking, maybe.
Hi Perry: I don't so much identify inconsistencies as have realisations drop on me with a horrible clang, out of the blue as I comb through the manuscript. Oh, and going through all that person's scenes (usually to ensure that they're not too samey and repetitive, and that they have an arc of their own) brings a few to light (like, slight differences in their way of speaking; I've already spotted one of those, a character who is terribly folksy in one scene but speaks with more dignity everywhere else.
With this story I've been able to keep things mostly in my head (which involves writing it out, not in a diagram but in a list-of-relevant-events, and then not looking at the list again, usually). It feels like a fairly simple story to me, although people I've described bits of it to laugh at me for saying that. The core story is very simple, though, (I think) and everything else elaborates on that quite logically (I hope). Maybe I'm deluding myself. Anyway, the first third, when it was workshopped, had just the problem you outline, when one of the characters jumped from harried victim to serene, in-control person-who-had-found-her-place-in-the-world rather too suddenly. So my short answer is: People tell me! Thanks, people (ROR).
Post a Comment
<< Home