writer at play
SoR revision 2:
121/244 pages
I axed a one-page scene, the only scene that was not from Jhayni’s POV. Turned up some inconsistencies that I need time to figure a way out of. There’s a lot of “who knows what and when did they know it?” going on in this book. Sad to say, I don’t know the answer to that question half the time!
SoR revision 2 progress:
88/245 pages
I’m hoping to get another 50 pages revised this weekend. I’ll post up another progress report on Monday.
So far, I’ve rewritten a chapter that badly needed it, thrown together a rough synopsis of the novel, and am right now compiling all my worldbuilding notes: lists of scholarly books, folktales and other cultural detritus, maps, constellations, etc.
Yet, for all this progress, I feel like I’m avoiding revising this book.
At this point, what I really need to do is to go through and insert a character who turns up at the very end. After I’m done with that, I have no excuse to not send this out to my betas (*waves to The Husband/Tech Guy and the lovely Jo Anderton*).
And I suppose I’m subconsciously dithering to avoid doing that. To avoid having my betas point out the gaping plot holes, the Characters Acting Dumb moments, the stretches of yawn-inducing prose. Even though that’s their job. They’re supposed to help me make this better, and right now, I’m too blinkered to see the flaws in my story.
It’s like getting a shot. I know it’s good for me, but I still avoid getting one whenever I can.
I’m normally not dragging my feet when it’s time to get a critique, but this time around it feels all different.
… that makes my oh-so-well-plotted and entirely logical, consistent and coherent story sound so stupid?
I feel like I’ve spent a significant portion of my life driving places recently. Social events, kids’ activities, doctor’s appointments, random errands; I guess this is what having a kinda-normal life is like, huh?
However this whirl of activity is seriously draining both my physical and mental energy. Writing is not happening (much), nor are the blog posts I’ve been writing in my head. I did finish that chapter I was rewriting earlier this week. I think the next step is to write a synopsis of the story and see what gaping holes are revealed in that.
Writing requires muscles that have not been exercised in a while.
Long gone are the days where I got 2K-plus words (*cough*NaNoWriMo 2003*cough*) in a session. Now I’ll feel lucky if I got this chapter written this week.
Is it seemly for a writer to love her own book as much as I’m loving Season of Rains right now? I just did a read-through of it prior to massive revisions. And instead of compiling a long list of all that’s broken, I just sat and chuckled over my own witty dialogue and turns of phrase. For example,
The rain muttered all around them, like a senile old man.
And this, which pretty much sums up the sort of rotten circumstances Jhayni finds herself in for most of the book:
She was too trusting, he’d said, and look at her now. In the dark, barefoot and cold, committing a crime in the company of a man she barely knew.
However, I did not spend this entire time admiring my own cleverness. There were some parts that left me scratching my head.
For instance, gentle readers, what is a Five-Star Royal?
And, what in the world happened here?:
It would be heresey bnhjumik to say that out loud.
I’d blame the cat, except I don’t have one.
And,
A. unwound the rope, and a faint light flickered over the metal [spiky thing?] tied to one end. He… threw it up… heaved on the rope. The [spiky thing?] remained caught.
The spiky thing, as my dear husband informed me last night, is a grapnel. Why didn’t I know this before? Where was the Husband/climbing expert while I was writing this, anyhow?
More fun and games to follow.
