I was vacuuming the other day when it hit me: one of the plot points in my book is unnecessary. It adds nothing except a bunch of characters that are never seen again and could be written out with very little effect on the rest of the story.
I believe at that point, I turned off the vacuum and found a desk to lay my head on. Because this means a whole boat load of revisions. Just because it doesn’t affect the rest of the story doesn’t mean it’s easy to extract. I have thirty five thousand words, close to half of my book, that need to be edited, rewritten and added to.
My reaction was something like this:
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| My drawing skills get better all the time. |
So, yeah. If you don’t hear form me in the next few weeks, assume I’ve been buried under an avalanche of words.
What about you? Any good editing arg-I-can’t-believe-I-missed-that stories to share?
Oh man - I hate those moments! No fun. Still - good thing you're smart enough to recognize it and take the time to fix it. That rocks. So good luck! :)
ReplyDeleteI hate when that happens. At least you found it now instead of after completing the whole draft?
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
I think it's the Zen of vacuuming, or mowing the grass, or other such activities, that opens paths to creative clarity. So many of my poems come during those periods, so many of my stories, and so many of my doubts that I took the right path in those stories. The problem? Remembering that path out after I've finished the chore. Thoughtful post, JE!
ReplyDeleteJE, it sounds like you have the revision blues. 35,000 is a lot to edit all at once, but better now than when you're 90,000 words into it!
ReplyDeleteAh well. It'll be a better book in the end for it. Good luck editing.
ReplyDeleteI know that sinking "OMG" feeling when you realise you've got a lot of revisions to do (when you thought you were basically done. haha)
ReplyDeleteOh yeah. That seems to happen every other week with my current manuscript. I decide to add characters, remove characters, switch up the order, take out and change entire scenes. On the bright side, it's turning out pretty spectacular so far, but that's only thanks to hundred of hours of looking quite like the picture above.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
<3 Gina Blechman
Yeah, that realization was precisely why I gave up on a WIP last fall...it's half done. The good news is I JUST recently figured out how to FIX it.
ReplyDeleteOne page at a time, my friend. You can do it!
I had a suggestion made about my work in progress about adding an additional character into the mix, one who would be taken out of the equation early on, but even that way, it would require massive overhauls.
ReplyDelete