Still Here But Not Revising

I've taken a bit of a break from revising, mainly due to laziness.  I'm having the hardest time getting back into the swing of things and as a result I am now a week behind.  But I will be getting back into it, and soon.  Today I think, yes today.  The last week was not really that challenging, so I should just do it. Just get it finished. 

HTRYN Book Revision: Week 2 Days 5&6&7

(*HTRYN=How to Revise Your Novel)

I just finished Lesson 2 of HTRYN, which consisted of reading through the entire manuscript again and noting all the places where I may have veered off course and promised too much.  It was a light read through, at least for me, and has given me a much clearer picture of my whole novel and the story I told (as opposes to, perhaps, the story I wanted to tell).  But I found many other mistakes also, ones that I have missed on my first red through in Lesson 1, or Week 1 of the course.

But anyway, I am starting to see the value of these lessons and so far I am not disappointed at all.  I am also beginning to see that I will perhaps have to write just one book in the end.  Too much fluff in this one, and not enough story to excuse stretching it out over 2 books.  The mistakes that I have noticed already by now will cut the book at least by a third.  But I don't want to get ahead of myself here, I'm sure as I continue with this process I will find many more things to change.  And see the things I want to change now differently too.  So for now, I'll just continue going with the flow of HTRYN.  I'm pretty sure it's going in the right direction.

And now for Lesson 3 ... 

HTRYN Book Revision: Week 2 Days 3&4

(*HTRYN=How to Revise Your Novel)

I've been hitting my goals about the second week read though just fine, I just haven't been finding the time to update this blog. I have taken on extra writing projects to fund my taking of this course and I'm drowning in well, writing. But I still have the energy to read my book in the evenings. That must say something about it, right. Something good.

I must say though, that I am now quite convinced that at least the first 120 pages of my novel are mostly fluff and way too long-winded and repetitive. I'm sure I can cut it by at least half and have a much better opener for it. The same probably holds true for the rest of the book as well.

But now is not the time for that, now is the time for just noticing mistakes. The correcting comes later. And I'm sure by then I will have memorized my book, I'll be reading through it so much.

Book Revision Update: Week 2 Days 1 & 2

I took a long, hard look at all of my main characters yesterday in terms of who they really are and what their true purpose is in the story, as well as whether they were living up to the role I had intended for them to play.  Some of them do, and some of them (especially my two main characters) need some work.  I'm starting to see this whole first draft for what it really is: my own exploration of the story that I wanted to write.  And as such it has many flaws and requires quite a bit of work.  But at least I now know what I want the finished version to be like.  Or at least I have a clearer glimpse of it.

And today I started the second read through. I'm just looking for the "promises" that I have made as I went along and how I later in the story delivered on those promises.  I'm skimming more than reading, well I am reading but not concentrating on the story as deeply as I did last week.  I sure am finding some surprises, stuff I wrote in with no clear goal and no follow through.  Quite illuminating, that. I'm also finding mistakes and errors that I missed on the first read through, but I'm letting those go for now.

Book Revision Update: Week 1 Day 7

OK, so I'm done with the first read through. It was all the way the most enjoyable experience, but I know I can fix the book. Especially now that I have a clearer idea of what I want the book to look like, or rather to read like once I am done with it. It will require some major revision and possibly some rewriting. Well not possibly, definitely. But this is the first time that I actually feel like I know what I am doing when revising. Up until now, all the revision that I have done has been hap-hazard and all over the place. And such was usually also the end result. But this How to Revise Your Novel course is really something else. And fun to follow to. It is a lot of work,though, revision. Don't let anyone tell you any different.

Anyway, I'm off to start week 2 of HTRYN. Wish me luck ;)

Book Revision Update: Week 1 Day 6

I went over another 100 pages. Only 88 to go and the first read thru will be done! I must say that I enjoy the story I wrote a lot in places. But I am getting the sinking feeling that what I have here is not enough to justify the story I am telling to have two parts. Because nothing all that significant happens in this "first" book. Mostly it is just introduction of the characters, some depiction of the world they live in, and of course glimpses of the plot. But really, it is all just drawn out descriptions and repetitive information giving. I have the unfortunate habit of writing the same thing, giving the same information in various parts and spoken by different characters. I also tend to go over the same things only using different words.

I have so far noticed three very big problems with my story:

1. The world I created needs to be shown more clearly, described more clearly. I just tell how it is, I do not show it.

2. My main character is all over the place and needs to be made more linear. His arc of change needs to be more pronounced. Right now it is a zig-zag line and nowhere near what or who he should be.

3. The girl who is like the second main character is too one-dimensional. Or not characterized enough.

So much for now. Tomorrow I'll finish it and then see where I stand more clearly.

Book Revision Update: Week 1 Day 5

I managed to get through 100 pages yesterday. I'm supposed to do 100 more today to stay on schedule, though I don't know if I'll manage it. I think the main reason for the progress is the fact that have stopped noting down every little thing that I find. I'm just reading through and stopping only when something really jars me. Like a big problem, not those smaller, more detailed editing problems.

I hope I didn't mess up too much reading the first third of the manuscript with such a keen eye for smaller mistakes. I'm afraid I might have not gotten the real feel for the characters and the story because of it. Or maybe that was due to the fact that I was still catching my stride story-wise in the beginning. And now, about halfway through, I'm actually enjoying the story. And it's a great feeling. There's still a lot to fix, but more and more of it is already rendered very well.