Wednesday Wisdom for Writers and Those Who Love Them

"Expectation is the mother of all frustration." —Antonio Banderas


I'm in the throes of an intense—and extensive— rewrite. Man, can I relate to that quote!


It's all better with friends.

A Rewrite? What was I Thinking?

Through the wonder of morning pages, I became convinced that the manuscript I completed about a year ago would be better as a police procedural. It needed some rewrites anyway, so I figured this wouldn't be much more involved.

Yeah, right.

Don't get me wrong. This is still the best way to go—and I'm oh-so-much-more excited about this story—but it is requiring some careful crafting and so many changed scenes/new scenes/deleted scenes it's almost like writing from scratch. Sheesh.

So, Rough Waters continues to be about black market organs and the importance of organ donation, but with a competent detective in charge rather than a distraught father.

Have you ever changed the direction of a manuscript you're writing? Or have written?

As a reader, have you ever read a book that felt like it was missing something? That if the writer would have taken just a bit more time and fleshed it out, she would have really had a winner?

CR: I confess I'm currently reading a book that's interesting, but not engaging. It's The Apostle by Brad Thor. Kind of a military thriller. I think my husband will enjoy it a lot more.

It's all better with friends.

Jeffery Deaver's Writing Process

I've been trying for days, literally, to get this downloaded video on my blog. For someone who is kind of a Gadget Girl, I can be very technically challenged.

Anyway . . . I hope you enjoy it.

****

I'm moaning over what I thought was going to be a final read-through turning into an edit. But Jeffery Deaver's process has made me want to suck my moaning right back down my throat.

Granted, my little manuscript is a simple one, but still . . . this is amazing. Perspective, ya know?




CR: Under the Dome by Stephen King. Expect to see this one here for a while. Slow reader + thick book = epic read. Another thick one that has remained on my all time favorites list is not a mystery or a suspense. Tom Wolfe's A Man in Full is around 300 pages less then King's. I'm afraid to read it again because I'd hate not to still love it.

It's all better with friends.

The Rewrite Process

One of the things every writer needs to figure out is the process that works for them.

How much needs to be worked out in the beginning? A detailed plot, or a vague concept? Characters? Setting? GMC?

Is organization tactile and/or visual, or does the work flow so quickly organization is unnecessary?

What to research first, what as the story is being written, and what can wait for later?

I think the reason one writes in order to learn how to write is as much about finding process as it is about learning craft.

Here's what seems to be working for rewrites at the moment:

I write in scenes rather than chapters. Scrivener (the writing software I LOVE and the driving reason behind my getting a Mac) let's me color-code POV's and save all of my scenes in a binder. By writing in scenes, I can shift them around and easily insert new ones that support my sub-plots.

I printed out my entire SFD. To rewrite, I grab a chunk of it to rewrite the scenes and form chapters—two at a time. (Six done today!) I have a notepad to remind myself of things that need to be tied up and then make the changes in the Scrivener program. My notes are outrageously messy. Ruled paper? What's that for?

Another printout, another review, and a ship to my critique partners for their input.

After this is done, I envision it sitting for a week or two, then a final read-through on my own.

That should give me enough time to have a polished manuscript for the full I'm just sure will be requested at some point after the sit-downs I've got scheduled with agents and editors next week. (From my lips . . .)

OT: Had a wonderful, romantic trip to San Antonio with the Love of My Life to celebrate our anniversary. If you haven't been to the Riverwalk, put it on your list. Just be sure and go during the week, and avoid holidays.

CR: Paranoia by Joseph Finder on my Kindle and loving it. (Marketing note: This was a free download for a period of time as Joe had a new book releasing. He certainly has a new fan in me.)

It's all better with friends.

I Solemnly Promise . . .

I had a meltdown yesterday.

Working on a particular section, I needed to confirm something (I can't remember what) and skimmed some upcoming scenes.

Suddenly, it appeared that the character I'd just written about, who was standing up and everything, was in the hospital with a concussion. What!? I panicked. I looked again. Yep. There he was. All banged up and not a doppelganger. Crud.

My rewrites screeched to a halt while I tried to figure out the best way to proceed. Forcing myself to take some kind of action aside from pacing and gibber-jabbing, I sat down to organize a plan. I read through the hard copy carefully and discovered I wasn't whacked, just wicked. My poor character. {evil smile}

The barest of outlines would've saved me so much time and frustration.

Thanks to my new Twitter friend (I cannot call them tweeps), Glynes O'Connell, I was reminded of something I should have paid attention to. I wrote about a wonderful method for putting a manuscript together, and then promptly buried it. Sheesh.

Next time? At the very least, there will be an outline. I swear.

CR: Prime Time by Hank Phillippi Ryan.

It's all better with friends.

Word Scurge—Dirge?

Read over your compositions, and whenever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.

~ SAMUEL JOHNSON

Wordy-Gurdy.

Not so sturdy.

How does your rewrite go?

I'm cutting more than I'm adding. I switched my prologue to a scene either in the first or second chapter, and have cut my first two scenes and replaced with later scenes from the beginning of chapter two and a new one written. Plus, the two I've cut (well, one of them anyway), contain value, and I'd like to see if there's a relevant place before I relegate them to "outta here", and well . . . it's getting confusing.

I'd anticipating axing blah scenes and truthfully, I was ready. Just not so soon. Oy.

I'm an organized, tidy person. Really. But at this moment I have four piles on my desk and five piles on the floor by my desk. That's not counting the printed material sitting in my printer tray which will form a brand new pile.

I had the French doors open earlier because that's my habit when the temperature is fabulous (we're having an unusually cool summer in Colorado) and totally lucked out that a brisk breeze didn't find its way in.

My fear has been released and replaced with mad-cap/mad-dash craziness. Which is kind of creative. At least at the moment.

CR: The Dead Whisper On by T.L. Hines

It's all better with friends.

Rewrite Rash

Someone asked me the other day if this was the first time I'd faced rewrites.

It's not. It's just the first time they matter. A few rashy hives are to be expected.

Most novelists don't churn out publishable material their first time out of the gates. There's a learning curve that requires dedication, persistence, hope, faith, blinders, and even moments of blindness. In fact, intense hard-headedness served me well—both in terms of utter stubbornness, and believing I understood varying concepts. When it became clear that in fact, I understood nothing, the door opened to learning. And has stayed open ever since.

I have previous efforts where I inflicted more pain than grace on the page. Those stories, and many of the characters, were my sacrificial lambs.

This one could actually become a book.

The rewrite process has begun. It feels a little intense right now, but in a good way. To me, the hard work is finished. The story has been formed. Now I get to make it captivating.

CR: The Dead Whisper On by T.L. Hines.

It's all better with friends.

Post-Partum SFD Paralysis

"When I write, I feel like an armless legless man with a crayon in his mouth."

~Kurt Vonnegut

I'm looking at a toppling pile of notebooks and papers and books, to which I'm refusing to add anything else. Unless I'm willing to accept the consequence of insanity. Which I don't have time for.

The pile is dedicated to information related to rewrites.

My psyche is dedicated, at the moment, to self-destruction.

At the time I began amassing this amess, or amessing this amass, I told myself, "Not now. Right now, you need to write your SFD ('Shitty First Draft' ala Anne Lamott). Time to learn all about this later."

What a dope.

No longer stricken with post-partum SFD paralysis, here's where I'm heading:

• I've determined that whatever I decide, the first step will be daunting. Get over it.

• Like trying to eat the elephant in the room, I will handle the task one bite at a time. (Who in the world is responsible for morphing the idea of an elephant in the room into something I would like to eat? They should be shot. Then eaten.)

• I'm smart enough to learn forever. I'm not smart enough to get it all figured out this afternoon.

• Figuring out a system that worked for me to write an SFD took some trial and error, and so will figuring out a system to rewrite. I will heed what those who've gone before me advise, but ultimately it will become a personal blend of what works and what doesn't.

And so . . . there's no time like the present.

CR: About to finish Relentless by Dean Koontz. It's about an author running for his life and a lunatic book critic stalker. Don't you wonder where he got the idea?

It's all better with friends.