Back to the forest! Another revision cycle for me. Sigh

I was 98% complete on my new mystery novel, and took a sharp and critical look at the timeline, and realized that I'd botched the job. There was a big gap (3 days) in two critical events, and that made zero sense. And some of the plot sequences were illogical.

So I saved my file under another backup name, then grabbed handfulls of text and ripped up the last 1/4 of the book!

I started by rearranging existing chapters into what made better sense, then added 3 more new chapters as transitions. And I tweaked the other chapters until they were smoothed over and everything fit tighter.

Then I re-read everything once more and fine tuned. After the dust settled I've now got a much better mystery and a far more engaging final section.

I suppose subconsciously I knew that this was inevitable but I'd sort of glossed over the problem until I did my critical evaluation, putting it off because I knew deep down that it would mean quite a bit of work.

Now that it's done, I'm glad I did it. Cost me about 3 weeks of lead time but that's inconsequential compared to "birthing" a shaky book.

Yesterday I printed out the thing, 300+ pages. Now I'm re-reading it and making my final edit & proofing notes. Should be finished by mid-January 2005. Then it's off to my agent.

Q: Have you ever "savaged" a book of yours, essentially given it a complete restructuring and rewrite? Was it difficult, parting with your 'children' or was it okay? And what was the final result?

I'm in the midst of the final result now, hopefully. 55,000+ words in the first draft, down to the home stretch and then everything hit the fan.

I started over. Let's hope this one goes a bit better? Glad to see yours worked out for you.

After completing the first draft, I had to rework the opening of my first novel, up to about chapter 7 of 52. Then, because of unanimous and unambiguous feedback from my beta readers, I rearranged a secondary storyline that initially was in thirteen segments that showed up every 3 or 4 chapters, by combining all but one into a single "part" that was inserted about two thirds of the way through, then pruned to about half its original length. Some of the pruned bits ended up in the primary storyline, which involved more work shoehorning them in without making it look like I was building a house out of duct tape.

I thought I would go insane trying to keep track of it all, but it sure ended up to be a great exercise.

I'm in the middle of savaging my first novel...

It isn't that the timeline didn't make sense, in my case, but that the whole plot line was just too simplistic. Maybe I could use a little of CC's excess plot? :b

Re: Excess plot?

What we need to do is create a repository for extra plot and added fill-in charactrs, then when you're needing an additional 5000 words, you just log in to the database, search for the requisite components, and do a cut & paste.

Keen, eh?

savaging

I've done it twice. To the same manuscript. It was difficult, and a lot of hard work, but very satisfying, because each time I tore it apart, I found some really fantastic elements and gems of thought that could be polished and refined and make the story even better.

Re: savaging

you just log in to the database, search for the requisite components

Click to expand...

:rollin I like it! You'd need to arrange it properly, with categories and the number of bits in each perhaps:

Startling revelations (19)
Snappy repartee (26)
Purple prose (1,016)
Dead ends (342)
Unresolved crises (650)

:b

Re: savaging

I'm in the middle of it now. I've been writing for many years in a number of arenas, some serious, many just for entertainment.

For a variety of reasons, I never got around to even submitting a single story. For one, I hand wrote many of these things pre-word processor, and allowed them to grow old in the tooth. And with medical murder mysteries, and sci fi type stories, you have a window of freshness. My job forced me to learn to type, and I began storing outlines of stories on my computer.

So, I decided to start fresh and take several works in progress and to combine them and to use an Epic Fantasy format, because it was the one mode of story telling that wasn't time dependent.

I didn't know what I was getting into when I started, and eventually, I had a trilogy that took several years to finish, and I just finished book three a few weeks ago.

Then I did all of this homework on finding an agent, and learned that most companies will not take anything of this magnitude from a new author. Book one was over 150,000 words. In fact, I think it was close to 170,000.

So, now I'm reconstructing book one into a 100,000 or less word format, which means the whole story has to be reconstructed.

My gut feeling is that these changes will be easier to market to an MTV generation, because the pace is now quicker.

Another major change is that I introduced the antagonists earlier in the story. In fact, the protagonist isn't revealed until chapter two now. The net effect is introducing Suaron before Frodo, a tool used in the movie version of Lord of the Rings.

Now, there is an immediate tension to the story. Again, it is something that Peter Jackson did, by showing the Ringwraiths before Frodo walks out his front door, which adds much more tension than the origional format.

The difficult part is that now that I've changed the beginning of the story, I have to go through and edit the whole story. Now, I have to decide a new ending for book one.

In a sense, it could be a mixed blessing, in that instead of three stories, it could be five shorter stories in a series.

But, I can't say that this whole thing isn't wearisome.

Grammar

Nateskate,

1. are you "Nates" Kate or
2. Nate "Skate"?

It's a nickname

Well, actually, it's a shrunken nickname: Nate the skate.

Re: It's a nickname

Ok, Nate,

How'd you get that one?

Expiring minds want to know.

Mari

meathead college friends gave me a nickname.

I was a scholarship basketball player in college. My last name begins with an "N", and by my sophomore year, I was a crowd favorite.

My name is not "Nathan" or any derivative. There were some guys from my dorm who were leading the cheering section, and one day they started chanting "Nate, Nate, Nate..."

Later, I said to the guys who started it, "My name isn't Nate", and they said, "It is now."

They were seniors, and there wasn't any arguing with them. Then when they'd see me, they'd say, "Hey, "Nate the skate, how's it going?"

At the time it annoyed me. But now I think it's amusing, and its a handy board name.

Re: meathead college friends gave me a nickname.

The looks of words are interesting. I thought "Nateskate" might be Japanese (four syllables).

Re: meathead college friends gave me a nickname.

Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not oriental.

Re: meathead college friends gave me a nickname.

Actually, Nate, the correct term is Asian. Oriental is a rug.

Re: meathead college friends gave me a nickname.

Sorry for the error.

Re: meathead college friends gave me a nickname.

Nate the skate,

That's quite a story behind your pseudonym. Thanks for telling me about it.

Mari

My pleasure

I'm amused that people find the story of my name interesting.

By the way, back to the topic. I think Katdad is definitely going to do well. He just seems to have that focus, and perhaps a bit of wisdom, that is necessary. It's kind of exciting that he's that close to going through the door, and we can delight in "Knowing him back when".

I've been reading Tolkien's biography, and it occurs to me that I unfortunately have his penchant, not of doubting my story, but of constantly coming up with new ideas, which are sometimes great ideas, but the net effect is re-writes.

I'm hoping it's all for good, but don't want to be sixty before this story is printed. One of my problems is that in creating a very deep story, and not just an entertaining story, I have to simply have a point of "Enough is enough" and let a professional editor make the decision to add or cut, and let go of this thing. As it is, I think that hopefully with the current re-writes, to be submitting book one by late spring. And that will be to just find an agent, which I'm cautiously hopeful of finding.