![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
how did I miss that?
Feb. 11th, 2025 11:37 pmI thought I had gone back and revised all the passages referring to the villain while I was still working on the first draft and realized how she needed to change.
Oh, well. Revision! The things I turn up.
Oh, well. Revision! The things I turn up.
revision ready
Feb. 8th, 2025 11:31 pmJuggling stories can be fun. There is writing on one story at a time, which is wise, but then when you want to put a story on a backburner for a time, you also want to work on something else, both to be busy and to clear your mind.
And then you realize it had enough time on the backburner and your current project is not done.
Oh, well, there's a deadline involved.
And then you realize it had enough time on the backburner and your current project is not done.
Oh, well, there's a deadline involved.
cloak's got to go
Feb. 2nd, 2025 12:12 amI lay out the plan. The heroine goes somewhere wearing a cloak, so she can take it off and be recognized.
A scene opens with her waiting and thinking about how hot and heavy it is. It ends with her being recognized.
But I never actually took the cloak off. . . .
A scene opens with her waiting and thinking about how hot and heavy it is. It ends with her being recognized.
But I never actually took the cloak off. . . .
whether the weather
Dec. 16th, 2024 11:12 amPlugging along into action. The hero thinks he has rescued the children, not realizing he has fallen into a trap, and he's about to lose them again.
And then I remember I thought the next scenes would be in winter. Which means that they would be winter here, or at least late fall. Furthermore they were outside during the semi-rescue so they would know it.
sigh
I suppose there could be a gap in time between this scene and the next, but not too long because that would reflect badly on the hero. Except, oops, it can't be even that long because of what the villainess will do.
And then I remember I thought the next scenes would be in winter. Which means that they would be winter here, or at least late fall. Furthermore they were outside during the semi-rescue so they would know it.
sigh
I suppose there could be a gap in time between this scene and the next, but not too long because that would reflect badly on the hero. Except, oops, it can't be even that long because of what the villainess will do.
adventures in juggling
Dec. 7th, 2024 10:04 pmThe one upside of keeping works running in parallel is that you can switch between them when one is stymied.
And then you have a day when you know that this story has a character telling a story, so you have to pick one, and you're stymied; and that story has a problem in that you need to go back and put in the set-up for characters to do things, and you're stymied; and the other story has a scene where you aren't sure where you put it, and when you start to revise, you remember, and you have to revert your revisions because the location was wrong, and you're not sure how to handle the remembered location except that obviously you have to clarify if even you can't tell.
And then you have a day when you know that this story has a character telling a story, so you have to pick one, and you're stymied; and that story has a problem in that you need to go back and put in the set-up for characters to do things, and you're stymied; and the other story has a scene where you aren't sure where you put it, and when you start to revise, you remember, and you have to revert your revisions because the location was wrong, and you're not sure how to handle the remembered location except that obviously you have to clarify if even you can't tell.
time twisting
Nov. 20th, 2024 11:48 pmSometimes pushing something into a brief mention in the past perfect works perfectly. It condenses down a scene that would have taken up more space than its contents justified.
Not always. Today I took such a scene, dragged it back into its natural order, and plopped it into the story. It's not very dramatic but I was going into the past perfect too often.
Not always. Today I took such a scene, dragged it back into its natural order, and plopped it into the story. It's not very dramatic but I was going into the past perfect too often.
backwards runs the revision
Nov. 6th, 2024 05:44 pmOn both stories I am working on, I realize I must go back and establish things.
One is a magical bird. The characters have to have reason to think it is where they are going.
The other is trivial magical charms that the hero and his associates have to have because they do routine things to exclude many nuisances that I don't want to deal with.
Such is the life of a writer.
One is a magical bird. The characters have to have reason to think it is where they are going.
The other is trivial magical charms that the hero and his associates have to have because they do routine things to exclude many nuisances that I don't want to deal with.
Such is the life of a writer.
ah, adventures in stickiness
Oct. 25th, 2024 08:32 pmWorking chiefly on two stories. One revising, one writing.
Both bogged down.
One because I realized that I put in things that the point of view character could not have seen, and I was wrestling with how I could fix that most neatly -- since I didn't want to introduce new errors while fixing it.
The other because I realized that I had hand-waved having the hero give a traumatized character a place to rest and recover. He's going to have to set up the place better, and give orders that others are not to intrude.
Ah, the writer's life. I plug on through the mud.
Both bogged down.
One because I realized that I put in things that the point of view character could not have seen, and I was wrestling with how I could fix that most neatly -- since I didn't want to introduce new errors while fixing it.
The other because I realized that I had hand-waved having the hero give a traumatized character a place to rest and recover. He's going to have to set up the place better, and give orders that others are not to intrude.
Ah, the writer's life. I plug on through the mud.
tweak, tweak, tweak
Oct. 5th, 2024 12:18 amAlso known as revision.
There may be big overhauls in which thousands of words are sliced out and other thousands added in, but in the end, there will always be the final tweaks.
There may be big overhauls in which thousands of words are sliced out and other thousands added in, but in the end, there will always be the final tweaks.
entanglements
Sep. 14th, 2024 11:12 pmSo the heroine is listening to a tale, and searching a garden. . . and the writer gives it an eyeball and concludes that no, she would not. She would listen intently and then search.
I can still have it do all sorts of magical things about the spells that are breaking, since she doesn't intend them, and can't control whether they distract her. But she would not try to do both at once because she thinks they are important.
I can still have it do all sorts of magical things about the spells that are breaking, since she doesn't intend them, and can't control whether they distract her. But she would not try to do both at once because she thinks they are important.
point of view, and other problems
Sep. 6th, 2024 10:46 pmAn observation: If you don't make it clear in the opening of a scene which point of view it is from, you may not only confuse the reader. You may also confuse yourself so you start revise it under the assumption it's from a different point of view.
Then you have to straighten it out.
Then you have to straighten it out.
contriving that coincidence
Sep. 3rd, 2024 07:53 pmRevising along, revising along -- and stopping dead. No, these characters are acting illogically, they need to have reason to believe she's who she claims to be.
ponder, ponder, ponder
Oh, yes. I grab a minor character from earlier, who would recognize her, and plop her forward in time. She recognizes the heroine from before.
Still doesn't get a name.
ponder, ponder, ponder
Oh, yes. I grab a minor character from earlier, who would recognize her, and plop her forward in time. She recognizes the heroine from before.
Still doesn't get a name.
missing a scene
Aug. 20th, 2024 11:36 pmRevision was stymied, but finally, I figured out the issue: I need to throw in a scene. To make it very clear that two scenes didn't happen, bumpity-bump, in short order.
Which means it has to not just separate them but serve some purpose. Hmmm -- moving the queen and her consort about -- deal with soldiers -- oh, yeah --
Underscoring the problem that the second scene will fix. It's alluded to in the first scene, but it does fit in with the dealing with soldiers part.
Ah revision
Jul. 28th, 2024 11:54 pmOne point of revision is to find the points where you were not clear before, because now you can read what you wrote, not what you thought you wrote.
The downside is that sometimes you have no idea what you wrote. And those, of course, are the cases where they most need to be cleared up.
sigh
The downside is that sometimes you have no idea what you wrote. And those, of course, are the cases where they most need to be cleared up.
sigh
ah revision
Jul. 22nd, 2024 06:13 pmSuddenly you realize that you have no idea which point of view this scene is in because it flipflops. . . and all the other scenes are in one point of view alone. . .
introductions
Jun. 25th, 2024 10:34 pmI introduced seven characters into a story before a time gap. En mass, they all arrived at once.
Then, after the time gap, the heroine knew their names.
Revising time: put the names in before the gap. Also put in notes about their characters so there are some hints to tell them apart besides the names.
Real fun revising and realizing that one of the seven had been left out of the naming. . . .
Then, after the time gap, the heroine knew their names.
Revising time: put the names in before the gap. Also put in notes about their characters so there are some hints to tell them apart besides the names.
Real fun revising and realizing that one of the seven had been left out of the naming. . . .
the DM vs the writer: time
May. 24th, 2024 11:51 pmThis is closely related to revision, but a major difference is the ability of the writer to take time.
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
prying it open
May. 22nd, 2024 11:59 pmGot a Bright Idea. Have to go back and put it in.
Which means I have to pry open a scene that I had gotten flowing smoothly.
At least it's a quiet, rainy day, and not a point of high drama. (Even after I insert this.)
Which means I have to pry open a scene that I had gotten flowing smoothly.
At least it's a quiet, rainy day, and not a point of high drama. (Even after I insert this.)
