You know you've been showing up at the same place for days on end when you step up to the counter and the barista says, "White tea?" and gives you a little smile. I hand over the aqua insulated cup that I bring every day and she hands it back with steaming tea.
I am more than halfway through the revision. Flannery O'Connor's words, that writing a novel is a messy business, pong about my head. Sure is messy! So many pages, so many scenes, characters and lines of dialogue to keep track of. Where is that scene? I wonder. Did so and so say such and such to so and so, and if so, where???
I refer to my notebook where each chapter is sketched out, according to Ms. Carolyn See, and that has helped keep track. I can see the value of having a couple of huge files containing all the chapters so when you wonder these sorts of things, you can easily do a search, but I didn't do it that way. Each chapter is its own document.
It takes time, revision does. And patience. And lots of white tea.
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4 comments:
I did the first half-draft one chapter per file, the second draft is one big file. The one big file approach has too much to recommend it not to use it.
But don't you think the re-write or revision is the most enjoyable part of the whole kit and kaboodle.
I do love watching the shape emerge, yes.
I'm at the stage where I am attempting to incorporate my research into the dang story. For nearly 6 months, I told myself, "self, you have to find more facts." Needless to say I did no writing, just googling..
Yesterday, I was at a basketball game and I succusfully took a bunch of research articles and wove them into some dialogue. Made my character sound smarter, and by extention, me, for finally getting it done!
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