Saturday, January 16, 2010

One Sentence at a Time

I'm back to eighty-thousand words, down from eighty-two. For those of you who are anxiously waiting for another update.

Something was bothering me. One little detail I couldn't reconcile. There was just too much coincidence in my story. Everything connected with everything else and it didn't seem right somehow. You know when something under the surface bothers you but you can't quite figure it out?

It came to me, of course, out of the blue and it was a relatively easy fix, just one little adjustment that affects nearly every chapter in a little way. I changed the relationship of one character. Instead of having him as a relative to the victim and the villain, I demoted him to an outsider. That little adjustment disconnected the circle and took that nagging feeling away. It also took out a couple thousand words.

Instead of trying to fix it in one sit down, I decided to go forward with the fix to the end, then adjust the rest of the story the next time around. This way, I have an ending that makes sense and something to shoot for.

Thanks for listening. But you wanted to know, didn't you?
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12 comments:

  1. I know what you mean when something just isn't right with it...but it's wonderful you found yours and got it fixed so easily! Well done! It feels good when an edit makes such an impact, doesn't it? =D

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  2. I know what you mean. I am writing my third novel and was only on the first chapter when I realized I needed to take a day to distance myself so I would be able to read through and see what I had done wring. I did and it worked! yeay! Wishing you luck!

    Sincerely,
    Emma

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  3. I think your approach is a good one - it helps to have something to shoot for.

    As for taking things one sentence at a time, well, to me that makes it a bit easier. Whne I think of having to edit/revise 300 or 400 pages it seems overwhelming. A sentence here, a paragraph there, another phrase... bit by bit it gets done and I think I'm happier then with the final product.

    Cheers, Jill
    www.jilledmondson.com

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  4. That's good you could catch that! And be willing to adjust.

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  5. I know just you mean when one little things keeps nagging at you. Glad you found it and got it fixed. That is such a relief, isn't it?

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  6. I'm glad I found your blog. I was having an apostrophe moment and thanks to your tips, I found I had it right! Yay :o)

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  7. Good luck on getting your novel finshed.

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  8. Hi! I've left a little something on my blog for you :)

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  9. I'm also a writer trying to just get my stories out there. I know what you're going through of cutting off a character and his relationship with the main cast and the whole editing process, but they are things that need to be done. If you want to see how it is living in my shoes as a student writer...here's my blog.

    http://studentwritersmind.blogspot.com/

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  10. You have won an award from my blog:
    http://emmamichaels.blogspot.com/2010/01/another-award-yeay.html

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  11. I know what you're going through. My word count jumps all around as I readjust certain scenes or relationships.

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  12. That's good you could catch that! And be willing to adjust.

    Work from home India

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