Thursday, January 28, 2010

A Quick Update

Thank you so much for your encouraging words.  I've filled two holes and revised the scenes from my first draft up to the next hole.  Now, I only have two holes left to fill, but these will take longer; I could probably call them trenches.  ;)  

I find revising scenes I've let sit for a while easier than revising something I've just written. Problems leap out at me.  The good writing just does it's job and moves me through the story without grabbing my attention. Anything--it doesn't matter how clever it is--that jolts me out of the story needs to be revised or deleted.  Even the humor should feel like it belongs.

And, last night, I had a much better idea for an ending, so I guess I'll be re-writing that too. That's okay though.  I knew my ending wasn't good enough when I wrote it, but I had more fun writing that scene than any other scene in the novel.  I think I'll keep it as a deleted scene.  Do any of you keep deleted scenes? 

If you have a few minutes, this one is pretty good.  :)


9 comments:

  1. I feel the pain of rewriting an ending. I've done it twice now, and I'm not sure I'm satisfied yet. Good luck!

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  2. Argh, me hates the endings! I've only been really satisfied with one ending I've ever written, and that was the first thing that came to me for that particular idea. So congrats on that.

    P.S. I keep deleted scenes just in case I decide to reuse them, or reuse parts of them. I've heard Stephenie Meyer has quite a few, too. She should stick them all together and publish it as THE TWILIGHT SAGA: DELETED SCENES - it'd probably make more money than the rest of us will make in the next ten or twenty years:)

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  3. I'm right there with you. I thought I was pretty much done revising, but now it seems I've got a big hole to fill myself. Oh, the pain!!! ... Love Wall-E ;)

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  4. oooohhh....endings. I hate writing endings.

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  5. Elana, it's nice to see you here!

    Krista, you may be right about that book, but I certainly hope not.

    Carolina, good luck with that hole!

    Shelley, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. This quote from Tamora Pierce makes me laugh though, partly because I've read almost all of her books: "Endings are fairly basic for me. There's a forest fire. There's a flood. The ground opens up. The palace collapses. Pretty easy."

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  6. Congratulations! I wish you luck and fun in "making it work" :)

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  7. Thanks for the comment. I'm always ecstatic to come across other writers! :)

    You mentioned chronic fatigue... are you still very much affected by the fatigue these days, or have you come through it?

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  8. Thanks, Sarah! It's so much fun to have you back.

    You're welcome, Aimee. I'm answering the chronic fatigue question on your blog.

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  9. Oh, it's nice to be back! And you're nice. It's nice to visit your blog :)

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