Adventures in Editing
Aug. 23rd, 2010 05:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
glitter_n_goreI have a decidedly love/hate relationship with the editing process. I imagine most writers are like this. For me, it's because it's more in the realm of Work than Fun. I love writing--I really, really do--but certain things about it do make one want to shove one's head through nearest wall and be done with it.
For example: I mentioned last time that there's a purple prose prologue that I'm trying to get rid of for "The Carrion Girl." (If you're not familiar, this is purple prose.) The problem is I dropped some essential scene work and information into that prologue, so what I've been trying to do is figure out how to work that information into someplace else in the novel, so as not to lose it entirely. I know where to put it now. This is a good thing, and decent progress. HOWEVER. What it means is I'm now faced with the task of rewriting an ENTIRE chapter, and just thinking about it makes me tired. This particular chapter took ages to crank out the first time I did it, and still needs some work on its own, but just....blah! It's gonna take some time.
In better news: "Doppelganger" is flowing along quite nicely. I'm 2000 words in now (which translates to about four pages, single-spaced, in 12 pt. Times New Roman font) and my first plot point has been flung. I'm aiming for short story/novella with this one, so 2000 is farther along in the plot than it would be if this were a novel. I have to do some research for this scene though--I know song lyrics are heavily copyrighted and a HUGE pain to use if you go that route, but I'm not sure what the rules are for song titles--but that's something to deal with after Draft 1 is finished.
Back to work!
For example: I mentioned last time that there's a purple prose prologue that I'm trying to get rid of for "The Carrion Girl." (If you're not familiar, this is purple prose.) The problem is I dropped some essential scene work and information into that prologue, so what I've been trying to do is figure out how to work that information into someplace else in the novel, so as not to lose it entirely. I know where to put it now. This is a good thing, and decent progress. HOWEVER. What it means is I'm now faced with the task of rewriting an ENTIRE chapter, and just thinking about it makes me tired. This particular chapter took ages to crank out the first time I did it, and still needs some work on its own, but just....blah! It's gonna take some time.
In better news: "Doppelganger" is flowing along quite nicely. I'm 2000 words in now (which translates to about four pages, single-spaced, in 12 pt. Times New Roman font) and my first plot point has been flung. I'm aiming for short story/novella with this one, so 2000 is farther along in the plot than it would be if this were a novel. I have to do some research for this scene though--I know song lyrics are heavily copyrighted and a HUGE pain to use if you go that route, but I'm not sure what the rules are for song titles--but that's something to deal with after Draft 1 is finished.
Back to work!
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Date: 2010-08-24 12:43 am (UTC)I feel your pain on rewriting chapters. As you know, I had to rewrite a few for my WIP--and then some. It's just a pain, but once the chapter is fixed, you feel so much better.
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Date: 2010-08-24 03:51 pm (UTC)Rewriting. Ugh. But it is totally worth it. The hard part is summoning the energy to get in there and fix it in the first place.
That's what I figured, for the titles, but I wanted to double-check anyhow.