I have started editing my novel. Um, again.
I started "The Mirror" when I was fourteen, three years ago this past January. I didn't intend to go anywhere with it; I never finished anything, I was sure this wouldn't be any different. I had a few fleeting sentence thoughts and decided to type them out.
It was the best thing I'd ever written.
I went farther and farther, met more characters, and began to realize the potential the story had.
Then I got completely stuck because I got everyone into situations that I didn't know how to get them out of.
Outlining FAIL.
I hadn't outlined at all, so I guess it was only a matter of time before the whole thing went kaput. Three years later, the characters have refused to leave me alone, so I've decided to jump back into the mix and sort things out.
Step 1: OUTLINE THE FREAKING THING. I did this, and it already looks about a million times better in my head. I added some key events, took out some stupid ones, and shifted things around to be more realistic.
Step 2: DETERMINE WHAT IS SALVAGEABLE. {This is where I am right now.} Surely SOME of my original manuscript can be saved, right?
Or so I thought.
It has clearly been a long, long, long, long, LONG time since I edited "Mirror."
Except that it actually hasn't, which is sad and scary.
Last time I edited, probably just six months ago, the first page looked like this:
Yesterday, I decided to print out a new copy to work with. After I was finished with it, the first page looked like this:
Yeah. Clearly I've gotten a bit more brutal.
The story is going to be better because of this. I'm going to be ruthless and rip things out left and right, rewrite things, scrap things, reword things, delete things and add things.
Then I'll get to actually rewriting the story as a whole.
I'm almost positive that I'm doing this the wrong way, but I'm equally positive that there is nowhere to go but up.
~Stephanie
Don't you hate it when your characters won't leave you alone? :D
ReplyDeleteI'm not good at writing start to finish, so I ended up writing an outline and just writing in the scenes that I feel like writing when I feel like writing them. It's a little random, but it works.
Go for it! Write it. It will be serene and peaceful when done. Good luck and don't lose faith in yourself!
ReplyDeleteOh the writing process... so tedious and irritating yet productive and fulfilling. You wish you could be a genius and let it flow off the tips of your fingers and become magical but you're right... it's only a matter of time before it goes to crap! I think you should stick with it! I would love to hear an excerpt once you feel confident enough to post it. :)
ReplyDeleteShurt'ugal: Haha, yeah XD Some of mine go away after a while, but there are always THOSE characters that are there for good.
ReplyDeleteI've heard of some authors writing that way. I've been thinking about trying it now that I actually have an outline XD I'll let you know if I do!
Psycho: Thanks! I'll try XD Some days are better than others.
Kristen: Agreeeeed. Man, I wish I was one of those writers who just gets an idea and it flows effortlessly from the first word to the last.
Buuut I'm not XD
Glad you're interested in reading some of it! I'll definitely post a little when it's in some kind of decent shape XD
~Stephanie