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Recent Posts Tagged With 'revision hell'
Revision Hell: Like an Onion
Last night after work, I finished the last revision to Return to Shanhasson, at least until my beta readers sign in with any confusion or holes they find. Hopefully I’ve conveyed to you that for me, revisions are all about the layers, and so I...
Revision Hell: Trimming My Tells
We’ve all heard the prime directive: show don’t tell. Newbies discuss it endlessly on writing loops. We have incredible quotes like: “Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass”...
Revision Hell: Lies My Characters Told Me
One thing I’m watching for as I wade through revisions is the Big Fat Lie. Yes, even my most beloved na’lanna characters I’ve known for years have an appalling tendency to lie. They will say things that don’t quite ring ...
Revision Hell: Murdering a Character
Do you have a “stock” character in your story who is perilously close to becoming a cliche? Someone you need for a plot convenience, or simply to show another facet of your protagonist? Would it matter if you changed the characterR...
Revision Hell: Laying the Foundation
As I said yesterday, I’m attempting the first pass smoothing of this revision as I make my initial readthru with notebook and pens handy. Obviously, I’m not going to bother smoothing sections that I already suspect I will cut, but this ...
Revision Hell Begins
I stand at the formidable wrought-iron gates leading beneath the Mountain. I’ve delayed too long already. This novel has been complete for a year, just waiting for me to find the time — and courage — to enter into… da da...
The Best Damned Story I Can Write…Today
This morning, I reached a place in this writing journey that I’ve never been before. Awhile back there was some blog storm about when a story should be submitted. Jessica Faust at BookEnds wrote that Good Enough is Never Enough, and obsessive...
Synopsis Hell
If I can just get this blasted synopsis written, then The Bloodgate Codex is ready and waiting to go out and face the cold, cruel world once more. I’ve never enjoyed the synopsis, but this one is proving harder than usual. Maybe because IR...
Synopsis Suckage II
When all else fails, return to pen and paper. I sat down over the weekend with my favorite pad of paper — purple legal pad — and my favorite pen. I pulled up the Synopsis Lesson with Dr. Connagher. And I started over from the beginnin...
Synopsis Suckage
I’ve almost come to believe that the synopsis serves as a “Gatekeeper.” A finished story in hand isn’t usually enough. It doesn’t matter how polished the story is. If I can’t summarize the story in a concise ...
Revision Xibalba: Asking WHY
The end is in sight! I had some dialogue that contained crucial information the reader needed to know–but it was borderline “technical” or “infodump.” I didn’t want the section to read like a Maya textbook, but i...
Revision Xibalba & Project Update
Whew, that was some hard work! I finally managed to cut a scene from around page 130 and move it very early in the story arc. This scene sets the stage better and provides true motivation for Jaid, the “Un-Indiana Jones,” to risk goi...
Schedule From Hell
July is going to be hellacious. No time for the dog days of summer here! Victor and Shiloh will need to wait just one month longer so I can get two shorter pieces whipped out by 7/31. Right now, my number one priority continues to be Revision Xib...
Revision Xibalba II
So here are a few of the details that I’ll be tackling this week in the Maya story. Opening scene: clarify the whole “video taping” element. Smooth the dialogue so it’s not quite so stilted. Goal: eliminate reader c...
Re-Visioning the Writing Plan
This month has not gone as I expected and June is far from over. I’m thrilled that I made the 50K mark for MayNoWriMo, but with preparation for Dear Sir, I’m Yours release next week, I lost all momentum in Arcana. I’ve actuall...
Arcana Revision Hell: Preparation
Dig a little deeper in the Well, boys Dig a little deeper in the Well. If you want a good cool drink of water You gotta dig a little deeper in the Well. One thing I remember really struggling with as a beginning writer was “deepening” a s...
MayNoWriMo
Whoa, talk about perfect timing: MayNoWriMo! I’m totally doing this to help me get through Arcana Revision Hell. I have a feeling that I’m going to need all the help and motivation I can get!...
Arcana Revision Hell: The Plan
While reviewing my notes last night and this morning, I thought I’d made a dreadful mistake. As I’ve mentioned, I have a huge binder full of notes. The first draft was finished as a Fast Draft (ala Candy Havens) back in March, 2007, and...
Storybuilding
If you heard any cursing this afternoon, I nagged begged That Man into putting up some corkboards for me in my office. I bought some cool new animal print ones at Target the last time I picked up some Caribou Coffee, and I had a larger corkboard I ...
Maya Blurb Retake Retake
I think I’m really, really close. Thank you to Rene for her question — I think this one is even stronger. Called “Ruin” because he destroyed his entire civilization, the Gatekeeper is sworn to kill anyone who tampers with the Bloodg...
Maya Blurb Retake
I hereby declare that May the Queen of Blurbs! Last night she patiently helped me tear and paste and scribble until we came up with a revised blurb for the Maya fantasy. My beloved Sis also made a few important tweaks that I think help a lot ...
Preparation
I’m still working on the blurb for the Maya fantasy. It’s kicking my ass. I’ve shredded each sentence, tossed it out, started over a dozen times. How can three sentences be this hard? Bah. Since the coffee stash was low, w...
Maya Fantasy Blurb
Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Smell the coffee brewing, fresh, crisp books, and stories just waiting to be read? Great. Open your eyes and pretend this blurb is on the back of one of those books. Would you want to read the story?...
Connections
Follow me, for a moment. I swear this will all make sense. The following are all somehow related: Revision Xibalba, the Maya fantasy May’s comment that Geoffrey was a useless character, and her recommendation to deepen another secondary ch...
The Maya Fantasy Opening
Revision #113 or something like that. It’s just that pesky first line and the next few paragraphs. So small, yet so important. They must set the mood, the language, the character…they must be compelling, moving, tempting you to c...
Revision Xibalba
The project that never dies, even when I chop off its head! Thanks to some incredibly insightful comments from May, I have a few more things I want to tweak in the Maya fantasy. The opening still isn’t strong enough. I need to make it more ...
Revision Xibalba
Quetzls sang, warriors beat spears against their shields, and there was great rejoicing across the land, for the third (polish) pass of the Maya fantasy has been completed. All of my [notes] have been answered. All of my other notes I captured as...
The Maya Fantasy
Openings suck. They do. I’d rather write 400 pages total than page one. Inevitably, I end up rewriting the first page at least a dozen times. Last night, I ripped the opening apart again and shuffled it all back together. I think, may...
Revision Xibalba, the next phase
Now that the major “re-VISION” of the story has been completed, I’m ready for the “edits” pass. I already did the first 100 or so pages from hardcopy a few months ago, smoothing sentences, etc. but I still wasn’...
Revision Xibalba: The End
If you heard the screams early this evening, it was me! I finally finished the second major pass of the Maya fantasy, Night Sun Rising! (title subject to change) I want to try and capture some of my feelings and thoughts here for later while th...
