Paksworld

As I’m writing this at almost 10pm, we’re coming up on the changeover from 41 days to the release of Kings of the North to 40 days (which, as anyone in our choir would tell you, at this time of year leads inextricably to “Forty days and forty nights…” (a Lenten hymn.)

And then…less than 40 days to release.   At this point, I always get twitchy, edgy, worried.   My brain invents disasters that will make this release not like any other release, but a total unmitigated failure.    The drama that normally goes into the plot goes into my daily life. Read the rest of this entry »

Shifting gears to working on revisions/corrections makes Book IV grumpy and me…a bit confused.    Did I really write that?   What was I thinking?   Was I thinking, or perhaps indulging in stream of consciousness?

In addition, while waiting for the pages Editor is sending with her markings on them (75 pages, she told me today…ouch!)  I have her notes and the notes and comments of two alpha readers and my agent.   One alpha reader deserves the honorable title of Nitpicker Extraordinary (and it is honorable, in this instance) and the other is a Characterization Maven who instantly notices a character acting out of character (or not showing the development that other events show must have occurred.)     Editor is multitalented, of course, so her comments range from deep structure to pacing to surface detail.

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Many wise things have been said about putting the same effort into the last part of a task as in the first 90 (or sometimes 99) percent.    To which I can only say “Yeah.  That.”     No book is ever perfect, but the closer the writer comes, the better the reader’s experience.

Yet at some point, the writer must stop…stop writing, stop revising (at least for awhile) and send the book to its Editor, and at some point the Editor must stop…stop asking for more revision, more changes, and then the book goes out in the world as groomed at they both can make it, but both understanding that somewhere something will have been missed.

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As I sit here bleary-eyed after midnight yet again…I’m issuing a warning to anyone contemplating facing the same situation.  Do Not Try This At Home.  Yeah, eventually, every writer is in this spot, but it’s often (not always!) avoidable and avoidance has many benefits.

Such as a full night’s sleep at least every other night.

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Just when you think it’s going smoothly and all will sail happily along a flowing tide into the sunset (can you tell it’s late and I’m punchy?  I thought so) ….you find the Scylla and Charybdis of revision in your path.

These problems take various forms, but always present as the writer’s need to show something from various angles/viewpoints/political or social stances…and the reader’s strong desire not to be caught in a whirlpool where the same situation is recounted over and over and over.

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Fossils and Blind Alleys.    Discovery writers (raises hand, waving wildly) are not filled constantly with the pure essence of creativity, and so spend some time trying to muscle the story into shape.   Intellect (invaluable in revision) with  its conscious logic replaces instinct (invaluable in primary creation)  with its unconscious logic.  Sometimes intellect and instinct agree.  Sometimes they don’t.   When they don’t, instinct is nearly always right…especially in terms of the deep logic of the plot, or “what really happened.”

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When writing fast,  I often write “what happened” and not “where/when/how/why”–without much context.  Sometimes whole important conversations, because I’m “hearing” the people talking to one another, without any guide to who said what.

This requires backfilling.    Scenes must have context (physical, emotional, whatever else is needed) and transitions from previous scenes.  Conversations that run on for a couple of pages with no “he said/she said” or “[name] said/ [othername] said”  lead to reader confusion…and lack the cues to reaction to the previous speaker’s words.

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Herewith a post that may grow over the days, for your amusement, as I jot down some details of revising a big book at top speed (also lets me take a short break each time.)

1. How could I have gone over this chapter several times (which I have) and not seen that “he’d had a good” was not a complete clause in that sentence?  A good what??    Adjectives need nouns.   (Nouns often don’t need adjectives, if you use the right noun.)

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The last “block” of Book III fell into place with the completion of the swordfight at, um, 2:15 am this morning.    So between now and January 1,  there are decisions to be made, and multiple rewrites/cleanups to be done.  More text may need to be added (transition cues, scenes that now,  though not formerly, need enhancement.)     About 4-6 weeks of work is going to have to be accomplished in 10 days, two of which are Christmas Eve (when I have two church services to attend and one to sing in) and Christmas (when I won’t be working on the book–I’ll be sleeping and recovering from Christmas Eve.)  Plus a necessary social thing on 12/26 (annual party at close friend’s house given by her kids…not missing that.)   Hence, “writer as whirlwind.”

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This book…I’ll swear this book wants to drive its writer crazy.   Where did this new character come from?   And why, once she arrived, didn’t she behave like a normal character (if Kuakkgani are ever normal, that is?)    Not only do I now know a lot more about how someone becomes a Kuakgan (some of it I knew years ago, but I’ve learned more in the past couple of years) but I just found out what can happen to a young (in experience) Kuakgan during his/her first spring out in the world.

“The green blood is strong in this one…”

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