Revising a novel

If you've been here at the café long, you know that I'm revising my first novel, Water Magic, a young adult fantasy. Because this is the longest story I've ever written—the rough draft was over 100,000 words—the revision process has been different from anything I've worked on before. With short stories or essays, my revision process is pretty simple: read through it a couple of times to make sure it makes sense, maybe read it aloud to check how it flows, tweaking a few things here and there as I go. Done.

But, novels? They are much more complex creatures. Especially those that, like mine, have many intersecting plotlines to keep track of, most of which are happening in a made-up world with its own set of rules. Sometimes I feel like half the battle is just forcing this thing to make sense as a cohesive whole.

Which is why, for the first time in my writing career, I've been following a revision strategy. It has four main points:

First thing's first: New outline

Once I finished the rough draft, I had a good idea of what I needed to go back and change at the beginning of the book. So the first thing I did after letting the draft sit for a month was write out a new outline. I have a special green notebook that I use for all of my novel notes and outlines—actual writing I do on my laptop, but for note-taking I have to be able to scribble and sketch and cross out and add things in the margins and draw lots of arrows and highlight things. I outlined the whole novel in my notebook, making note of the major events that needed to happen in each chapter. This outline isn't set in stone—in fact I've had to change it already when I recently decided to rewrite most of the first half of the book—but it acts as a trail to guide me through the thick jungle of plot and characters, and it helps me to remember what is supposed to happen where. Breaking the story down into chunks like this also makes it seem much more managable, which is important for the aspiring author's morale and/or sanity.

Major rewrites

Once I had my shiny new outline, I felt prepared to dive into the major changes I needed to make. At this stage I was able to work quickly, and I began to feel pretty positive about how the novel was shaping up. And then I hit a snag—I realized I needed to rewrite a lot of my rewrites—about 20,000 words. And so, reluctantly, I took a step back and returned to the "new outline" stage. After a couple of weeks, I feel I'm finally getting back on track with the newest version of my outline. At this stage, my main priority is making sure the plot makes sense—weeding out weak points and internal contradictions—in other words, creating a story that works in a world that works.

Quick revisions

As I'm going through the manuscript, I do a quick read-through of each chapter I've written or revised, to make sure there are no glaring contradictions or awkward phrases. The key is working quickly, and not getting bogged down in going back to endlessly edit.

Focus on one section at a time
My book has three parts, and I've been focusing on each part individually. Having smaller chunks to work with makes an enormous job seem less daunting, and more managable.

So, that's what I've been working on lately. It feels frustrating sometimes, going over ground that I feel like I've covered a million times before, but it also feels good to see the story slowly improve week by week.

What about you, writer friends? Do you have your own special stratagies for revision, or, like me, are you still finding out what works best for you?

Tough writing decisions

As I think I mentioned, a few months ago I started to rewrite the first half of my novel. I'd known for quite a while that I needed to do it. By the time I finished my rough draft last Christmas, I understood the characters, the plot, and the world so much better than I had when I started the book in 2009. The first half of the book was unfocused, the characters weak, the plot meandering, the motivations unclear. Luckily, armed with the knowledge I had gained writing the second half of the story, I was ready and willing to roll up my sleeves and get to work fixing the beginning of the book. I made notes, diagrams, drawings. I brainstormed and made lists and outlined chapters. I filled 28 pages of my notebook.

And then I started writing. And it was great!

...at first.

Our wedding ceremony poem

 

On Marriage

You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.
Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
 

Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.

Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

—Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet 

Au revoir

So, I'm going to be taking a little blogging break (and a little writing break) for the next three weeks or so, because I'm flying to California tomorrow for my wedding! I will miss you all, but will hopefully be checking in a few times over the course of our vacation, just to remind you that I still exist.

I'll leave you with this amazing poem I discovered a few weeks back when an old high school classmate posted it on facebook. I know it's an odd choice considering that I'm getting married in a week and a half, but I think it's got some beautiful and true things to say about being alone:

Happy writing, and I'll see you in a few weeks!

My thoughts about Harry

Last Saturday Big Chimp and I went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. 

We chose the time carefully—we didn't want to be tired, or distracted about going to work the next day. We paid extra to go to an 18-and-over screening to avoid loud kids. We ate beforehand and bought water bottles and candy to keep us going throughout the film. I used the restroom at the last possible minute—after the commercials had finished and the movie trailers had started. We had our earplugs ready in pockets (we use them to protect our ears during loud scenes). I had on my freshly ironed Harry Potter T-shirt (Comic Con 2010). In short, we were thoroughly prepared.

The reason for all this preparation is simple: I love Harry Potter, and I wanted the experience of watching the last film to be perfect. Of course, I needn't have bothered with all the preparation; from the first scene to the close of the epilogue, I was lost in the story. I have no problem in admitting that I was in tears a couple of times (I was prepared for this; I cried while reading the book, too).

The Harry Potter films can never be what the books are for me—in fact I don't think any film could be what a novel is for me—but that didn't stop me from loving this film. Sure, they changed some things, but I thought it worked well; I don't think it's possible to be entirely true to a book in a film adaptation anyway, because books and films are such different things. One of my co-workers warned me not to get my hopes up for the movie as it was bound to disappoint. But I didn't find that at all. It was everything the trailers promised: it was visually beautiful, full of action and excitement, dark but with touches of humor here and there to keep it from being too bleak.

Balancing writing with your day job

Today has been a really good writing day for me. The words have just been flowing steadily for a few hours now. I may have mentioned that I'm rewriting most of the first half of Water Magic. I'm now 18,350 words into the rewrite, and it's looking really good—way, way better than my rough draft. And I seem to have reached a balance between my household tasks—running to the grocery store, tidying up, exercise, laundry, cooking, wedding planning—and my writing time.

Problem is, not every day is like that. There's this thing that gets in the way—I call it my "day job." And as far as day jobs go, it's not so bad. I work in a library, hanging out with the books and the people who like books and the people who need me to help them find books. Which is cool. But when I spend a full day at work, including the 45-60 minutes of travel each way to get there and home, I'm really, really tired! So tired that sometimes when I finally get home and settle down on the couch, I open my WIP and just stare at the screen for ages, trying to will my brain to think of something clever for the dragon-speaker to say (or the sorceress, or the brownie, or the water spirit). And sometimes I can't do it. I'm just too exhausted. And that makes me feel pretty bad. After all, everyone knows that writers are meant to write every day. One of my favorite authors once told me that in person.

So I've been trying to think of ways I can keep to the "write every day" rule even on days when I'm working, or just have a lot of things to do. Susan Sipal from Harry Potter for Writers (an amazing blog that you should be reading if you love Harry Potter, especially if you're a fantasy writer) suggested getting up an hour early and getting some writing done in the morning before work. I think that's a good idea, but with my level of sleepiness in the mornings I'm doubtful that I could stick with it. Another idea I had was to take my writing notebook to work with me, and outline/work on the chapter I'm focusing on that week during my lunch hour. I normally reserve that time for reading, but I could read when I get home instead.

I don't know. Do the rest of you writers struggle to find a balance between writing and other commitments? What time management strategies work best for you? I'm going to be searching for a second job at the end of the summer, which will make my schedule even fuller, so I'm in desperate need of advice!

A shed of one's own

"A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction." —Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own, 1929

I love when authors and aspiring authors post photos of their writing spaces. There's just something fascinating about seeing the places where other people do the same thing I do every day.

I've been wanting to do a "writing space" post for a while now, but until we moved into our bungalow last January, Big Chimp and I were living with his parents. It was a comfortable enough set-up, but my writing space was limited to a corner of the bed in our bedroom. However, after the move, I found myself lucky enough to have an entire room dedicated to writing: