Thursday 19 January 2012

Revision hemming and hawing



As part of my 2012 goals, I'm revising my novel FIRE, and as I mentioned in a recent post here, it's quite possibly going to end up going the way of its fellow SUNDOWN. With the latter, I cut approximately 7k off the start during a particularly gory revision session (which was, incidentally, prompted by some very harsh critique that gave me insomnia). In that session, I got rid of a whole bunch of backstory (7k worth, matter of fact). I can totally do that with FIRE, too. The action doesn't really start until...well, probably 20k in. hahaha. Oh, I killeth me.

Seriously, I like the whole novel as it stands...but no agent or editor or publisher would. After all, it is a similar word count to what SUNDOWN used to be in the olden days (basically, I started out with about 148k to work with). So it needs serious slash 'n burn work. Still, I had decided to just get on with this edit, and leave the slash 'n burn till next round.

Now I'm thinking, What's the point in that? Why not just get straight to it now?

28 comments:

  1. I love the slash n burn stage. I tend to do it first especially if there are large chunks that need to go, otherwise I spend hours on prettying up the words only to delete them later.

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  2. I'm in my third edit of my ms, Door to Door. The first go-round I did the ol' slash n' burn. (It felt great!) The second edit was harder. Now in the third, with some observations from a critique group, I'm finding even more ways to pare it down. I'm surprised by how much I like this editing process, and yet at the same time, I wonder how many edits it's going to take.

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  3. It's so difficult to slaughter your baby. I'm opposite. They always want me to add more. :)

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  4. I'm in the just-editing stage, not the slash and burn stage, with Catrina in Space....but honestly, I don't know how I'm going to slash and burn that. :P

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  5. Time for comment #68. :D

    I am always editing. That's part of why I don't get anywhere very fast but I don't like moving on until I am sure what I am writing is going the right direction and is good. But it takes me a LONG time to get a few pages written. That and all the paperwork I am wading through (haha!).

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    1. Yes! I noticed the comment cloud at the bottom and that you were number 1, too. ^^

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  6. I'm in the first reading part of my revisions, and keep finding things to cut. It stresses me out, because I finished the first draft at 75K. I'm not going to have a book - it's going to be a novella! I'm hoping that when I add scenes or visuals that were missing, I'll add enough words to keep it at book length!

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  7. Holy cow, your background is cool.

    Revision is tough, especially cutting stuff. I can add scenes until the cows come home, and usually that's what I need to do anyway, but it hurts to take away anything.

    At the same time, it can be cleansing. I never know whether it's a good idea to get rid of something until I try it, and usually after I experiment with trimming text, I feel pretty good.

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  8. With my first book, I didn't really take out big chunks, more sort of trimming down individual sentences and excessive description. I think it would have benefitted from more ruthless cutting, though. I think you'll make the right decision for the book, but I imagine slash 'n' burn is scary!

    BTW, you've won the Versatile Blogger award! Details are at my blog.

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    1. Thank you Nick, that's great!! Will check out your blog in a bit! :)

      As for taking out big chunks, I tend to do that *eventually*...I guess I just like to ease up to it. haha.

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  9. So... I love to cut. Seriously, it's a great feeling for me. But... my novels barely scrape past 50k.

    I'm hoping that once I figure out how to add it will feel just as good.

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  10. The thing about editing is there's always more to do. Some things take their own time. Very impressive word count, by the way.

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  11. You blow my mind with all your hard work. I've got tons of plans for revisions this year and I'm not exactly starting off with any enthusiasm. Sigh. Reading your plans just make me feel bad.

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    1. Well, I'm sorry about that - I hope that it inspires you instead! At least you know that I am working with a ridiculously overblown novel that needs serious hacking ;)

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  12. I like to slash and burn, too. But if I do it prematurely, I end up plumping it up later. I've learned to wait until I have a renewed feel of the WiP, then I cut accordingly. It's saved me a lot of time and hassle!

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  13. Cut now, less to edit.

    OR - that's what works for me. Good luck!

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  14. I am impressed at all the manuscripts you seem to be actively working on at once! I can juggle but just an apple and a banana :) Are you a plotter? Perhaps locking the plot down will help identify the crucial cuts. I'm in the opposite situation with my current manuscript: I'm giving it more muscle tone.

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  15. 148k is a pretty decent-sized manuscript! And I think I understand why you're waiting to do the slash and burn. Well, for me anyway, I just wouldn't want to part with all that work JUST yet!

    PS - I've looked all over for an email address for you, but either you're not sharing it, or it's well-hidden ;-) (or I'm just semi-blind!) I wanted to ask if you're at all interested in taking part in my blog tour for the first book of Creepy Hollow... If you are, you can email me at rachelmorganwrites @ gmail . com
    Thanks!

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  16. Oh, sometimes it is hard to cut, but for every chapter, every scene, every sentence, every word ... ask yourself, does this move the plot forward? Will the storyline flounder if this is removed?

    Happy revising!

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  17. Sounds exciting and like a lot of work! Good luck :)

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  18. Cutting is so hard! I'm doing the same thing now. My MS is at 94K and I want to cut it down to under 90k. But, holy cow, none of my words will let me cut them :)

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  19. I always cut first and edit later. Otherwise, I edit what I eventually end up cutting and that's annoying. Good luck with your revisions, they are a pain, but they are WORTH it.

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  20. Good luck with your revision!

    It surprises me sometimes how enjoyable slash and burn can be; I hate chopping some stuff because I get attached to it, but there's satisfaction to be had in eliminating whole sections. :P

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    1. Oh, me too - I actually find it really satisfying. I just get depressed when, in post-hacking edits, I start adding more words again. haha

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  21. I'm back to let you know that I thought you were super creative and wanted to give you the Kreativ Blogger award, and the Versatile Blogger award. I don't know if you already have them, but if you want to accept them now, come on over to my blog!

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    1. Ohh, thank you!! Going to check it out now! :)

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  22. I tend to cut out scenes only to add new ones in! It's difficult, for sure, but Margo says, no matter how great a scene, if it doesn't move the story forward, has to go!

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  23. Its vital to not be attached to your words simply because you wrote them, the reader certainly won't be if those words don't really have purpose, as many here have said, if they don't push the story.

    I used to cringe when I cut something, USED to save all my babies in a bed I made in a bottom drawer like the little kittens I snuck in as a child, maybe thinking I would open it to feed them one day. But I guess they're all little skeletons now, for I never have. Now, unless they've got pretty remarkable 'tales' and aren't all that relevant other than to showcase where my mind can go, I simply put them in a bag of rocks and throw them in the river without any emotion at all for there will be other litters. Many of them, more strays that I know what to do with.

    But for as much as I can cut, I can add too; finding over time more ideas have ruminated; coming to me in the shower or out with the dog and that do push the story, something suddenly clicking and which are not tangents. Done properly, padding out, and other elements, are as important as cutting, and thereby maintain your healthy word count.

    Just as a matter of interest, I recently cut, and wait for it... more than 200,000 words from a 500,000 word project that I started way back as an amateur. Granted, a lot of that was mush or just superfluous scenes and background info that can in fact be used in sequels or that which I just kept going with it long after it should've finished. But in the end, that project (an epic) was only reduced by about 100,000 words as I painstakingly went in and fine tuned everything using better words. I wanted maybe 300,000 for a two part book rich in description, epic by nature, but that was entirely unrealistic, and so am happy with 400,000 because iI decided to serialise it. That project though was largely responsible for me being indifferent to discarding chunks of my initial draft and not to mention great for my editing skills, but I will never, personally, edit it again. Nosireebob. But it was great; for while I will always overwrite an initial draft, for I feel they should be, I will recognise where NOT to go from the outset.

    (ps; no actual kittycats were harmed in the making of that book).

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Thanks for your words, me hearties! and don't forget to leave a link to your blog somewhere I can find it!