Sunday 23 February 2014

Revision report: SQUEAKY #1



Hi everyone. Here's a report on how my revisions are going.

I had decided to work on revising SQUEAKY, and I've done a bit so far. I'm up to page 32, but the whole process just isn't feeling right. I think I have the first chapter in pretty good shape (from past revisions), but the rest of the time I'm sort of revising but also knowing I should probably read the whole chapter, decide what to do, and then revise in great detail. I guess I feel that I've just been "surface revising", changing wording, removing the occasional sentence, but not really looking at the overall structure. That won't work in the long run.

So I think I need to change tack. I want to tackle one chapter at a time (sounds obvious, right?), and work on that chapter until I really feel that I have it in good shape. That isn't usually how I work, in that I will go through a whole novel and have an idea of what needs to be done in future, while doing more of the "surface revision" sort of thing. I always know that there will be another round of editing later, so sometimes I might leave the real "digging in" work until the next round. But I don't see the point of that, really. So I'm going to hit the brakes, switch into reverse, and start over.

Of course, March is nearly here, and I wanted to revise another project during that month. All that matters for NaNoEdMo is that you put in 50 hours of editing, so I guess I could technically spend 50 hours editing one single chapter and still "win". :P I'd rather not do that, though. I want to get more done than just one chapter!

I hope you're all going well with your various projects.

8 comments:

  1. That's a lot of time on one chapter. Hope you're able to do far more.

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  2. Editing and revising is so challenging! What works for one book won't always work for another. Good luck!

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  3. In awe. Keep fightin' the good fight, Trisha!

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  4. Sounds like you are keeping busy and making progress. Best of luck on your book! ♥

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  5. That's how I work! I totally work in chapters at a time and don't move on until I'm happy with a chapter. Great job revising, Trish---it's such hard work. Keep the momentum! You're doing it!

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  6. Sounds like we have similar issues when it comes to revisions. I have never really come up with a system that works well for me, and I tend to do amy of the same things you described above.

    Keep plugging away though. I'm sure you'll get it right... then teach me.

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  7. I've had a few chapters like that in my second novel. Sometimes, we just need to dig into the details.
    Happy writing and revising!

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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!