Category: blogging

Revising Once, Revising Twice…Going, Going…Keep Going! It’s Worth it

On By dotluvs2writeIn blogging, Fiction Writing, Writing TechniquesLeave a comment

Michener-rewriting

How many times have you revised your novel before you think it’s in pristine shape for the publishing process?  A dozen times?  Fifty times? A hundred times? There’s no end, right? It feels that way often.

Author, Roald Dahl, says of this subject, “By the time I am nearing the end of a story, the first part will have been reread and altered and corrected at least one hundred and fifty times. I am suspicious of both facility and speed. Good writing is essentially rewriting. I am positive of this.”

So, how many times have I revised my stories?  I’m not really sure.  Perhaps a dozen times total? Teetering on the barely-broken-in writing scale. But it’s all good.  Some writers may not need to revise their work dozens or hundreds of times.

With that said, I’m back to revising my novel, Passage of Promise.  Yes, my first novel I wrote back in 2015.  I’m back at it after the last editing, proofing, and editorial suggestions from my editor (second round?).

show don't tell book cover

Since reading through half of the Understanding Show, Don’t Tell (And Really Getting It) book so far…and I will finish it soon…I truly do understand it for the most part and can see the difference in my sentences and wording through my latest revisions.  I’m strengthening my scenes, character traits, and dialogue.

But I must admit.  A part of me has this urge to turn the story on its head, change it up drastically. Yet, another part of me says don’t jump in the deep, murky water.  You’ll get pulled into the endless, bottomless sea.

I’ve got to resist the waves of temptation and focus on making the story sharper, deeper, and stronger with the plot, characters, and scenes posing in proud, unique form on the stage of my make-believe world.

I may have to run it through the critiquing group again, which means my thirty-nine chapters will travel through the queue for the next few months, but it’s worth it.

My editor said it wouldn’t hurt. People’s feedback may give me a different direction or new ideas, and of course, in the critique realm, I take some of the suggestions that work and discard others that don’t.

I heard some authors have spent five to ten years on one book.  That’s a huge chunk of time, but when you want your work to be its best, three, five, or even ten years may be in order.  J.R.R. Tolkien labored twelve years on his book, Lord of the Rings, before it was published.

lord of the rings wizard book cover

I don’t think it’ll take ten or twelve years to finish my novel, especially since my novel has considerably less words than Tolkien’s sequel to The Hobbit. Also, in my case, a stressful deadline doesn’t exist, whereas it does for some others.

This fresh return to my novel fell on the heels of my novella’s (Mourning Dove) feedback journey through my critique group the past several weeks, counting this one and next week.  I’ll then collect all the comments, remarks, suggestions and work on revising it.

What made me delve back into the revision process of my stories? I am presently reading a book by my muse, Jodi Picoult. THANK YOU, JODI!  Keep writing! 🙂

What are you working on, how long have you been working on it, and what’s your average number of revisions?

 

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Bogged Down in the Mechanics and Rules of Writing?

On By dotluvs2writeIn blogging, Fiction Writing, Inspirational, Musings2 Comments

help key pic

Do you feel like all the writing rules are killing your creativity and ability to write?  If so, this blog post by Lauren Sapala is a must read:

 

STUCK WITH YOUR STORY? WHY YOU KEEP HITTING WALLS AND DEAD ENDS IN YOUR WRITING

For the longest time I had major problems doing revisions on my writing. It seemed so easy for everyone else. Why was it so hard for me? Of course, I also had trouble writing. I hardly ever experienced that state of “effortless flow” everyone talked about, in which the words just magically spewed out of me down onto the page. For years—a lot  of years—I felt like something was wrong with me. I felt like I was a failure as a writer.

Then, I discovered something.

It wasn’t that there was something wrong with me, it was that the way I approached my writing was all wrong. Traditional writing wisdom set out a bunch of rules that didn’t help me, that I knew. But what I didn’t realize was that traditional writing wisdom had also implanted a mindset within me that was completely distorted, a skewed perspective that didn’t fit at all into my personal growth as an artist.

For the rest, go here.

 

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Forgotten Peace

On By dotluvs2writeIn blogging, Cultural and Political, Musings, Past Life Activities, poetry6 Comments

dark, collapse of world pic

 

Forgotten Peace

 

After the attack in September,

At the beginning of the century, remember,

 

Rage, sorrow, shock gripped all,

Our leaders swore vengeance that fall.

 

A hunt for the guilty and countries harboring them,

All this discovered within hours of the mayhem.

 

All aircraft grounded that day,

But the bin Laden family jetted away.

 

Our troops sent to Afghanistan,

Tracking bin Laden and Taliban,

 

Followed by invasion, war in Iraq,

later realized WMD story not fact.

 

Destroyed, lost lives and land,

By our leaders’ hands.

 

Yet Saudi Arabia, country where terrorists were harbored?

Overlooked, excused, forgotten, ignored.

 

Years later, Libya’s harsh leader killed,

The fledgling democracy, gold currency stilled,

 

Replaced by sex slavery and despair,

For which our leaders don’t care.

 

In Syria, we armed the same September killers,

Morphing into “moderate rebels” for army fillers.

 

Now, we’re arming Saudi Arabia, got their back,

The producer of the September attack,

 

Bombing, murdering hundreds of civilians,

Many of which are children.

 

Seventeen years of killing, destruction, obliteration.

For what? We ask in contemplation.

 

Profits, Resources,

Through our forces.

 

If our government cared and respected life,

it wouldn’t be invading, causing bloody strife.

 

Using billions of dollars on bombs, weapons, war,

In lieu of healthcare, jobs, green energy to soar.

 

PEACE is no longer a word or actions.

Only GREED, POWER, and FACTIONS.

 

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*I’m far from a poet.  I don’t usually write poetry but felt compelled to write this.