The Wood Beyond The World Forum Revision

Adam brought it up, and Scribble and Bill have already commented in the character development thread, but I think it deserves a thread of its own.

I'm living the agony of major revision right now. Have been for some time. It's as great an undertaking as writing a complete first draft.

I revise constantly even in that so-called first draft -- sentences mostly. I insist on getting each sentence right, and re-read frequently. Even major revising still incorporates sentence revision, word-choice, etc. I have a harder time with chapters. Mostly the story needs to be written, and it pours out pretty quickly, and chapters end when it seems convenient. I've tried to set myself a limit of 3000 words per chapter since I completed the first draft of True Minds, with it's overblown 7000 word (and more) chapters. If I have to go a bit longer or shorter I don't mind, however. I'm not very good with structure -- I like to leave it for last, in a way. Get the story out, then tweak and cut and rearrange as necessary. I never really thought about making each chapter perform in a certain way, but Bill's mentioned that so often that I'm giving the concept some attention now.

I know what you are talking about, Leah! Based on reviews last year on my first two completed volumes, I saw a major problem. The POVs changed from chapter to chapter (which was necessary) but they started to sound the same, in a weird way.

So I decided to break-up the narrative into sections, each one focusing on one specific POV,. Which has lead to major headaches, heartaches and beating my head against the wall.

It is difficult to go back to your baby. Even with the comments from reviewers here and on urbis, I have a hard time to look at that printed page and edit. That is why I agree with Stephen King.

Late last year, I was having problems so I put my stuff aside. I didn't look at it for months. I focused on research and some short stories. So a month ago, when I dove back into A House Fractured, I was fresh.

It still wasn't easy. The first chapter needed some major revision but I didn't want to do it. I loved the way it started and thought it just needed tweaking. So I took the pages to my local brewpub, sat down, had a pint and focused on it.

Instead of writing notes on the printed paper, I pulled out my lined paper and pencil and started "fresh". Suddenly, as if I was writing a new chapter, ideas came. In the end, most of the chapter hasn't changed but some details makes it work much better.

And I doing the same for the next two chapters and I am happy with the way things are flowing. So I will actually have the first three chapters of A House Fractured up and running in an another week or so.

Anyway, what I find works for me, be it the novel or short stories, is to put it aside for something like 6 months. Put in a drawer in your desk. Avoid all temptations to go back to it. Focus on new material. You don't have a time limit here. So when you return to your stuff, your mind-set is different, the seasons have changed. You are more receptive to taking that chain-saw to dead wood.