How goes my revision?
Well, I’m glad you asked.
Yesterday I finished going through Book 1. At the very end, there’s a note that the story will be continued in Book 2.
I sat there, and I said to myself, “Don’t do it, Kit. Stop here. We have to get this book done, and you know what happens in Book 2.”
And then I opened Book 2 and read it anyway.
And, at that point, I figured I might as well read Book 3. And then I really enjoyed Book 3, so I went back and re-read the end again.
This is counterproductive, and yet, every time I work on any of the books it happens. That’s part of what is so infuriating about having to work on Book 1 yet again. Most of the story? Good. Great, even. My betas for Book 3 universally told me they stayed up too late reading. So I know if I can just get the beginning of Book 1 in shape, I should be able to reach my goals with the trilogy.
So why is getting the beginning of Book 1 in shape so damn hard?
Sigh.
Of course, Books 2 and 3 aren’t perfect. They both reference events that no longer happen in the most recent draft of Book 1 and don’t reference new events. Book 2 has structural problems and everyone’s just slightly out of character. But there’s also not a lot of use working on them if Book 1 doesn’t get done.
(In case people are wondering why they’re out of character in Book 2 but not Book 3, my writing of the trilogy has gone something like:
- Write Book 1
- Write Book 2
- Rewrite Book 1
- Rewrite Book 2
- Write Book 3
- Rewrite Book 1
So the current draft of Book 2 is actually the oldest existent draft and I did some plot work between it and when I wrote Book 3. This list also doesn’t include non-complete drafts. Yay. I’ve been working on this trilogy for SO LONG.)
Anyway, I’ve dragged myself out of the later books and am back to working on Book 1. I spent some time today writing out the main subplots as well as my antagonist motivations, which was less helpful than I was hoping but may have value in the future.
The last step before I get to actually revising is to go through Holly Lisle’s 7-Day Crash Revision course. I’ve told you guys before that I use a modified version of Holly’s How to Revise Your Novel process for my revisions, and the crash course came with that class, back whenever I bought it. I’ve never used it, though, but the idea is that it’s for a quick revision when you have a deadline, and she recommends only using it on a project that has already gone through a major revision.
Book 1 has been through my major revision process, so I thought I’d run through the crash course with it and see if there’s any value.
I am aware that this is me procrastinating the revision yet again, but I do want to make sure I have everything in place so that this is, finally, the last revision. So I don’t think it will hurt to use the resources at hand.
I also need to decide how much of the book to print out for the paper edit. First nine or ten chapters, I’m thinking. As I mentioned before, I think past there the book is more solid (aside from a side plot that kind of goes nowhere that I need to poke at) and needs only tweaks. My print shop left me (moved twenty minutes away) so I may just stick it on a flash drive and go to Fedex/Kinko’s for that.
(I am aware that Kinko’s is no longer in the name anywhere, but I am set in my ways and here we are.)
This is kind of ridiculous. I want to work on this, but I am also scared of working on this. It is very frustrating and I wish I would get on with it a bit faster. It’s just…I’ve been working on this project for so long, and it’s very important to me, and I just want to get it done right, and yet I’m also unsure if I’m going to get it done right.
auuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugggghhhhh
Anyway, how are you? How are things going?
