It’s the middle of April. So how am I doing on my major project for the year, which is to revise the first book of my high fantasy trilogy, so I can get it ready for submission?
I mean, it’s going okay. Am I as far as I wanted to be at this point? No, but a lot of that is because I needed to finish my novella draft and I didn’t get that done until February.
And then there was Pirates of Penzance, and the cruise…but really that’s just excuses.
Anyway.
I’m kind of a lightweight outliner when it comes to first drafts, but when it comes to revision, I strongly believe in knowing exactly what I’m changing, and to what, and where, and why.
(The idea is to minimize the amount of drafts, she says as she has lost track of the amount of drafts this book is on.)
(Though, to be fair, the most recent draft is the only one I went into where I’d outlined the revision before hand. Earlier versions I hadn’t come up with my revision process yet and hence were somewhat haphazard.)
So I decided, after my readthrough of the draft, that the best thing to do would be to make a chapter guide, with the thought that then I could go back in later and make notes about what changes should go into each chapter once I knew what was in each chapter.
I got about half a chapter doing that, then went–well, why shouldn’t I write down notes as I go? Save myself some time later.
So I did that for about nine chapters, but then I realized that there’s three main plot threads that need to run through the entire book in one way or another. If left to my own devices, I tend to do what I call subplot bunching, where I will focus on one subplot for a bit, then switch to another, and so on, and what happens is that plot threads get dropped for a while and the flow of the book is off.
As this is the first book of a trilogy, as you can imagine the plot threads are quite a bit more complicated than they are for a standalone novel.
ANYWAY, so I went back in and started making notes related to my three major plot threads and whether or not they were currently present, and what they looked like. And I think, after I finish my chapter summaries, I will need to map out how each plot thread needs to progress to make sure everything is moving and makes sense.
Because, of course, rearranging the plot points like we talked about will fix some problems, but it does create others. Chapter Six, for example. I thought I’d just be able to take it out, since I’d moved the main plot point in it before the story started, but it also includes a major reveal about one of my plot threads. So now I’ve either got to think of a new chapter six (potentially doable, though nothing is currently coming to mind) or I’ve got to figure out where else that reveal has to go (and it has to be chapter six or before), and I will need to know my progression to make that decision.
Yay.
Is this the most efficient way to work? Probably not.
And I am thinking that, despite the best laid plans of mice and men, I will need to print out at least the first third of the book and edit on paper. And…probably rewrite some of the chapters. The first one definitely. Maybe Chapter Six, depending on what it ends up being. Most of Lana’s point of view because she’s half the problem with everything.
Whee. Double yay.
The good news is that my revision deadline for the novella keeps moving back, so I’ve got more time to work on this now than originally planned. And my SkillShare class is going pretty well, so the hope is that I can get that done and then spend all my attentions on the revision.
How are your goals for the year going, squider? Making good progress? Run into issues?
