Blog Posts in "editing"

<< Previous Page

Next Page >>

Clicking along on bright rails

Posted at 20:43:00 on Tue, October 17th 2006 by graham
in: editing nanowrimo writing

252 / 333 (75.7%)

Just eighty-one pages to go. Well, probably. I can't remember whether or not, somewhere in those eighty-one pages, I've written a message in caps to myself, telling me that I need to fill a bit in. In fact, I've just come across one such note at the end of page 252, which tells me that I need to connect the chapter it concludes with the beginning of the chapter following it; considering that they take place four hundred-odd miles apart and contain the same characters, that's quite an important bit that I need to write. One for Nero again, I think. I still get the distinct feeling that I'm going about this all ass-backwards (as an aside, I've recently discovered yet another thing to love about the Python programming language: mod_python, one of several ways of integrating Python with your Apache server, has an option in one of its Request class called assbackwards. Just thought you should know). Ordinarily you'd expect to write a novel, make sure it told the story that you wanted it to tell, and then go back and fix the actual words. In this case I've fixed the words and found that I need to rearrange the story (for example I've found that some pretty cool bad guys were essentially wasted on this novel; they'd be much better elsewhere and as such will be excised from the plot). I'd like to think that this is all because this is a first novel, planned very little in a very short space of time with an 'if I don't do it now I never will' mentality (largely an accurate one, I feel) and written mostly in a rush in November 2005. I'm not trying to blame NaNo - on the contrary I'm grateful for the kick up the arse it gave me - but I think perhaps it wasn't the best way to approach a full novel because it's left a lot of things needing to be fixed. No matter, fixed shall these things be. And novel the second will be better planned out from the start, I think.

Listen Incoming links Comment on this post

One of the good bits

Posted at 19:53:00 on Wed, October 11th 2006 by graham
in: editing novel writing

222 / 333 (66.7%)

After last night, when I did no editing whatsoever because I was, to put it mildly, in a blue funk, tonight came as a pleasant surprise. Tonight I got to edit one of the really good bits, one of those bits that doesn't need a lot of editing because it's almost perfect but which nevertheless shines out like a well-polished gemstone when you're done tweaking and shaping. I've finally realised what the big problems with this story are:

I wrote the first half of it too quickly (probably because of the pressures of NaNo) and so didn't think hard enough about what I was writing and how it would affect the story later.
The first half happens too slowly. I spent so long trying to make it mysterious that I forgot I actually needed to move the plot along. As a result the first half of a book is a very stop-start affair, full of unnecessary fluff that could be dispensed with and replaced by something slicker and more enjoyable.

Fixing those problems, though, is a task for later. I've got to finish the first round of edits first, then I'm going to write the plot out scene by scene and shuffle it around until it's the best it can be. That's the plan anyway. Whether I should do that before or after starting on the second novel I don't know. My gut tells me that I should do it before, get it out of the way, and not start writing novel number two until I've got Muse out to (gasp of fear) its first readers¹; maybe after Christmas, depending on how things take shape. So, no NaNo for me then. But this is good. It feels like a turning point, one of those nights where I can say that I really am a writer and I really did write this novel. And I realise now what I need to do differently the second time around. Know the plot for a start. ¹ I don't actually know who these people are yet. Watch this space.

Listen Incoming links Comment on this post

The Glue

Posted at 14:05:00 on Sat, September 23rd 2006 by graham
in: computing editing programming writing

15 / 333 (4.5%)

Someone has poured glue into my head. Whoever they are, I wish they hadn't, but it's here to stay for a while and it does not, let me tell you, make life any easier. Editing is out for the time being. I managed to get through two pages of Muse before the glue stopped me; trying to work out a way around the fact that whoever built Gloucester Road and Embankment tube stations rather inconsiderately did it in such a way as to make them nothing like they are in my head was apparently too much for my epoxy-filled brain, and it gave up, giving me a splitting headache, which would only go away if I lay down whilst agreeing its terms of surrender. So, editing not being an option - and the fact that I haven't had the time to do any this week because of the pressures of work is not making me happier about this - I've decided to do some programming instead, which I find rather easier. Getting a computer to do what you want is, in the end, fairly straightforward. All you have to do is get the right instructions in the right order. It's certainly a damn sight easier than trying to make Gloucester Road tube station be the venue you want it to be when it quite clearly isn't anything of the sort. Damn London Underground architects.

Listen Incoming links Comment on this post

Back to the beginning

Posted at 21:30:00 on Mon, September 11th 2006 by graham
in: editing

11 / 333 (3.3%)

Oh well. At least I've started, which is something. The editing was more brutal than the last time, I think. I was more willing to cut the bits that made it wordy, and better still the bits that made it boring. I'm still afraid that I'm going to cut out a really funny bit, but the more I read this manuscript the more I realise that the story itself isn't particularly funny, at least not the way I've told it. I don't know if that's a good thing or not. I guess we'll find out. I'm in London until Thursday, so posting is likely to be... well, I was going to say sporadic, but if anything it's likely to be more verbose than usual if past experience is anything to go by. Shame the hotel doesn't have wireless. Expect pictures, anyway. See you all when I get back. Don't die horribly or anything.

Listen Incoming links Comment on this post

94

Posted at 16:42:00 on Sat, September 09th 2006 by graham
in: editing

94 pages done, 239 pages to go. Bien.

I have the nagging feeling, though, that I'm missing something. It's almost as if, footling around with the words as I am, I'm not seeing the big picture of plot and story and character.

I know there are sections - huge great wodges, in fact - of the manuscript that I'm going to have to toss out, but I'm also well aware that having never done this before on such a large scale I might inadvertently miss sections of prose that, to put it simply, people will not want to read. Am I presenting enough motivation for my characters? Are they three-dimensional enough to be believable? Are they too alike each other to stand out on the page?

It bothers me, I must confess.

Another, related question has been praying on my mind: Have I gone too fine-grained too fast? Should I have worried about the story first and then fixed the language later? I suppose not; the story will be better adjusted once it reads right, I think. At the moment I'm rearranging the building blocks to make everything sturdier. I can move the buildings around later on.

Listen Incoming links Comment on this post

<< Previous Page

Next Page >>

Search

Latest Twitter

New blog post Twitters for 2008-08-20 http://tinyurl.com/58j8fv 2008-08-20 23:15:28 (More)

Launchpad Bugs

Post Categories

10mm 15th of july upload amusing animals atheism august9upload august 9 upload autoportrait bass bbc bird blackandwhite blogging blogs buildings canonical caton church colourised computing cricket d300 d40x desaturated django editing flickr flower forestofbowland from the inbox funny general heysham home humour in the news lancashire lancaster landscape launchpad links linux london lune may 12th upload me monochrome morecambe morecambebay music nanowrimo nature news new site night norfolk norfolkbroads novel novel-the-second observations pendle people photography podcasts posts that started out differently programming python quotes ranting reading reflection religion science sea selfportrait sepia shadows sigma1020mm silliness sky stupidity sunset texture thoughts three hundred and sixty-odd days of 2008 travel tree twitter ubuntu warren ellis, internet jesus water work writing writing ideas

Previous entries

About

Graham Binns is a writer, photographer, musician and software developer from Lancaster, England, with far too much hair, a penchant for odd t-shirts and a magnificent hat. He has been making things up for as long as he can remember and has been making code work for long enough to make a living from it.

He has written one novel, which is in the process of composting, and is working remembering how to write before embarking on a second. In the meantime, he photographs things, since it's easier not to have to make the world up in his head all of the time.