There was a plan....
Mar. 29th, 2013 08:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
liminal_spaceI had hoped to get a lot more writing done over break, but it didn't happen. The putzing around, cleaning, shopping, and just recharging left me rather...unproductive. That's a good word right there: unproductive.
Yesterday I finally was able to sit at the typewriter (for reals -- a typewriter!) and crank out 90% of the short story that's been firmly lodged in my brain since I decided on the project I want to work on. I'm too close to it right now, it's a very rough rough draft, but it has some serious chops.
I do have a worry, and this is where you writing people are requested to come in and help me. I'm soliciting advice, which is something I rarely if ever do about my writing for a variety of reasons.
For this particular piece, I will need to rewrite a few portions of it to make sure the timeline and narrative remains true and believable. I will also need to add some meat to the story's bones. For me, editing of any type is difficult -- when ever I have something I've written in front of me and am trying to better it, I feel mired down and like my wheels are spinning. If you have some suggestions on how to get quality rewrite/additions in to a completed piece, I'd be very appreciative.
For what it's worth, I have found that if I walk away for awhile and come back to it, I see it with better eyes, but I've also lost the SPARK that I have when writing it. Maybe that's a good thing for proofreading, but I am not sure if it's so groovy when you're editing/adding. :(
So, halp? Chicken good!
...
Beloved is coming home today! =D I AM SO HAPPY!!!!! He probably won't get here until around midnight, but I'll be up waiting. He's going to be so flummoxed from tired that we'll just get a hug and squeeze, but that will be fine. He'll be home.
Tomorrow's his birthday, so we're going to do something nice for that, and Sunday I'm putting us all to work in the garden. We're going to try to get the beds ready for planting and then on Monday, we can put some tomato plants in. I NEED MY MATERS. With all his talk of fried green tomatoes, I need me some stat.
Monday will be the last day of vacation, then it's back to school. The next official break will be summer vacation (!!!), but I'm planning on taking two days in late April/early May for Dland. Must. Have. The. Mouse.
...
Today is a good, good day. :)
Yesterday I finally was able to sit at the typewriter (for reals -- a typewriter!) and crank out 90% of the short story that's been firmly lodged in my brain since I decided on the project I want to work on. I'm too close to it right now, it's a very rough rough draft, but it has some serious chops.
I do have a worry, and this is where you writing people are requested to come in and help me. I'm soliciting advice, which is something I rarely if ever do about my writing for a variety of reasons.
For this particular piece, I will need to rewrite a few portions of it to make sure the timeline and narrative remains true and believable. I will also need to add some meat to the story's bones. For me, editing of any type is difficult -- when ever I have something I've written in front of me and am trying to better it, I feel mired down and like my wheels are spinning. If you have some suggestions on how to get quality rewrite/additions in to a completed piece, I'd be very appreciative.
For what it's worth, I have found that if I walk away for awhile and come back to it, I see it with better eyes, but I've also lost the SPARK that I have when writing it. Maybe that's a good thing for proofreading, but I am not sure if it's so groovy when you're editing/adding. :(
So, halp? Chicken good!
...
Beloved is coming home today! =D I AM SO HAPPY!!!!! He probably won't get here until around midnight, but I'll be up waiting. He's going to be so flummoxed from tired that we'll just get a hug and squeeze, but that will be fine. He'll be home.
Tomorrow's his birthday, so we're going to do something nice for that, and Sunday I'm putting us all to work in the garden. We're going to try to get the beds ready for planting and then on Monday, we can put some tomato plants in. I NEED MY MATERS. With all his talk of fried green tomatoes, I need me some stat.
Monday will be the last day of vacation, then it's back to school. The next official break will be summer vacation (!!!), but I'm planning on taking two days in late April/early May for Dland. Must. Have. The. Mouse.
...
Today is a good, good day. :)
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no subject
Date: 2013-03-29 05:06 pm (UTC)It might help to have someone else read it. Not just anyone, though... a friend who can approach the story thoughtfully, going in with the intention of asking you questions (to identify holes). That's one way to do it... sometimes another pair of eyes will help spark something deeper within you, to make the edits quality.
Another thing that might help... try writing *different* things from your main character('s') point of view. So... if your lead is a woman, what kind of journal entry would she write? How would she react to a bad day, or someone cutting her off in traffic, or whatever? What emotional tragedy has she not dealt with, and how is it coming back to haunt her? That can often spark telling more to a person's story... but you can do this with the setting, and with character relationships, too.
If you took your characters out of the setting of your work... and put them in some completely different setting, what would they talk about? What history do they have?
Same with setting... what other things have happened in that setting besides your story?
Sometimes, stepping out of the work helps you take a deeper dive to get back into it.
no subject
Date: 2013-03-31 05:46 pm (UTC)I really, really wish I had a reader. I did have one, but we parted ways. The others in my life are either too close to me (you notice how there are folks that will just be all I LOVE IT!!! and give you nothing else?) or not...able to approach a text in a critical way.
That sounds so snobby. :(
no subject
Date: 2013-03-31 05:47 pm (UTC)Yep, that's it. I think I may start looking for a writing group, but I really hate bad readers. Good writers can be bad, bad readers. Ugh.
:) Thank you so much for the input!
no subject
Date: 2013-03-31 05:48 pm (UTC)