People often ask me how I write, what my process is, and I’ve tried throughout the many years of this blog to tell you straight. So here is the next instalment on the development of Novel 3.
To bring recent viewers up to date, and to remind my longtime supporters, I discussed:
* what it felt like this time to finish writing the first draft here
* preparing to read it through here
* what it felt like while reading it through here
Now to discuss what happened next.
The original plan was to read it and not make any changes, just make margin notes about what changes should be made and where. Not surprisingly, that proved impossible. Inevitably, when I was reading the text the additional necessary sentence(s) was there in my head so of course, I wrote it down. But I did also have my notebook beside me and I made a note after reading each chapter about how I thought it went — Was it paced correctly? Were there any discrepancies in character? Were facts wrong? Did some events or ideas need “unpacking”? So although I did make some changes as I read, I did manage to read it through as quickly as I could, trying to read it as I would read someone else’s novel. I had said that when I finished writing the last word, I felt more numb than happy. This time, I felt much better. I’ll admit that I had my moments of despair as I read thinking “Oh my God, what drivel. This is so boring” etc. But then there were other times when I dropped the manuscript into my lap and shouted (to myself) “Yippee! I’m a genius!” I, of course, then realised that neither extreme was the case and by the end of the read-through I felt satisfied. I felt like these long months of work may, indeed, have produced something of potential value.
Next step was to go through it again, chapter by chapter, making all the changes I had discovered needed to be made. The plan was just to go to each page and do the rewrite, but instead, I started at the beginning a second time and read through word by word again, while writing new bits or cutting old bits out. So much for that plan….It worked well, though, because I had an even better sense of the book this time and could tell that the changes I was making were, in fact, working. Out of this effort came a new title, too. You may remember my discussion of a while back about the difficulty of finding a title. Well, it’s not getting any easier and although I divulged the secret title of this new novel a few posts ago as being Perfection and Ruin, I have now decided that a better title would be
Between Perfection and Ruin
Oh, the difference one word can make.
So am I done? Not really. You see, I write everything out longhand, so now I have to go through the manuscript again, typing in all the changes I have just made. Inevitably, that will lead to another full read through. But then, and only then, will I have something to show my editor, something whose file on my computer will be called Draft 2.
Voila!
I like the new title, you’re right that one word makes a big difference. I’m a bit envious of your awareness about what you do. When you write it out, the familiarity rings and I recognise I do similar things but I’m not quite as conscious of it. You remind me to pay better attention.