My revisions end up being longer than the original, though I know many writers say that a draft always need to be cut significantly. I do cut, but I add more than I cut, apparently.

I’d like to hear from other writers. Is your revised material on average longer or shorter than your original draft?

One of the recurrent difficulties I’m having just now is the inability to solve old narrative problems in new ways. My brain is strangely resistant to coming up with new answers to problems I have already answered.

It goes like this:

Maybe I’ll write a scene where Marie encounters her arch-nemesis Fred at the bank where she works as a teller. She knows it’s him because she reads his name in the account information. But no, I later realize, that’s wrong. This is a Labor Day story! The bank would be closed. So, where can she meet him, and learn his identity? Where? Where, where, where? Hmmm… where?

Oh, I know! says my brain. I have it!

She sees him at the bank! He comes in to deposit his paycheck and she reads the name off of his account. Because she’s a teller! Isn’t that brilliant?!

Brain! I say. You’re not helping. Be quiet and just let me think! Now where can she meet him? Hmmm…

At the bank! says my brain.

And so on. When I write a scene one way, it’s as though it cements that way in my imagination. And if it doesn’t work, I have to mentally wrestle a new scanario from my brain. And believe me, wrestle is the exact word for it.

Writing fatigue? Time to move on to a new story?

Yep, I have them - compounded today with the Sunday blues! I’m in survival mode now: first survive January, then survive February, then survive March, and so it goes for every me, every year.

Anyway, I thought I should post an update on my writing, even if it’s just a record for my future self to read on some warm spring day. And I thought I should put in place some deadlines for myself, in order to insure that I complete these projects. No, I don’t really think fake deadlines are any more effective than the other tricks I play on myself, like making my alarm clock run 15 minutes ahead, or hiding away fifty dollars for when I need it, while pretending I don’t know I have it. But maybe posting my fake deadlines here in an open forum will bring the full force of public shame upon my head if I fail to meet stated deadlines. So with that bright hope, here goes:

Beamstar - That’s my sf novel about killer satellites. I completed the draft months ago, and for writing it by the seat of my pants, I was happy with the way it turned out. But it needs revision (aka, lots of rewriting) and I am not doing it, not now. The deadline here is a bit hazy: 2009.

Short stories – I’m working simultaneously on two, which is something I usually don’t do. They’re both fantasy, though one has sf elements. Deadline: the end of January for both.

And… drumroll… 

A new novel! Yes, that’s right! I don’t really  have a title that I like yet (I keep trying out titles, then rejecting them), but it is a fantasy. I’m using the snowflake method to develop the story. I first heard about this last summer from Mary Garcia and I’ve wanted to try it ever since. I’m on Step-5 right now, and it’s going very well so far. My goal here is to complete up to Step-9 by the end of January (though I’m not sure about using spreadsheets) and then to begin writing in February, sticking to a strict word-quota plan. Once the actual writing begins, I will publicly state my deadline for completion of the first draft.

So that’s it. Please feel free to heap scorn upon me if I fail to meet my made-up deadlines.

One of the problems (actually, the biggest problem) I’m having with the revision project is the whole issue of character motivation. The protagonist’s actions get him into trouble, and as the author, I know why he does what he does (or at least I thought I did), but I don’t think it would be clear to a reader. Likewise with the villains, and really (let me be honest) the entire cast of minor characters. Why do any of them do what they do? What determines motivation? So basically, I’m facing the task of not just revising what I already wrote, but actually writing in new information, even entire new scenes.

E. Hartshorn over at Random Walks toward Publishing has started an interesting discussion about revising your fiction in order to sharpen character motivation. If this is an issue for you too, then you should go over and read what she has to say.

I have divided my novel into five segments of roughly 20,000 words each, and at this moment I am keeping only the first segment on my computer. The other sections are stored elsewhere. I am going through it scene by scene, and I’m sad to report that very few scenes are fine the way they are. I’m finding that certain scenes need to be partially or fully rewritten, while most others need some kind of alteration. Most of this alteration involves deeping the characters and providing a little more backstory on them in order to shed light on current motives and increase reader interest. Anyway, I think (I hope!) this process will go more quickly as I progress through the sections of the book.

One thing about my draft that I am now changing is the relationship between the hero and the villain. The villain is actually much older than the hero, and I am adding details to show that the two have an important connection that goes back almost to the beginning of the hero’s life, and of which the hero is only partially aware. As the story unfolds, the full truth of this relationship is revealed to the reader, and of course, the hero has to discover it as well. I think this adds another layer of interest to the story.

And NO, in case you’re thinking it, the villain does not turn out to be the hero’s father!

I did some world-building before, but not to the extent I should have. More or less, I plunged into my plot without building the world. I believed that the necessary details of the world would come during the process of writing, and to a degree they did. But I think there is some depth missing with respect to the traditions, history, culture, etc. in which my characters live and breathe. So I am now working out those details, but I haven’t begun to actually TYPE over my draft, which means I haven’t revised anything. Anyway, what I have learned is: next time, build the stage before putting characters on it. My next novel will be called Six Worlds (I think, but is that title too boring?) and some details are already dancing  around in my head. I resolve not to start it until I am through with the current WIP, but it’s very distracting. So, back to building the world of Beamstar.

…at the draft.

After a month-long break (okay, okay, more than a month!) I’m back. And of course, I’m talking about Beamstar. There’s just so much work to do, and I hardly know how to go about it! I’ve divided the novel into five sections of about 20,000 words each, and I’m taking them one at a time. I’m only using pen on paper now, listing all the things that must be added, deepened, explained. I do not consider this writing, or even revising. I consider that I am wasting time.

Ah, well.

Major areas needing revision in the first part of the novel: world-building, character motives, and backstory.

I’ll be posting about the revision process here, but with less frequency than I posted during the summer. I do enjoy writing about writing, but I’m busier now than I was then, and the blog is of lower priority than actually working on the book.

I just hope it doesn’t take long, because I am sick of living in the world of Beamstar and I want to move on. Other worlds await.

I purchased this workbook to help with the revision of my novel. The title is Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook, but it’s geared toward revision rather than writing, as it assumes you already have a completed draft to work with. This workbook is meant to accompany a book with the same title, but it seems to have all the same information, so I felt that it was sufficient in itself. The 34 chapters offer advice on developing character, plot and technique. I’m still reading it through, but it looks as though it may prove helpful.

Does anyone know of any other good resources for the revision process?