Goblins Can Never Stop Me

The whispering begins somewhere unseen, faint but tangible like the sound of leaves dropping in the slow autumn wind. - Opening line from my Goblin Market manuscript.

After months of reworking a manuscript that I had first attempted more than two years ago, this past weekend I finally completed my second draft. Three years is certainly the longest space of time between first and second drafts that I've ever experienced. Given the time that had gone by, the rewrites were extensive. 

A story cannot stay the unchanged when the storyteller continues to grow and learn. This is one of the hardest parts of trying to "finish" a project, because every time you look at it, you are seeing it through different eyes. In this case, the view was extraordinarily different. Thankfully the base structure of the tale was inspired from source material, otherwise I probably would scrapped the whole thing after a three year layoff. 

Though the plot changed, quite drastically in some places, it was the tone that I concentrated on altering. Sometimes that can be an even harder process. Seeing as how I tend to scrutinize every sentence, phrase, and word, changing the tone through the course of an entire novel can get a little exhausting. But alas, I made it the end. Now I just have to read through it and make sure I've achieved what I set out to do.

Even the Sky Changes Colors

I've been working on the second draft of a novel for a few months now, and I knew going into this rewrite that the last third of the manuscript was problematic. I wasn't quite sure how it needed to change, just that it did. My hope was that by cleaning up the first two-thirds, the rest of the story would come together in a new and exciting way. 

While I still don't have a clear path to the end, I can say with certainty that the mess is a little less muddled. When writing something new, it's quite easy to loose track of which themes are the crucial ones and which are just curiosities that intrigued me as I went along. Second drafts are good for that. They focus you on the core elements of the story and guide it along in a concise way that makes for better reading. 

As I enter this last phase, I'm feeling confident. Often my initial distaste for a first draft stems from too many tangents. Snipping them away in a clean fashion usually produces the results I'm looking for.

Palling Around with Past Demons

Over the past week, I've really begun to dive into the novel manuscript that I left to whither on a shelf for the past two years. Though I've been working on it off and on since the fall, it's only been the last several days where I've had the chance to gain some momentum on the second draft. I have to admit, I'm truly loving this story.

In the past, I've talked about the peculiar affliction that often happens once I've finished the first draft of a novel. In short, I usually end up hating every word. After becoming so submerged in the words for so long, it's impossible not to feel as though you're drowning in them. Typically I push past that infection and plow ahead to the second draft. Due to many circumstances that hardly seem worthy of mention, that was not the case with this manuscript and it was set aside. 

I remember reading it after the first draft and, as expected, hating it. I felt that it needed so much work that I didn't have the energy to tackle. Funny though, when I picked it up again this past fall and re-read it, I didn't hate it. In fact, I felt it was quite good and most likely better than anything I'd written since. Granted it was still rough around the edges, still needed lots of work (and still does) but it was certainly something that could be shaped. 

I've always known that time away from a project can be beneficial. Time is one of a few things that can provide a shot of energy into a manuscript. Working on it now, I no longer feel as though I'm fighting with the words. It's been enjoyable to reconnect with these characters that I spent so much time creating, and I can't help but feel they are trying to help through the process. They want me to finish their tale as much as I want it finished. So for now, I will continue to enjoy their hauntings as I work through demons of the past. With any luck, the navigation will be a rewarding adventure.

A Second Look at a Secret Universe

Yesterday, I finally finished work on the endless second draft of middle grade manuscript that has been three years in the making. The first draft was completed over two years ago, and then it sat on my desk collecting dust. Late last spring, I picked it up and decided to give it a read. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed what was there, but also realized it needed a lot of work. Feeling motivated, I dove in.

Besides the basic storyline and characters, this was nearly a complete rewrite. While the skeleton stayed intact, the other layers were reconstructed to give the story more depth, more heart, and more adventure. The resulting tally:

180 pages added (40 original pages deleted), bringing it 345 pages.

3 minor characters added

2 major storylines dropped

4 major storylines added

The next step is to read through the new manuscript and see how it feels. But I'm keeping positive. There is a lot of imagination, and a lot of work, put into this story. It involves fairy tales, secret universes, Pandora's box, giant spiders, ghouls, a slave rebellion, ancient curses, first love, two-headed Sirens, pesky little siblings, and one kick-ass twelve year old girl named Sylvie who is destined to save the world. What more could you ask for?

Hazardous Life

Beware all those who wish to become writers. There are times when you will come to hate the story you once loved. Working on a manuscript will often feel like playing a game of she-loves-me, she-loves-me-not as you go from one page to the next wondering if you've made some terrible mistake. It's not an easy relationship to pursue, yet you feel compelled to work at it, waiting for that moment when it all clicks together. Those rare and perfect glimpses are the reason you endure. 

Over the past few weeks, I've fallen in and out of love dozens of times. Now as I reach the end of a major rewrite, I can hear my characters whispering for me to remain calm. "Don't worry," they tell me. "We will do you proud in the end." Despite my better judgement, I'm starting to believe them.

It Never Happened That Way...

For every book you've ever read, chances are there are several versions of the story stacked away in the author's closet. I know at least there are for the books I've written. In some cases, there are entirely different novels with little resemblance except the main characters. That's the extreme however. Mostly there are just a handful of deleted scenes and alternative endings, much like the extras packaged for a movie's home release.

As I make my way through the second draft of the manuscript I'm working on, I just conquered a section where I decided to completely rewrite things. The action in the original manuscript was kind of a mess. Everything felt rushed, and it lacked the drama I had envisioned. That said, many of the plot points were right on target...they just needed to happen in a completely different way. 

As a much younger writer, this would've been an incredibly frustrating realization, enough to possibly make me abandon the project. I didn't feel that way at all with this story. I actually had fun writing the additional scenes, knowing I was sending the characters on a much better adventure than the one they'd been on the first time around. 

I'll admit that there's a part of me that loves those deleted chapters and dropped story lines. They're a way of holding onto a story even after the world gets a hold of it. As the writer, you're the only one who knows the events in the story hadn't always happened that way, making sure the first draft will always remain a secret you share between you and your characters.

Ghouls Night Out

Inspiration is a funny thing sometimes. It amazes me how one glance at a picture can start a whirlwind of ideas. Lately I've been working on the rewrite of a Middle Grade novel that I wrote quite some time ago. After nailing down the first third of the book, adding extensive dialogue and descriptions, I've had to take a pause in order to flesh out some of the changes I have planned for the rest of the story. The skeleton of the story is very strong, but as with any skeleton, it can support a lot more weight.

Last night I spent some time going through old CDs and loading up some songs that I wanted add to my digital library. I came across an image in one of the booklets that sparked several pages of notes. It wasn't just details, but entire elements that would enrich the story and take it to another level. I was barely able to keep up with my mind as I jotted them down. Whether I use all of them or not remains to be seen, but it's nice when that damn finally breaks and the ideas come rushing out. 

Brave New Worlds

As I mentioned in my post about Oz, I've been working on rewriting the scene in my manuscript where the main characters make the transition from our ordinary world into someplace...different. I knew going into the revisions that this would be one of the hardest scenes to get right. In the first draft, I was more concerned about getting the series of events in place, making sure that what happened once the characters reached this place was dramatic enough. It was like making a line drawing, and now I'm tasked with painting the picture in brilliant colors.

So far I've spent an unusual amount of time on this chapter, trying to fully capture the sights, sounds and scents of this new setting. These are the things that would actually overwhelm the characters, so these are the things they need to experience. But it's a fine line between making a world come alive and lingering too long on description to where it distracts from the story. 

In some ways, novel writing is just an endless balancing act between what is said and what is not said, and when to say those things that must be said. Sometimes, it's just a little more delicate than others.

Walking Through the Pages

This week I've been pleasantly surprised at the pace of revisions for the current beast I'm working on. I'd already identified parts that needed added or strengthened as I read through, but never expected those additions to come so easily. 

Working through a second draft of a manuscript can usually go one of two ways, torturous or pleasant. Ironically, a story that flowed onto the page so easily is more likely the torturous revision. At least for me, in those instances, I typically love what I wrote when I wrote it and therefore finding fault or necessary changes becomes harder. There's a rhythm to the prose that you are wary to break up. Everything is already so neat and tidy that there is no desire to get your hands dirty.

On the other side are the manuscripts that have to fight and claw their way out, and barely make scratches on the page once they do. These are the kinds of stories you doubt at every chapter. I find these are the easier manuscripts to deal with in second drafts. Perhaps because at the moment of completion, they never feel done to begin with. Plus, I'm never fully confident in the entirety of it, therefore taking it apart in place to build it back up isn't very hard.

An End to the Beginning, A Beginning Toward the End

Earlier this week, I finished the first draft of a new novel. There is always a mix of elation and skepticism when this happens. Any sense of accomplishment is short-lived as I begin thinking about the choices I would've, could've and probably should've made along the way.

At the same time, there is a feeling of optimism going into the second draft. With a better understanding of how the entire story plays out, it's often easier to identify the moments where things might have gotten off track, or where the track itself might need to be widened. 

Wish me luck as I set sail on the second leg of the journey.

Back Into the Woods

Sometimes there is a moment where you realize that a project needs to be put aside. I came to that moment the other day. It wasn't that what I'd written was necessarily bad....but I had a feeling I'd wanted to capture with the book and it just wasn't coming across. 

I started trying to correct the course, only to realize I'd already moved on from the story. There was a frustration level upon going back that I hadn't anticipated. To work on it at this time would have felt like torture. That's never a good way to write. I've always found that when this happens, it's best to put it aside and come back to it completely fresh in a little while. It's not exactly quitting...more like taking an incomplete. 

Road to Revision

Over my recent road trip, I finally began to look at the manuscript I'd finished last month. I'd been holding off reading it for quite a while because I feared it was sort of a mess. Now that I've gone through half of it, I can confirm that it is a mess, though less of the mess I'd assumed it to be.

First drafts are a time to play with themes and ideas, a place to work them out on paper and see what comes of them. There are aspects of the story that I tried to capture that just didn't work out. I kind of knew they weren't working out even as I was writing them, and that added to my frustration simply because I thought I had to make them work in order for the story to work. But time away gives new perspective. I see now that the story can be stronger without them.

Now is the time where I have to weed the garden, so to speak. Narrow my focus. Explore deeper the aspects that are working and abandon the threads that never really wove themselves properly into the story. It's a daunting task, but one I feel ready to tackle at this point. 

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Second Time Around

Time once more to go back and read my own writing. This could be the toughest part of the writing process. That moment when you sit down to see how your story reads. It's one of those moments where you test yourself because inevitably, the pages don't match the story in your mind.

I try to take a very academic approach to revisions. The first I do is to sketch out scenes that I know I want to include somewhere. It frequently happens that by the end of a manuscript, I realize things that are missing. So I write them down and then I keep a notebook beside me as I read through. I figure out where the best place for these added scenes and how they affect the scenes that bookend it.

The other big part of the process is the embellishing of the story. In the first draft, there's usually a lot of functionality in getting the story down. In the next draft, I try to bring lackluster scenes to life. I also try to focus on the characters and make sure when they speak, they sound like the same person. In other words, it's time to do work.

Return from The Dark Forest

My exile from here was brief, but hopefully didn't go unnoticed. However, yesterday I finished the first draft of a what I hope will be a breakthrough project and can now resume my regularly scheduled blogging responsibilities.

The manuscript was something I started on a whim, less than a month ago. A dark, adventurous fairy-tale, it was one of those sparks that quickly engulfed my imagination. Through most of the story, I wrote feverishly. By the time I typed the last word yesterday afternoon, it had become 130 pages in length and nearly 40,000 words...a true novel...the first in what I envision as a four book arc.

Honestly, I'm excited to read through it. Typically I dread reading first drafts, but not this time. I know there's a lot of work and embellishing that needs to happen in the next stage, but that's okay. The foundation is solid. Decorating is the fun part, especially when I already pretty much know what color to paint the walls and where to place the furniture.

Update on My New Novel

"He Reads Her Mind like a Book" from The Three Incestuous Sisters by Audrey Niffenegger

I finally finished the second draft of my new novel yesterday evening. For me, this is always more of a sense of accomplishment than the first draft because there is the feeling of having a full-fledged story in your hands, more or less. With the first draft, I know there's still a pile of work ahead, so it's hard to get too excited. I need to read through the manuscript today, searching for mistakes, clunky sentences and repetition...but other than that, it will finally be ready for someone other than myself to read.

This was definitely the most extensive second draft I've done in a while for several reasons. The story's complexity, the careful unfolding I wanted in the narrative structure, and my own determination to push myself all contributed to the following:

* 140 pages of new writing in the 2nd draft (50 pages of the original cut)

* A complete personality change for one of the supporting characters

* The addition of 4 new supporting characters

* New opening.

* New ending.

If it sounds like a lot of work, it was...but the results have been worth it. Unlike a few months ago, I now have the feeling of having written the book I set out to write. (We'll see how I feel in the morning after reading it through).

It's a strange feeling to be so caught up in a character and their story for months and have it end. At least until I get my editor's comments.