Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Revisions. Revisions forever.

It is a very good thing that I had a relaxing holiday weekend, because I have gone right back to my 'office by day, revisions by night' schedule of unholy doom. And as if to prove a point, in the middle of writing that sentence I was dragged off to negotiate with florists. (Oh, day job. You give me such interesting life skills.)

I'm working very late tomorrow night, so I want to make sure to get lots done tonight. I've got four chapters left to mark up and make notes on, and my outlines and lists of new/extended scenes grow longer every day. Right now I am mainly focusing on the gaps where I can weave in the new material, and the areas that can be rewritten to strengthen voice. Making the exposition and worldbuilding richer is going to be tons of fun, but the real work will be giving this manuscript a beating heart.

And that all hinges on my protagonist, Kalinda. Oh, Kalinda. I know she's not the cold fish everyone thinks she is, and I know she wants to look that way because she thinks people will take her more seriously. I know how desperately she wants to be the hero, the knight in shining armor, and I know how deeply rooted her fears, doubts, and insecurities are. I know that she has a crush she emphatically does not want to have, and I know that she keeps her mouth shut because when she doesn't, all the awkwardness just pours right out.

But Kalinda? Just because you're reserved doesn't mean you can hold all these things back from me.

The challenge here is going to be to really break that character open and let the readers see her as she is, not how she wants to appear. That's the main focus of my reread right now. And I think that if I nail that in the rewrites, my MS is going to be so, so much better.

So, y'know. No pressure or anything.

On an unrelated note, I'm loving all the writing excerpts around here lately! I'd love to join in the fun, but I don't know what I'd post. Do y'all have any suggestions/things you're curious to see?

4 comments:

  1. I didn't know what I was going to write either. I just started with the constraints they gave and it was fun. We had to start with "the door swung open" for 200 words. Give it a try. You might like it! :)

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  2. I know all about the busy lifestyle! I'm proud of you for getting so much work done. And characters like that can be really hard to get across--I'm struggling with a similar situation in my WIP. At least it's not the main character!

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  3. Hi Becky -

    Oh, revisions! Not enough hair dye in the world to cover the gray they're giving me!

    But....

    I think you and I have something very much in common regarding revisions (actually, I think we may have a specific "person" in common :) ). Would love to chat with you over email, but can't seem to find an email contact here on your site.

    If you're interested, please shoot me an email:
    elschneider@hotmail.com

    May you have plenty of tea on hand to push you through all those revisions ahead!

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