The hardest part of revising a story is starting over. For me it is more than re-reading the thing. I have to go back and re-evaluate the motives of every single character, careful to consider if it works and if what I was trying to achieve still fits in terms of the direction of the narrative in light of required changes. In this most recent book I am cutting close to twenty chapters. So I have a great deal to rework or to try and make sense of in some way. The way the novel was laid out made little sense, and given the point in time (in the larger world story) it is taking place now vs. when I wrote it, there is a great deal to be redone in terms of where the characters are trying to be. I also need to write a new ending. I liked the ending, but it doesn’t actually work anymore.
This is hard work. Redoing the first chapter has been especially rough. So much happens there to establish multiple arcs and to soft launch the plot that I have to be considerate of every word I am putting on the page. It doesn’t help that the original notes were breathtakingly brutal. That has me gun shy to be me on the page, which is the worst possible outcome of an edit. Nonetheless, I am going to get this done. I am going to get it all down on paper and it will be a better story. I will be a better writer for it.
Some Thoughts:
- There are 4,624 posts on this website, which doesn’t include the original 1k plus posts from the earlier iteration of the effort. The math tells me I’ve being doing this for 12+ years. That’s dedication, Holmes.
- Also, what a hell of a decade plus.