I've been revising all week. I'm not sure if I love it or not but I don't hate it. That is good enough, I suppose. I think I will find it more exciting once I get past this first round. I'm basically reading through and answering questions about every scene.
The questions I'm asking are:
- Whose point of view is this scene from?
- What is the goal of this scene?
- Is the character consistent?
- Is the conflict strong?
- Does it end with a disaster of a hook?
- Is the tension escalating?
I found these questions and a lot of other useful information at
writerunboxed.
It is a guest post by
Cathy Yardley.
I'm not following her methods completely but it gave me a great place to start. I have answered these questions for the first 23 scenes of my book and I am noticing some interesting facts about my writing.
- I almost always have character consistency.
- I almost never have enough action/conflict. I come off as passive when I shouldn't.
- I have lots of hooks and not enough disasters, which is probably why my work lacks action...
I take this to mean that I'm stronger in character development then I am in plot/action. Now that I see these areas pointed out so blatantly I can begin to improve my work (hopefully!). I also have detected a few major holes in my plot. For example,my main character risks his life to get information from the enemy camp. What is the information? I never said. What did they do with it? Um... Yeah... That is going to need some work. They did nothing with it. Ever. Discovering one's flaws is humbling but I feel like I am learning so much right now and that is encouraging.
Learning is good. Seeing where you need to improve is great. Now you know what the problem is. Good luck with it! I'm with you on being passive, it's one of my major problems.
ReplyDeleteIt is a good feeling to at least have an idea of what to do to improve your work, that's for sure.
DeleteThose are some great questions to ask, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteListen to the Writing Excuses podcast on Narrative Rhythm. I think it might help a bit.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I will check that out.
Deleteit seems the revisions never end. :)
ReplyDeleteI agree. I can see so many things to fix and I'm only on round one...
DeleteRevising is hard work, as often we tend to fall in love with every word. You are going about it in the right way, keep on.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard. Thank you for the encouragement!
DeleteThe fact that you are learning so much is already a win for you. I like revisions in the beginning, but when I have to do it more then once, I become crazy with frustration. I think that you are doing a fantastic job and it is amazing that you can look at your work with such honesty. I tend to cut myself some slack sometimes, which is bad. Good for you. Your are doing just amazing!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I hope I can keep going with some sort of enthusiasm until I have a publishable piece. I am realizing just how small a part of the process the first draft is...
DeleteIt's always great to get perspective like that before you even get someone else to even read your piece. Glad you're getting so much done. You are a trouper when it comes to your writing! Writer’s Mark
ReplyDeleteThanks for being so encouraging :)
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