Monday, August 27, 2012

Take a Break

I went back to Lady Silva this week after not touching it while I was working on Bar (who happens to be her husband, but that's not the point).

I found a lot of things that I hadn't noticed, hadn't remembered, and possibilities for plot extensions just jumped out at me. It was like reading an entirely new story.

I've run into this before, where a book I haven't read for a while takes on new life after I've put it away. It doesn't always happen, but enough to create a pattern.

In any case, putting away an older story for a while gives me new eyes and a new perspective so that I can come back to it for the next stage of editing without all the old baggage.

Stories do take on baggage as they're written; assumptions made by the author, bits and pieces of dialogue that the author thought were perfect the first time around and they turn out to be otherwise. Characters change in the writing, but being able to identify those changes and determine whether they should stay--that's a whole other step above writing the thing in the first place.

I'm not to that point yet with Silva, but I think I could bring new eyes to a few of the others. Later. At the moment I'm having too much fun getting Silva, Yilse and Etin in trouble. They'll have to figure out how to get out by themselves.

11 comments:

  1. Lauren, your mention of editing got me to thinking. I know you do a lot of different types of edits, apparently consecutively. Have you done a post (or series of posts) that details all the various types of edits you do, in which sequence, how you handle issues you discover that aren't part of your current edit, etc.? I'm aware of some, but I think not all. It would be an interesting read.

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    1. I've thought about doing a series on that. Hasn't happened yet, but probably in the near future.

      Thanks!

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  2. He he, oh the joys of writing by the seat of your pants. I love it when the characters take over. Sounds like it's the right thing for you to be working on right now :)

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    1. That's one of the joys of writing this way. I think the distinction between plotter and pantser may be the need for control.

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  3. Greetings!

    I'm hopping over from GUTGAA and thought I would visit some blogs before the fun begins! Nice to meet you...you have a lovely blog!

    Donna L Martin
    www.donnalmartin.com
    www.donasdays.blogspot.com

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    1. Thanks. I'll come visit later today, see what you have.

      Lauren

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  4. Greetings!

    I'm hopping over from GUTGAA and thought I would visit some blogs before the fun begins! Nice to meet you...you have a lovely blog!

    Donna L Martin
    www.donnalmartin.com
    www.donasdays.blogspot.com

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  5. I also find I can look at a piece of writing with fresh eyes if I change the format. So if I transfer it onto my Kindle, or print it out on paper, it will read differently and I'll see stuff I missed.

    mood

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    1. A lot of times I'll change something into a different font or make the font a different color. When I was writing by hand I'd use a different color of pen or write smaller.

      Works.

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  6. This happens to me to. It helps to put a story away for a while and go back and look at it with fresh eyes and it's amazing what you see. I"m scared to go back to the first couple of books I wrote that I haven't looked at for years. It will be quite an eye opener and I'll be able to see how far I've come since then.

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    1. It's sobering to think "I might have tried to publish this," but also amazing to know that what you're writing now is so much better.

      Lauren

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