February Writing and March Plans

[osprey_archer]

Have run aground in Fritzi & Magdalena, as Magdalena flatly refuses to have Fritzi shot. I believe this problem is fixable if I futz with the timeline so Fritzi shows up mid-revolution rather than a month later (that is, while everything is still in flux, everyone is overwrought, and it seems plausible that Fritzi might spearhead a counterrevolution and Must Be Stopped, By Firing Squad If Necessary) but this will require revisions… So I’ll come back to that later.

Instead I’m being very naughty and working on The Sleeping Soldier again. I KNOW, I said I would take a break for a year, but I hammered out an outline and it seems like a good outline and as I was outlining I kept getting inspired and writing bits… so I’m giving it a go.

In Refuse to Be Done: How to Write and Rewrite a Novel in Three Drafts, Matt Bell suggests literally rewriting one’s novel, that is, retyping rather than copy-pasting when working on a new draft. I scoffed at first, but I’ve been using it on this draft and… it seems to be working? The act of retyping seems to get the writing muscles working in the brain, so when I reach a part where I need to compose afresh it’s easier to get going - I already have momentum. Plus of course MUCH easier to catch small continuity errors!

Comments

[troisoiseaux]

Have run aground in Fritzi & Magdalena, as Magdalena flatly refuses to have Fritzi shot.

Goshdarnit, Magdalena!!

I scoffed at first, but I’ve been using it on this draft and… it seems to be working?

Glad to hear!

[osprey_archer]

It's simply difficult to justify the unseemly rush to execute Fritzi at dawn, without any kind of trial, even! But maybe if it all happened in the heat of the revolution... Well, it wouldn't be justifiable exactly but you could see why Magdalena and co. might think it was a good idea to get the ruling family off the board entirely.

[regshoe]

I always retype my second drafts, and I totally agree about getting the writing muscles going and momentum! I find that having to type the whole sentence out again makes it much easier to notice where little changes of wording and sentence structure might be a good idea, as well as bigger revisions—something about making it harder to take the way it was the first time for granted, perhaps.

[osprey_archer]

Yes, I so agree about how typing the sentence over makes it easier to notice where to change the wording and sentence structure. If you're copy-pasting that means extra work, but if you're retyping then you have to type it all ANYWAY, so you might as well make changes...

[asakiyume]

We have talked about Fritzi & Magdalena elsewhere, so you know I heartily approve of your nebulous thoughts in that direction and your revision process. And I really enjoyed your taster from The Sleeping Soldier on Patreon.

[osprey_archer]

My current hope is to finish a draft of Sleeping Soldier (god, is this hubris talking?), send it to beta, and loop back round on Fritzi & Magdalena. We'll see how that plays out!