March Writing and April Plans

[osprey_archer]

As aforementioned, I finished a draft of The Sleeping Soldier! A draft that I am willing to let other people clap their innocent eyeballs on, no less! It took a mere three years… nine attempts… blood, sweat, and tears… okay I think there was no literal blood involved, but there were in fact tears.

What finally cracked it:

1. Accepting that I was simply going to have to spend a few chapters dealing with Russell’s grief about the fact that, you know, everyone he loved died while he was in that hundred year sleep, which ultimately meant rejiggering the timeline to include an extra year;

2. Making an outline, which is what got me excited enough to give the book another try despite copious failed attempts; and

3. Retyping the whole thing rather than copy-pasting from old drafts, as suggested in Matt Bell’s Refuse to Be Done: How to Write and Rewrite a Novel in Three Drafts. To be honest I thought this advice was barmy when I first read it, and it’s possible that it will never work again for any of my other projects, but at the moment I am a CONVERT.

Conveniently, I have another project ideally suited to this method! My YA novel Sage has existed as a complete but imperfect draft since 2016 and I would love to finish it and get it out there, even though it has the commercial prospects of a rutabaga. I love these girls! Everyone else should have a chance to meet them too! And I really do think it will make it slightly more saleable if Sage’s enemies-to-friends arc with her nemesis’s head minion Angelee extends to enemies-to-friends-to-lovers…

Oh, and I’ve got some prompt fics I need to write for Patreon. Maybe I will take a little break to tackle those before diving into Sage.

Comments

[threeplusfire]

This might be the push that gets me to read the Matt Bell book. Several people in my orbit have mentioned it and sung its praises. I have to admit I'm so leery of writing advice because it all seems quite chaotic but maybe this is different.

[osprey_archer]

The difficulty with writing advice books (well, all advice books really) is that everyone needs different advice at different times... however this one clearly reached me at the right time in my life! May not prove as useful in future projects but definitely useful to keep in mind.

[troisoiseaux]

Conveniently, I have another project ideally suited to this method!

Nice!

[osprey_archer]

If only I had more projects just lying around completely written, simply waiting for a final set of revisions! But at least there is the one.

[sholio]

Oh, that's so interesting that it worked! I've done versions of this back in the 90s, but primarily by necessity as the drafts were longhand. I'm really glad it worked and it'll definitely be a tool for the toolbox, even if it's not useful in all cases!

[osprey_archer]

It does have the tragic defect that you need a complete draft before you can use it, ha. Must type before you can re-type! However, this is not the first time that I've had a complete draft that felt unfixable and it probably won't be the last, so it will be good to keep in mind next time it happens. Put it away to cool for a few months and then retype!

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, good luck!

[osprey_archer]

Fingers crossed the method works a second time!

[konstantya]

Congrats! Interestingly (not that I am anywhere near a professional, but) I often retype, albeit in small chunks, usually--retyping a paragraph and then deleting the old, rather than just editing directly. It's something that just kind of happened naturally as I got more into writing fanfic, for some reason. (I guess it just helped/helps me think a bit clearer, having that visual space?) I'm curious, what about the process turned you into a convert?--besides results, that is. XD

[osprey_archer]

Well, it's hard to beat the results! But focusing in on the process, I think the act of retyping helped me get into the groove with the story, so when I reached a part where I needed to write new material, I already had momentum from the retyping. And retyping made it way easier to catch continuity errors, which was especially important in this case particularly because I was moving a lot of things around - very easy for errors to slip in if you're simply copy-pasting! But retyping forced me to read all of it and catch... well, I devoutly hope most of it. Some things may have slipped through regardless.

Because so many things were moving around, the outline was also a very important part of the process here. There were a lot of things that I was retyping from old drafts, but in a new place in the book, and the outline made it way easier to keep track of what was going where & also when X had to go before Y.

[konstantya]

I think the act of retyping helped me get into the groove with the story, so when I reached a part where I needed to write new material, I already had momentum from the retyping.

That's really neat to hear! And having it directly articulated like that, I realize that's probably one of the reasons it works for me, too.

Hearing it makes it easier to catch continuity errors also makes a lot of sense. That aspect of it might factor in with me more if I wasn't (to my own detriment?) just constantly, constantly rereading, hah.

Here's hoping it works similarly well for your next project!

[kore]

Samuel R. Delany said he always put his writing through the typewriter for two passes -- after drafting it, in longhand and possibly a typescript. You do pick up stuff when you're retyping that you just don't get when you cut and paste. It's really hard on my wrists and thumbs, tho.

[osprey_archer]

TWO passes on his typewriter! After writing it in longhand already... I admire the work ethic but that is SO much typing.