writerly ways

[cornerofmadness]

Even though I cranked out 2600 words this past week I don't feel good about my writing. It really isn't the rejection from Samhain. THAT I expected. I had already came to the conclusion that if I didn't think I could turn a story for them into a novel easily I wasn't tackling another of their challenges.

But I think it's the WORK that comes with revising a novella into something else that's bringing me down. Ditto those two short stories. I like writing. I don't care nearly as much for revision. I know it's part and parcel, that I have no choice but it doesn't get me excited. Of course it's work and that often equals no fun.

Anyone have good ways they handle doing the revision?

86954 / 100000 words. 87% done!

Comments

[rahirah]

Well, I like revising, so I'm not much help...

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

snort. I wish I did because it has to be done

[anat-astarte.livejournal.com]

Sorry about Samhain :(

Ooh I know all about the frustration of revisions! I think part of what burns me about it is the time and effort I spent creating the piece to begin with, and just the thought of having to do that all over again is the first thing that brings me down before I even get started. So I give myself a break and put the story aside for a (long, long looong) while until I can look at it with fresh eyes, and bring a fresh perspective to it, or even a new detail or idea or change of pace to it. I make this process into an exciting adventure, and then revising becomes fun :D

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

I try to do that too. Sometimes i let it go too long and that's what I fear. Witness Machiavelli Moon 15 years later....

I didn't get to revise that space opera as much as I would have liked. I'm not giving up on it.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Not a clue, other than to just dig into it. I've committed myself to doing some major, major revisions to the first chapter of Radio Red -- a chapter I first wrote almost fifteen years ago. I can't begin to tell you how much I don't want to start tearing it apart again.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

ah so we're both working on things writen at the same time. Some of it is wince worthy. Luckily there are other parts that actually dont' suck

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Mostly chapter one doesn't such -- but it suffers from too much narrative and info dump in the beginning, and I'm having trouble weeding it out and sprinkling it through the rest of the chapter. Why I didn't detect this long ago, I have no idea!

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

becasue we're blind to our own work sometimes.

my chapter ones often suffer from this problem

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

that's what beta writers are for, after all!

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

true true. it's finding honest ones that are the trick