Deconstruction Continues
Saturday, July 12th, 2008 07:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rolanniThe Fledgling rewrite continues.
I spent a stupid amount of time trying to decide if the Nifty Cool Reason I'd figured out for a minor character's major peeve would alter the main storyline and, if so, by how much? This is a question that must be considered closely, and examined from all sides. Back when I was a Mere Wisp of a Writer, I decided, on something more substantial than a whim, but nowhere near as solid as an Ike, that the Liaden Healers ought to be more than medics. I made a simple alteration in one sentence and that was that. So I thought (cue hollow laughter). That one change spawned hundreds of tiny and not-so-tiny changes -- basically, I wound up completely rewriting about a quarter of the book. In retrospect, I'm glad I did it, because I think Conflict of Honors is better for the change, and that the Liaden Universe as a whole is stronger for the Healers, but at the time I felt like gouging my own eyes out.
So, anyway -- I took a long time to consider, decided that I could go forward without fear of breaking the plot, and so I did, but slowly. I found a Nota Bene that had escaped previous deletion, which appears as a Whole Buncha Lost Words on the word meter. Tomorrow, I'm going to lose a Whole Bunch More words, as I trim down a flashback. The trimmed words will be better used, I think, in the sequel to Scout's Progress.
Outside of the excitement of revision, I slept in -- man, catching up on the sleep debt means all kinds of weird dreams! -- did some needful housekeeping, went for a short walk, did a bit of desultory weeding in the cat garden and in general enjoyed the lack of absurdly hot temperatures.
Time to knock off, if Steve is done with his day's work. More deconstruction on the books for tomorrow.
Beginning word count; Fledgling first draft:
Fledgling second draft:
I spent a stupid amount of time trying to decide if the Nifty Cool Reason I'd figured out for a minor character's major peeve would alter the main storyline and, if so, by how much? This is a question that must be considered closely, and examined from all sides. Back when I was a Mere Wisp of a Writer, I decided, on something more substantial than a whim, but nowhere near as solid as an Ike, that the Liaden Healers ought to be more than medics. I made a simple alteration in one sentence and that was that. So I thought (cue hollow laughter). That one change spawned hundreds of tiny and not-so-tiny changes -- basically, I wound up completely rewriting about a quarter of the book. In retrospect, I'm glad I did it, because I think Conflict of Honors is better for the change, and that the Liaden Universe as a whole is stronger for the Healers, but at the time I felt like gouging my own eyes out.
So, anyway -- I took a long time to consider, decided that I could go forward without fear of breaking the plot, and so I did, but slowly. I found a Nota Bene that had escaped previous deletion, which appears as a Whole Buncha Lost Words on the word meter. Tomorrow, I'm going to lose a Whole Bunch More words, as I trim down a flashback. The trimmed words will be better used, I think, in the sequel to Scout's Progress.
Outside of the excitement of revision, I slept in -- man, catching up on the sleep debt means all kinds of weird dreams! -- did some needful housekeeping, went for a short walk, did a bit of desultory weeding in the cat garden and in general enjoyed the lack of absurdly hot temperatures.
Time to knock off, if Steve is done with his day's work. More deconstruction on the books for tomorrow.
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97,483 / 100,000 (97.5%) |
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97,953 / 100,000 (98.0%) |
