Editing, Re-Editing, And Pinterest
19:00
Have you ever gotten a significant way through editing book, and then realised that one of your major plot points simply isn’t working? (Please tell me I’m not alone). Because this is exactly what happened to me this week. Editing was going along beautifully, I was quite enjoying it for once, and I’d just reached 15k words, which was super exciting. But for the last few thousand words, I had a niggling suspicion in the back of my mind that something wasn’t quite working, and the closer I got to the inciting incident, the more I had to admit, it wasn’t working. The event I had for my inciting incident didn’t suit the personalities of any of the characters, or really the plot in general. And fixing that means I have to rewriting at least 10k of that initial 15k I’d already edited.
So that was a fun realisation.
But, despite all the extra work it’s going to cause me to
fix it, I’m actually really glad I figured it out now, rather than pushing
through the mess and hoping it all hung together later, or praying that it
would fix itself without me needing to go back. And, now that I’ve taken some
time to work out a new structure for the beginning that will hopefully work, I
feel a lot more positive about the way this book is going. Doesn’t mean that I
wasn’t super grumpy earlier this week. (Seriously, my amazing writing friends
deserve a million thanks for picking me back up and helping me fix my problems).
So my editing has made negative progress this week, which is
not how I foresaw it going. But, in better news, I finally joined Pinterest.
And now I want to know how it took me so long to join all the other smart
writers on there, because it’s amazing. In my spare time between editing,
crying over changes, and planning fixes, I’ve been creating Pinterest boards
for all my books. And when I say ‘all’ my books, somehow some boards popped up
for books I’m not even close to writing yet. Yeah, I may be a little too
invested in Pinterest at the moment. But it’s so much fun!
I’ve been working especially on a Pinterest board for Snow,
which has nowhere near enough on it yet, but it’s starting to give a pretty
good picture of the story. If, on the off chance you’re interested in knowing
more about my book, or just looking at some pretty pictures, you can find my
board for Snow HERE.
So, that’s how my writing’s going at the moment. How are you
getting on with your books? Hopefully better than I am with mine. And tell me,
are you on Pinterest? Leave me your username, or a link to your profile in the comments! I’d love some new profiles and boards to stalk follow. You
can find my profile HERE.
14 comments
It definitely happened to me. More than once. I had to abandon several projects, having written huge chunks of text, and then start all over again at a later time from a different angle, perspective or pov.
ReplyDeleteThe novel I'm working on at the moment is one of such projects. I wrote it from the heroine's pov and realized that it didn't work. I wrote it from the hero's pov and realized that it didn't work. I wrote it in form of letters and realized that it didn't work. The last one was around 36K when I had to face the fact that I needed to find another approach. I took my time to figure out what to do next and now I'm writing it again. So don't despair! You're not alone in this))
By the way, I'm also on Pinterest and I love it. It's a great place for inspiration, isn't it? I go under my name - Farida Mestek.
It's just so frustrating when you have to go back and completely rewrite something because you've coming at it from the wrong angle. Though it's so rewarding when you get it right. I hope this time your book is working for you.
DeleteI'm glad Pinterest is helping you! I'm not actually on it. *hides* I have the sneaking suspicion it would eat way too much of my time.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you had a rough editing week! I have had that happen to me before, so I can totally relate. *nods sagely* It's one of the worst feelings ever. *sobs*
I totally know what you mean. Actually, that's one of the reasons I didn't join for absolutely ages. Thankfully, I'm not actually that good at finding things, so I usually don't spend too long on it at a time. Social media is such a temptation though, isn't it?
DeleteIt is! I have to admit, there were a few days when I tried to get out of editing because I didn't want to go back, but I got it done in the end. So, onwards and upwards!
Yay for Pinterest! I followed you. ^ ^ Ugh I've been where you're at in editing. It's why I restarted one of my books like three or four times before actually writing it all the way through. But you can fix it and now it'll be even better!
ReplyDeletestoritorigrace.blogspot.com
It's so hard to find just the write way of writing a book, isn't it? I always find early drafts hard to pin down, especially when the plot is still trying to sort itself out. So happy to announce that I've caught up to where I was before I realised the issue, and I'm actually so much happier with it now. So at least something positive came out of all the frustration.
DeleteIt is. I feel like I have a pretty effective method now, but it's taken me years to figure it out. XD Good good!
DeleteThere seems to be no shortcut to finding your own personal method of writing, does there? It's so good when you finally start understanding how you work though!
DeleteI'm reminded of a quote by C.S. Lewis: "We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive."
ReplyDeleteSo, in undoing your work, you do your work!
And, I definately love Pinterest. A little too much...It is one of the best tools on a Procrastinator's toolbest. But, it is also a wonderful place to find inspiration, especially when you are stuck. Unfortunately, I've often found a picture I was inspired by, pinned it, come back to it, and have had no idea *why* that picture inspired me -- let alone what idea it inspired! But, that is true for all inspiration, whatever the medium.
If you would like to take a look at my highly disorganized Pinterest boards, you can find them under the username [jessicalucas988].
Happy Editing to you!
I love that quote from C.S. Lewis. Might have to add that one to my quote collection. And it is so true as well. Better to turn back and restart early than to push through. Annoying, but much better.
DeleteI can imagine that would be a problem. But then, maybe in the future, you might come back again and be inspired in another way and it won't be wasted. Certainly Pinterest is giving me more inspiration than I can handle!
I'm khrysaetos! :D I'm so glad you're on Pinterest, I love seeing people's story boards.
ReplyDeleteI love seeing people's story boards too, almost as much as I'm liking putting my own together. Thanks for sharing your profile. I'm really enjoying your boards.
DeleteHi Imogen, I just discovered your blog and I'm super excited to read more!
ReplyDeleteAnywho, that's really sad you had to go back and re-edit everything but at least you caught it early and decided to go fix everything. The niggling feeling that something's wrong is the worst :/
Also, Pinterest. I LOVE IT. (Although it eats up my life because I mostly just scroll through Doctor Who and Marvel pins and cry.) I'm both glad and sad that you got into it because it is a black hole of procrastination BUT it's great for doing story boards.
Hi Victoria. It's so nice to meet you. I'm so glad you found my blog, and I hope you're enjoying it.
DeletePinterest is such an amazing site. I can definitely see the procrastination coming on though. However, I do have the advantage that I don't know ho to use the site very well, so when I can't find any more pictures, I stop looking. Can't see that lasting very long though! Still, it is a glorious place.
Thank you so much for stopping by. It's lovely meeting you.