Writing.
Kettle corn.
Tessa on the air conditioner.
Bucket on the floor.
writing
re-visioning
This post is going to be about revising. It will not be anywhere near as good as this post about revising, but I figured I’d give it a whirl anyway. I’ve gotten fairly familiar with how this process works for me, and as you all know by now, ’tis the summer of revision around here.
I started with my agent notes, both e-mailed and scrawled in my almost-illegible handwriting from a phone call. I read them. I re-read them. I highlighted specific things that really jumped out at me.
I talked to two of my dearest betas about it. I wrote down what they had to say. I read & re-read.
I pulled out my old notebooks, ones that dated back to ’08, and looked for things that I hadn’t used that I might be able to work with now. I pulled out a couple of pages worth of notes.
I took all of these notes, from agent and betas and the 2008 version of me, and transcribed the stuff I found most useful into a new notebook.
I started adding snippets of new scenes, bits of dialogue, hypothetical questions.
I made a gigantic timeline. I got a dry erase board to hang by the desk. So far it just looks cool and office-y, but I’m sure it’ll come in handy later.
I had more discussions with betas. I started having revelations. I began pulling possibilities from lists of ideas.
Now, I’m taking all of this stuff and developing it into full scenes. I’ve hit the writing stage, the really writing stage, after several weeks of this pre-writing process.
So far, I have not once looked back at the previous draft.
Why? Well, I already know what’s there. What I need is what’s *not* there yet, so I’m finding those things elsewhere, in notes and conversations and daydreams and at the bottom of cups of tea.
So I can take the new and layer it back over the old.
I’ve come to realize that I need to see it in my head as a different book, first. I have to find the shape of the new draft before I can mold the old draft into it. I can’t just go into the old draft and start pushing it around and filling in holes.
I have to develop the new draft and then work backwards. I need that picture, that vision of the new version, in order to get there.
This is how I revise. I have to get to the point where my brain can see where I’m going, and then it’s just a matter of writing to get there.
That’s not to say I know exactly how to get there, there are still hic sunt dracones parts of the map, but there is something resembling a map now.
I just got this beautiful book of Jerry Uelsmann photography. He does these gorgeous layered photos, made with multiple negatives in a darkroom, nothing digital.
It’s amazing stuff, and being in the head space that I’m in right now, it’s reminding me of how I revise. I’m finding new images to layer over the old ones. Not to obscure what was there before, but to elevate it into something else.
writing
summer in the revisionland hotel
I have extensive notes from my agent (my agent, yay!) in hand and I am gearing up to spend the next several weeks in the Revisionland Hotel. A summer of tiki torch nights and umbrella drinks and writing writing writing.
And it will be writing writing writing, because more than “change this, take out that” which might be nice and simple in comparison, for this next round of revising I get to dig deeper and add more and elaborate on what I have already.
Eep.
It is a combination of daunting and exhilarating. And I’m not sure how to do it yet, but I’ll figure it out.
So I am taking my own notes and pondering and mulling and trying to get things done while I note-take and ponder and mull, like the paintings I can finally start on because I have black paint again, and reading other people’s books (go read Rock Paper Tiger ASAP, it is marvelous and compelling and it will make you crave dumplings).
And today I got my latest BPAL order, which is always a happy occasion. I have moths & butterflies (bottles of Gypsy: Bourbon vanilla, Egyptian musk, tonka, white sugar, and cardamom & Paper Kite: Coconut, white sugar, angelica, and black pepper) and a Vanilla-based Chaos Theory, #95 to be exact.
Trying the chaos first. Beyond the clear vanilla the mystery notes are remaining mysterious. I think there might be white musk in there somewhere, but I’m not entirely sure. Overall, it is this gorgeously blended scent that’s bright and warm and creamy, even the vanilla that was so obvious in the bottle has calmed and faded into the background as a steady undercurrent.
And while I’m sitting here huffing at my wrists, I realize this is what the book needs.
The base notes are there. Maybe some of those bright top notes, too. But it’s those nuanced middle notes that take it from “that smells like vanilla” to “ooooooooh, what is that?” that it needs now. The in-betweens that tie everything together and make it richer as a whole.
Because I can make writing analogies about anything.
writing
agented
Gather ’round, kidlets. Story time.
In 2003, I tried doing NaNoWriMo for the first time, because I’d always wanted to write but had never been good about sitting down and actually doing it. I had ideas in notebooks but nothing concrete.
I tried. I failed. Burnt out around 15k.
In 2004, I tried again. I made it to 50k that year. That novel is not a novel, it is a sprawling mess of post-apocalyptic… something.
In 2005, for NaNo #3, I had no plot but lots of atmosphere, and when I reached the 30k mark and had no idea where to go with it, I sent my characters to the circus.
In 2006, I spent NaNo working on that circus. I ended up with something interesting, but not novel-shaped.
In 2007, I did another 50k worth of work on the circus. In NaNo terms this is cheating. I’m sorry.
Throughout 2008 I took the 100k+ of circus… stuff and attempted to shape it into a novel.
I don’t know how many drafts it went through. Four, maybe? It started to have something resembling a proper shape in the beginning of 2009.
From 2008 to, well, now, I started learning about the publishing industry.
On June 2nd, 2009, I sent out my first batch of query letters.
I sent six queries out in that first batch. Within 20 minutes I had a partial request and a full request. I got another full request two hours later, two rejections the next day, and a third full request a few weeks later.
Ten days later those first two full request turned into rejections. The partial joined them in rejectionland soon after.
I sent out more queries. I got more requests. I got more rejections.
In August, I got a full request that turned into a phone call. A very nice phone call that I’m pretty sure I did nothing but stammer during, and was a request to rework the book almost entirely, but it was still an offer of representation.
I got in touch with the other agents who were still considering. Some of them passed. I had more phone calls. I think I stammered less in those.
I ended up not taking any offers at that point. I decided to revise independently, because everyone seemed to be saying different versions of the same thing.
I spent September and October of 2009 revising. I pushed around what I had. I tried to have more *stuff* happen. I polished it. I wrapped it up in pretty bows.
I sent it back to the three agents who wanted to see it.
More phone calls. More e-mails. All three of them said different versions of “well… not there yet.”
So I sighed. I ate a lot of chocolate. I wrote a completely different story for NaNo ’09. I took December off.
In January of 2010, I checked into the Revisionland Hotel.
I tore everything apart. I changed the format. I changed the plot. Well, I changed what little plot there was into an actual plot. I took over 25k out and put other stuff in. I sent it to old beta readers and new beta readers. I changed it some more.
I sent it back to agents two weeks ago.
Last week I had one offer of representation.
On Monday I had three.
I thought about it. A lot. I was extremely lucky to have three wonderful agents spending their time on me and my work, offering wonderful advice throughout this process.
In the end I signed with the same agent I had that very first stammering phone call with back in August.
I am now represented by Richard Pine of InkWell Management.
Almost exactly a year after I started querying.
writing
post-revisionland
And revisions are done. Beta-ed, adjusted again, re-beta-ed & polished to a high shine.
It is almost disgusting how much better it is than the last draft. Seriously.
I’m not leaving the Revisionland Hotel because I have too many friends here and I like the bar. But I’m done. Done done done.
Sending the New & Improved version back to agents first thing tomorrow. Kind of baffled that I’ve finally reached this point.
Anyway, while I was unplugged last week I did mostly nothing but rewrite and rework and make good sentences great and listen to so much Pandora radio (Arcade Fire station) that I blew my 40 free hours for the month. Might have to invest in fancypants Pandora.
Y’all were also spared a rant about last week’s LOST. Um, I still love it like candy but that episode made me mad. Like, livid, throwing things mad. And not just because I love Frank. Sigh. Am nervous about the rest of the season. I didn’t think they’d be able to lose me at this point, but now I’m kind of concerned.
I also started knitting a new scarf, because nothing says spring like new scarves.
Not sure what I’m going to do with myself once this thing is out of my hands again. Reading & yoga, most likely. For now I have champagne sorbet.
writing
unplugging again
I am sequestering myself in the Revisionland Hotel this week.
I am very close to done with my additional, post-beta reader revisions. I am extremely pleased with all the changes so far, and what’s left is all sorts of thoughtful detail stuff. I’ve rebuilt the entire room and now I have to finalize the window treatments and upholstery and possibly move that one chair into the other corner where it will get better light.
Excuse me whilst I make interior decorating analogies about writing.
Anyway, in order to focus on revisions I am taking the week off from the internet.
I will be checking my e-mail if you need me for anything.
I will be back on Friday with this week’s flax-golden tale.
I hope y’all have lovely weeks!
<3
e.