Revising the Wheel

It's been a while since I've written anything on this blog (sorry), but life has its own crazy schedule to keep, I guess.

I'm well on my way into revision of the first draft of my novel.  I went through the first draft and compiled a lengthy outline (which ended up taking a whole lot longer than I had anticipated, thanks to both my computers crashing at the same time - however, I think listing the major events, etc. by hand actually helped me more than if I had typed through the entire process).  After completing the outline of the 'current state' of the book, I wrote up a new outline for the first four chapters that incorporated a more active plotline and cutting out some of the unnecessary content.

As I start writing new content or reworking/rewriting certain sections, I am excited for where I am taking the book.  The story will remain the same for the most part, but I'm hoping to make the plot a lot more compelling and exciting for the reader (and for me to write).  The ideas I'm running with at this point were actually plans for earlier versions of the series that I have rethought within the context of the first draft.  And, I think the new plot may work!

The downside of doing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is the lack of time to plan out what you are writing, as you force yourself to keep going straight ahead (mostly to just build your word count, which is arbitrary).  The upside is having a finished draft.  I'm glad that I went through the chaos last November, having learned through a writing boot camp (or is it 'book camp'?) of sorts on how to turn off your inner critic.  I've never been much good at that...unless I'm blogging.

If anyone out there is taking on the daunting task of revising a novel, a great DVD I found (well, it was recommended on the NaNoWriMo website) is called "So, Is It Done? Navigating the Revision Process."  I've found it hard to locate resources for learning tricks of the trade on the revision process, finding even books that say they teach you about the revision process are really a Writing 101 teaching guide and have little to add to what I already know about revision - just do it, look for grammar errors, story issues, plot holes, cliches, etc.  What I really wanted was affirmation of the insanity of the process and some tips on how to be the most efficient at the lengthy process.  I have read a little of Self Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King, two, supposedly, well-known editors.  I haven't formed an opinion of the book quite yet.

I feel optimistic about the changes I'm making to the book.  Hopefully I'll update again soon.