All Blog Posts Tagged 'revision' (5)

Crime writing can be a messy process

So I have the idea. I do some research. I work it up into an outline plot with a smattering of characters and then I start writing. This is when it gets messy.



1. The brain dump or free flow



First up is the free flow type of writing when I'm eager to bring the idea and characters to life by getting words and actions on to my computer screen as quickly as possible. Often these are not the correct words, the description is hazy, the characters not fully formed, the grammar and… Continue

Added by Pauline Rowson on February 1, 2011 at 1:41am — No Comments

Answers Will Vary

My mother, an elementary teacher, once had a student hand in homework that stymied her for a few moments. All the true-false, multiple choice, and short answer responses were correct, but all the essay questions were answered with the phrase "Answers will vary." She finally figured out that during recess, while she was on hall duty, the kid had swiped her teacher's edition from the desk, copied what was written there onto his paper, and then put the book back.



What I've been thinking… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on November 16, 2009 at 10:12pm — No Comments

How Does That Happen?

I know not what path others may take, but as for me, it's the same path, over and over. As I write, I leave big holes, but as I edit, again and again, they fill themselves in almost as a matter of course. As big problems are solved, smaller ones come to light and get their turn for my full attention. It's the fourth time through that I see a tiny event that deepens the bad girl's motivation and makes her more realistic. On the sixth time it might be an incident that, added to the main plot,… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on October 29, 2009 at 8:32pm — 1 Comment

The Second-Book Squeeze

A comment from Dana on yesterday's post inspires today's topic: There is usually less time to write Books 2 through infinity than there was for Book 1. Book 1, according to the experts, is going to take an average of six years to get published. In those years we reread, rethink, and rework the thing, trying to get it just right for some agent or editor. Every word is considered, every sentence polished, at least if we're doing as we should.



Book Two starts the day Book One is sold,… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on June 24, 2009 at 10:33pm — 1 Comment

The World Is Too Much with Us

Looking at a week where Life interferes with Art, so let's let the blogs be short.

Layers. I write in layers, reading over and over and finding each time places to add depth. The question then, for all of you who have written a zillion books: does it come to the point where you put it all together more easily? Does the number of revisions lessen over time? Not that I mind them; I just wonder.

Added by Peg Herring on April 13, 2009 at 10:52pm — 2 Comments

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