Eight pens total. Three hundred twelve sheets of paper, counting notes and instructions. One entire pad of sticky notes (I think there’s something like 300/pack, so that’s nothing to sneeze at). At least 20 freeze-pops, and 2 boxes of crackers. Countless cups of tea and wine.
What I am left with, after deleting three whole scenes, rewriting about thirty, cutting all unnecessary adjectives/adverbs/details, adding four scenes and tweaking, by god, every third word in this story, is a novel precisely 165 words longer than the one I finished two weeks ago.
*scratches head*
It’s better. I know it’s better. (Christ on a pogo stick, it better be better. I actually have gray hairs now.) It reads smoother, the pace has a largely consistent climb to climax, there are no extraneous characters, dialogue, props, weather systems, kisses, whatever. There’s no randomness, no loose ends, no plot holes -well, that I can see, anyway: step the third, Sending Your Work To Your Betas, ought to take care of any lingering sense of confidence I have in this regard.
Carnage over. Clean-up time. *sigh*
I’m sure there’s something horribly ironic in the fact that I didn’t manage to gain or lose a single page in this experience. For every 1K words I deleted, I added 1K somewhere else, on and on, until my Typing Hell experience began to resemble a fairly vigorous tennis match.
Anyway. The lovey scenes have more oomph, the bloody scenes have more ow, the revealing scenes have more. . .um, something. I feel fairly accomplished. It’s not perfect – gods help me if I ever think that about one of my manuscripts for more than the 2 hours of elation that comes after typing THE END – but all in all, it’s not damn bad.
So overall – Holly’s One Pass method is a success, methinks. (link added for any of youse who may have missed my first few posts about this thing). I’ll wait until my betas have sliced, diced and fricasseed Song to be sure I did this right, but for now I will state with a fair amount of confidence that the pain and heartache was worth it. My right hand is permanently cramped and I’ve got a squint that won’t go away, plus aforementioned gray hairs…but in spite of the fact that page-count-wise I’m pretty much where I started (really, how the hell did that happen?), I’m pretty sure this is a much-improved book.
Now on to the UF that’s been doing the macarena all over my right hemisphere for the last few weeks. My agent says we’re officially submitting to publishers (eeeeek!), so a distraction is warranted.
*whew*
I’m tired.
ralfast said:
Congrats. I’ve spent quite a bit of time on my second draft. Maybe I’ll use this method on my NaNo.
Amy Bai said:
Thanks! It’s definitely worth a try – painful, but effective. 🙂
gypsyscarlett said:
Hey Amy,
Yeah! Many congrats.
The fact that you finished it is really inspiring to me. I just jumped online for a quick break and then it’s back to my own One-Pass Method Revision.
Jewel/Pink Ink said:
Good for you! I read her technique but didn’t follow to the letter. Great reminder. Good luck with the submission!
Amy Bai said:
Hey Gypsy,
thanks! Good luck on your own revision. How is it going?
Amy Bai said:
Hey Jewel,
I admit, I fudged mine a bit too – Typing Hell came a little before I was done reworking the ending. I just see stuff better on the screen sometimes, I guess. Thanks for stopping by!
Unfocused Me said:
That’s impossible. I just read your post about starting the revision, and now two weeks later you’re DONE? And you’ve had surgery in the middle of it?
Congratulations on completing the second draft, and on (I hope) a successful recovery. I’ve had a tab open to Holly Lisle’s one-pass revision since you gave us the link on day one. I’m just getting ready to start mine (it was supposed to be Dec. 1, but the day job got in the way), and I’m going to give her method a try. If you can do it in two weeks with surgery, I ought to be able to finish by the end of January!
stamperdad said:
Thanks for sharing this with us. Congratulations on your project.
I think I can really use this information. Editing/revision is much harder than writing.
Steve
http://stamperdad.wordpress.com
gypsyscarlett said:
Hey Amy,
I’m going slowly at it because I really want to get it right this time. I’m so amazed that you did it so quickly and while recovering from surgery. I actually think about that when I get tired- forces me onward. 🙂
Amy Bai said:
Hey Unfocused – day jobs definitely do get in the way. 🙂 Keep in mind, I kind of cheated: I’ve had an impromptu 2 week vacation from my FTJ due to surgery. So minus drugs and sleep and learning to sit upright (which actually only took a few days), I actually had extra time!
Amy Bai said:
Hi Steve, thanks for stopping by! I totally agree: I’d rather write three Dreaded Novel Middles than revise one. Good luck on your own revisions!
Amy Bai said:
Gypsy – I totally understand. I did have a vacation to help me out (still on it, actually, and now that I’m not feeling like I got kicked in the stomach by a Clydesdale it’s lovely), or this would have taken me at least a month…plus, now it’s Beta Time, and I’m sure I’ll be starting from scratch when I get the feedback.
Sometimes I can’t really remember why I love this stuff. Gods know I could never explain it. 🙂
Amy Bai said:
I forgot to add….Steve, I totally love your Bill the Cat blavatar. 😉
parametric said:
Congrats! That’s pretty impressive – glad Holly’s one-pass method worked for you. I’m excited to see Song. 😀
Amy Bai said:
Hey!!! We’ll see if it did – I’m excited to *send* you Song. You’ll have to let me know if I pulled it off. 🙂
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