when good words go bad...
Jun. 24th, 2009 07:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lagilmanGrrr. Staring at what I wrote this morning, damn full aware that, while all the individual words and sentences are solid, and the overall scene is quite enjoyable, it just. doesn't. work. It's the scene itself; it starts in the wrong place, ends in the wrong place, gives the information in the wrong order. I know damn-well I have to rework it, come at it from Another Angle. I even -- almost -- know what that angle is.
But I don't want to give up the 2,000 words already written.
I could leave it alone. I could wave a hand over it and wait until I'm done, hope that my beta readers and my editor don't catch that it doesn't work (hah. fat chance). But I'll know. And nothing will flow right with it hanging there, not-quite-right.
Grrr. Hate this part of the job.
(for the knitters out there, yes, this is exactly like knowing you have to unravel an entire row...or three.)
EtA: went into the Word War room after posting this and, taking a hundred or so words from this morning's work, started again from a different beginning. Two hours later I had 2,200 new words, replacing about 400 words in the original, and a much better flow.
When your gut says "wrong direction, dumbass," listen. Total wordage for the day: 3,900 new words, a few hundred revised.
But I don't want to give up the 2,000 words already written.
I could leave it alone. I could wave a hand over it and wait until I'm done, hope that my beta readers and my editor don't catch that it doesn't work (hah. fat chance). But I'll know. And nothing will flow right with it hanging there, not-quite-right.
Grrr. Hate this part of the job.
(for the knitters out there, yes, this is exactly like knowing you have to unravel an entire row...or three.)
EtA: went into the Word War room after posting this and, taking a hundred or so words from this morning's work, started again from a different beginning. Two hours later I had 2,200 new words, replacing about 400 words in the original, and a much better flow.
When your gut says "wrong direction, dumbass," listen. Total wordage for the day: 3,900 new words, a few hundred revised.
