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lagilmanBeen a busy few days, yes. Last night, I broke from my desk and watched "Mega-shark vs Giant Octopus." Yes, I did. And I shared the experience with people all over the country on IM, and via Facebook, and on Twitter. Just another Saturday night in the 21st century... [![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
windrose I think that Skype is the answer, yes. Go thou and install!]
Today, I am back to work. And I am loving it, and I am hating it, and I am loving that I am hating it.
The thing about the Vineart books is they're kind of sprawling. And complicated. And have three -- no, four different motivational layers going at all times. And outlining them requires not paper and pencil but foam core and x-acto blades and transparency paper and clear glue (and the meerkat has a flashback to her one required art course, Historical Design, which was far more fun than Drawing 101 for Non-Artists)
So. When writing (novel, short story, doesn't matter) I do the once-through to set the events in sand, prep the pacing, get all the marks lined up and the basic dialogue in. And then I red-line the sucker, marking off every line, every scene that doesn't quite work, either suggesting a change or making a note to myself to rethink something, or to move something, or to rewrite something entire -- not stopping to do any of that, but rolling through the first 2/3 (or 3/4) of the book, leaving the ending alone because of how much things will change anyway when I do the second pass. Also, if I polish the final bit before the first bits are done? Chaos and Bad Book)
And then there's the second pass, where I come to bits of red-lined page and stop and stare and get up and wander around and swear and then rewrite, and basically manage about three-five pages an hour of work, which is just.. sad. Not writing pages, mind you -- just rewriting. And thinking. And did I mention the swearing and the desk-avoidance?
And with every page I rework, there's another layer of foam core and transparency paper set down, varying the thickness and color of the narrative, adding weight and thought to the sand until it's not sand but (hopefully) concrete.
And now that is done -- yes, it is DONE! -- for Vineart #2, I can read through once more, all the way through to the last 1/3 (or 1/4) and see if the threads and the levels and the foam-core corridors all lead out to the place I wanted them to. If yes, continue on. If no... rinse and repeat.
This is no job for wimps.
windrose I think that Skype is the answer, yes. Go thou and install!]Today, I am back to work. And I am loving it, and I am hating it, and I am loving that I am hating it.
The thing about the Vineart books is they're kind of sprawling. And complicated. And have three -- no, four different motivational layers going at all times. And outlining them requires not paper and pencil but foam core and x-acto blades and transparency paper and clear glue (and the meerkat has a flashback to her one required art course, Historical Design, which was far more fun than Drawing 101 for Non-Artists)
So. When writing (novel, short story, doesn't matter) I do the once-through to set the events in sand, prep the pacing, get all the marks lined up and the basic dialogue in. And then I red-line the sucker, marking off every line, every scene that doesn't quite work, either suggesting a change or making a note to myself to rethink something, or to move something, or to rewrite something entire -- not stopping to do any of that, but rolling through the first 2/3 (or 3/4) of the book, leaving the ending alone because of how much things will change anyway when I do the second pass. Also, if I polish the final bit before the first bits are done? Chaos and Bad Book)
And then there's the second pass, where I come to bits of red-lined page and stop and stare and get up and wander around and swear and then rewrite, and basically manage about three-five pages an hour of work, which is just.. sad. Not writing pages, mind you -- just rewriting. And thinking. And did I mention the swearing and the desk-avoidance?
And with every page I rework, there's another layer of foam core and transparency paper set down, varying the thickness and color of the narrative, adding weight and thought to the sand until it's not sand but (hopefully) concrete.
And now that is done -- yes, it is DONE! -- for Vineart #2, I can read through once more, all the way through to the last 1/3 (or 1/4) and see if the threads and the levels and the foam-core corridors all lead out to the place I wanted them to. If yes, continue on. If no... rinse and repeat.
This is no job for wimps.
