Seems revision thoughts are being telepathically beamed into our brains lately. Not only did Nathan Bransford have a great post with a great checklist for revisions yesterday, but Blood Red Pencil's guest blogger, Alexandra Sokoloff, has a few relevant thoughts on that subject as well. I particularly like the list of the various Acts and their components. Might be useful for structuring a novel, hint hint...except when it isn't.
However, don't just go rushing off to edit, kids. Don thy foil helmets* and pause to consider your own process instead of following some mythical Pied Piper off into the mythical land of million dollar advances and New York Times best seller lists.
And by that I mean, consider your own writing style and what you have learned about the craft of writing-- and keep weaving your own process in with these editing rules. You have a style and voice (or are developing one) and you presumably have internalized much of the basics about writing. So you are at the point where you are bending rules, or maybe experimenting a bit with structure. If you follow the list Ms. Sokoloff provides for structuring your story, it might not work to tell the story you envision. Not that I'm saying chuck these rules/suggestions out the window. Not all of us can be a James Joyce who writes idiosyncratic books like Ulysses without punctuation for massive sections (and all the other wackiness that frankly makes me find the book unreadable) and still be called a brilliant writer; and not many of us would want to write that sort of book. But we can all be ourselves while we communicate our stories to others.
So amidst all the lists of things to think about, and Rules that Must Be Obeyed (unless they aren't), don't forget to be yourself. It's what will sell your novel in the end, you know.
*See, this guy is a free thinker. And a fashion plate. (Picture from Wikipedia)
i love reading alex and how she's able to write both screenplays and novels... professionally :)
Posted by: laughingwolf | June 11, 2009 at 03:59 PM