Regarding Rewriting and Reading

Instead of writing short stories set in my fantasy world for NaNoWriMo, I have ended up using November thus far to finish re-writing my fantasy novel. As it so happens, I am only ONE chapter away from finishing! Most likely, I will finish the first rewrite of this novel TOMORROW.
When I wrote the first draft, I was so fed up with all the plot changes that had occurred (and, let's face it, I was wiped out from handwriting 60,000 words during NaNoWriMo) that I didn't even write the ending; I only summarized it. Writing the ending has been wonderful, but, at the same time, I'm sad that's it's nearly over. I've been working on this story for nearly two years (I had to the first idea for this book in December 2013).
Yet, I know I need to step back from the story for a few months. I know there are countless character, world, plot, and prose problems to fix, but I can't pinpoint anything because I'm too close right now. I don't see problems and remedies—I see: AKSDKHAKLHASDJFLA.
It's like having the lens on your camera zoomed in too close. When you look through the view-finder, everything is blurry and you are left saying, "Huh? What am I looking at?" As soon as you zoom out and distance yourself from the picture, you say, "Ohhhh! So THAT'S what I was seeing!" I'm at the "Huh?" stage and it will take a few months to get to the "Ohhhh!" stage. Because I'm not sure what my novel looks like at this point, I'm going to postpone letting people (other than my parents) read it for awhile.

So what's next on the writing horizon after I finish this rewrite? Well, I've been asking myself a lot of writing-related questions lately, such as:
-"How much of writing is inherent talent, and how much of writing is learned skill?"
-"How much editing is too much?"
-"If I nitpick every detail to make sure that everything is textbook perfect, will the story be too formal to be enjoyable?"
-"Are books like Harry Potter so consistent in detail because of copious planning and brilliant editing, or because the author is a highly-organized writer, a genius of his trade?"
-"What makes two people into a 'ship*'?"
-"How can I present important information without dumping it into my reader's heads via a boring, page-long block of text?"
-"How do I describe perfume?"
I'm going to take the Sleeping Beauty retelling I wrote in June for the Five Magic Spindles contest and experiment with it, attempting to answer some of the above questions (especially the ones dealing with editing). It's important in a story for each scene to either advance the plot or the character arc*, so I'm going to take each scene in my Sleeping Beauty story and analyze whether it achieves that goal. I'm also going to work on evoking emotions in the reader by writing my characters a certain way (for instance, writing my two main characters in a way that makes the audience "ship" them), and I'm going to work on creating a comprehensive and descriptive world so that the reader can clearly picture what I write about.
I'm hoping that, through this experiment, I can refine my editing techniques so that, when I start working on the plot, character, and worldbuilding issues in my fantasy novel, I can have some idea of what I'm doing, instead of aimlessly blundering about.

So, what have I been reading lately, you may ask, glancing back at the title of this post.
Good question. I've been reading a plethora of fiction, though I haven't finished a lot of it. For instance, I started the final book in the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson, but I couldn't get into it (I feel my friend glaring at me through the computer; sorry TMG!). Then, I started reading The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien because for the past few years, I've always read it in November or December in preparation for the movie coming out in theater. I couldn't get into that either and put it down.
I read Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen a few weeks ago and started Mansfield Park by the same author. I've read both books before, but Jane Austen is worth a reread. I've gotten more than halfway through Mansfield Park, but the going is slow.
I'm also reading Winter by Marissa Meyer. Winter is the final book in The Lunar Chronicles, a Young Adult sci-fi/fairytale retelling that is very good (though each book gets steadily more romantic and the novella, Fairest, can be skipped entirely, in my opinion). My friends and I went to the Winter release party a few weeks ago since it was nearby. That was really fun, and we all ended up buying signed copies of the book! Unfortunately, we didn't get to meet Marissa Meyer because the line was too long.
Finally, I'm reading Vango by Timothee de Fombelle. (Jack made me do it!) This book takes place in pre-World War II Europe and is so random and crazy and wonderful. It has chases and escapes, pirates and a zeppelin (unfortunately, the pirates don't fly the zeppelin, like in a certain implausible series), and a very mysterious, very Tintin-like main character. It's fun, too, because it was translated from French and, occasionally, there is a really weird metaphor or a really weird, random sentence that makes me think that something was lost in translation. Overall, it's a fabulous book. And it has a gorgeous cover.
My reading challenge was going well until October when I had to read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I didn't get very far in, partly because I found out how it ended and I really don't see the purpose of reading a huge book written in a style I ABHOR (this is the style where every sentence is so beautiful and poetic that it would be really profound if I could figure out what it meant. Can someone hand me my metaphor-cracker and symbolism-index please?) only to have all the characters... well, for spoilers sake I won't say. I don't particularly care for World War II stories anyway, so I decided to put it off indefinitely. The last two books in my challenge are from the horror genre and, at the moment, I'm just not feeling like reading that. Maybe some day I'll get to Dracula and Something Wicked This Way Comes, but today is not that day!

So, what are YOU reading? If you are a writer, have you ever asked any of the questions that I have been asking myself? Do you have any answers for me?

 

Live long and prosper

*Ship: Fangirl language for two people that are either in a relationship, or are wished together by the fans.
* Character arc: How a character grows and changes over the course of a story.

Beautiful Books—The Writing Process

Beautiful People (Or, Beautiful Books during NaNoWriMo) is a linkup hosted by Cait at Paper Fury and Sky at Further Up and Further In. You can learn more about it on their blogs, but the general idea is to answer ten questions about your writing.

Here are this month's questions with my answers (dealing with my fantasy novel):

1. Is the book turning out how you thought it would be, or is it defying your expectations?
I'm not even sure any more. Half the time I love the story and the characters and half the time I despise the story and the characters because I don't think I'll ever be able to write them right. I suppose I thought that, by the second draft, I'd be a little more settled in the story so, in that way, it's defying gravity—I mean, defying my expectations.

2. What’s your first sentence (or paragraph)?

Once upon a time, there was a Wicked Witch. Like most Witches of the evil persuasion, this Witch had big plans to take over the world. Only one simple question stood in her way: How? The other Witches and warlocks in her village by the seaside didn’t approve of her evil inclinations (having inclinations of their own, both Wicked and benign) and wouldn’t help her, so the Wicked Witch left them to search for power on her own.

 

Little did the Witch know, that her quest could have ended with the power provided by Energizer.

 

3. Are you a plotter or a pantser? Have you ever tried both methods and how did it turn out?

I used to be a pantser when I was younger, but my stories never got past the first chapter. It took a novel-writing class to show me that I could plan out my stories and know exactly where to take them. Since then, I have been a plotter, though I do leave things vague-ish so that if inspiration sends me a whimsy, I can follow it.

 

 

 

4. What do you reward yourself with after meeting a goal?

Usually with an episode of one of my favorite TV shows.

 

Frasier.

 

5. What do you look for in a name? Do you have themes and where do you find your names?

Whenever I see or hear a cool name, I write it down. Oddly enough, I usually find names on worship music when I'm on the worship team at church. There are some really weird musician names out there. If a new character shows up, I don't usually spend a lot of time searching for names, but instead pull one out of my brain that I think would fit the character. Sometimes I look on baby name sites.

 

 

6. What is your favourite to write: beginning, middle, or end — and why?

I think I most like to write the middle of stories because that's where all the action happens. I'm always worried that my beginnings will be too slow. As for endings, I'm just terrible at writing those because I always leave things open-ended just in case I ever want to write a sequel in the future.

 

 

 

7. Who’s your current favourite character in your novel?

Ugh. I'm tired of them all.

Well, maybe Finn. I had the HARDEST time writing him both in the first draft and the first half of the second draft. Then, I changed one tiny detail about his life and he's become so much easier to write! Funny how that happens. He used to be one of my least favorites because I had no clue how to write him, but now I'm really enjoying his character.

 

 

8. What kind of things have you researched for this project, and how do you go about researching? (What’s the weirdest thing you’ve researched?!)

I've researched various mythical beasts for this story—mostly sirens and alkonosts and another mythical bird-like creatures. I'm a terrible researcher, so my method is usually typing whatever I need into Google and reading the Wikipedia page on it.

 

 

9. Do you write better alone or with others? Do you share your work or prefer to keep it to yourself?

Definitely alone. I hate sharing my work with others until I know that it's semi-decent.

 

 

10. What are your writing habits? Is there a specific snack you eat? Do you listen to music? What time of day do you write best? Feel free to show us a picture of your writing space!

Hmm... I don't know if I have any writing habits. Or a specific snack that I eat. I drink a lot of water (and, as a result, have to get up to go to the bathroom a lot, which is annoying. Actually, half the time I just bring my laptop with me so I can continue to write... but you didn't need to know that).

I always listen to music while I write. Lately, I've been listening to Gustav Holst's "The Planets" and musical theater songs.

I'm not sure what time of day I write best either. Maybe early afternoon? Or the evening? Or maybe the morning? Any time I'm feeling productive, I suppose.

 

Feel free to answer these questions yourself and link up on Cait's blog!

 

Live long and prosper.

Happenings

I got a job.
I am now an employed woman.
My job is monitoring a business park for trash and then picking it up and throwing it away. At least, that is what I will be doing for the first few weeks. My boss is the head of his own janitorial company so he gets odd jobs all the time. My boss also goes to my church, which made the whole job-getting process a little easier because I've known him for years and years. The guy who has been training me also goes to my church, which also makes learning the job a little less stressful.
Did I mention that I get to drive a golf cart on this job?
And yet, I still face fears and anxieties. It's hard to realize that you aren't as self-confident as you believed yourself to be. Isn't it strange that I feel totally comfortable going up in front of a hundred people to sing musical theater, but being paid to pick up trash in a golf cart makes me so anxious I can't sleep?
I know I haven't been around my blog much this year. It will probably continue that way as I try to figure out life. Working, anxiety, relationships with friends and with God, my writing, my music, being an adult, and other things that I'm probably forgetting. I might post about it if you're interested.

One thing I want to mention... I am planning on having my Super Secret Fantasy Novel (which I have been hinting-at on this blog for about a year-and-a-half) rewritten by the end of the year. I am looking for several people to read it in the New Year and to express their opinions on plot, characters, and world-building. I guess it kind of goes back to that self-confidence thing. I know my writing is good, but I have no clue if other people will like it or not. I want to know if my story is good enough to share with the world, or if I should lock it in a chest and bury it under my house, only to be taken out when I want to peer, Gollum-like, at it (my precioussss). If anyone is interesting in reading the rough draft of the story sometime in January or February of 2016, leave me a comment or send me an email* expressing your interest. If you want to learn more about the book, you can read THIS blog post. A number of things have changed since I wrote that post, but for the most part it remains accurate.

Are new, exciting-yet-frightening things happening in your lives? Tell me about them!

Live long and prosper.

*Those of you with my personal address can email me there; otherwise, you can reach me at agwerff@gmail.com, which I check about once every two months. Haha, if you email me there, let me know in the comments.

"I can make it longer if you like the style, I can change it 'round, and I want to be a paperback writer..."

And I thought rewriting would be fun... Ha. I've entered one of those my-story-is-terrible-why-am-I-doing-this stages and the only way I know to combat those is to keep pushing through, even if I think everything I'm writing is dull and boring and completely lacking in the character development department.
I think I found a way to make things a tiny bit better, though. Too many things were happening over too many chapters. It was bogging down the story. I kept wondering when these scenes would end, and when the plot would advance. So, as much as I hated doing it—because it messed up my entire outline—I combined several chapters into one and moved one entire chapter to later in the book, where I think it fits better. Now, my novel is two chapters shorter. When your book is 65 chapters to begin with, cutting out two chapters is probably a good thing.
Still, it's taking me about two hours on average to rewrite one chapter. It doesn't help that I'm having a bear of a time concentrating. The Internet keeps distracting me (and, yes, it is grammatically correct to capitalize "Internet"). Namely, comic con panels keep distracting me. The best one, by far, was the Muppets panel where the Muppets ACTUALLY JOINED IN ON THE PANEL! Their performers were right there, too, and you could see them Muppeteering their Muppets, but all you could see was the Muppet talking. It was as if the performer wasn't even there.
The Muppets constantly break forth wall; a movie or show can hardly go by without them mentioning that they are in a movie or TV show. But I have never seen the Muppets break their puppet forth wall. There were so many puppet puns flying around. It was surreal. And Steve Whitmire (Kermit's performer) is a little troublemaker. Half the panel is his snarky comments. It's hilarious.

Well, I should probably get back to rewriting... and tearing my hair out.

Live long and prosper.

Burdened with glorious floor space.

This is my workspace:

It is the fluffy purple rug on my bedroom floor. Unfortunately, it does not get vacuumed – only shaken out. Currently, it is in great need of being shaken out. There are little sticks and strings and pieces of fluff stuck in it from the summer's adventures (and a dog who like to investigate underneath the bushes in the backyard and then come inside and hide under my bed, taking the path via the purple rug, of course).

Today, my goal is to finish making the plot changes (so much for doing five chapters a day)! So far, I've already eliminated two more unneeded chapters, and I'm so happy with the plot changes that I'm making that it hardly seems like work! I think yesterday's changes were the hardest.
Finishing the plot changes today will give me a day (tomorrow) to look over them and make any further changes before I take a week's break. After my break, I can start rewriting! Eeep!
At the beginning of the year, I made an rewriting/editing plan for this novel. I got so horribly off-track that I was afraid I wouldn't get the story rewritten by the end of the year. Now, however, I feel far more optimistic! Huzzah!

Remember what I just typed about yesterday being the hardest? Forget it. It's about 40 minutes later, and I've changed my mind.
I've reached the end of the novel.
Which I didn't even bother writing the first time.
In 2014, when I wrote this book, I had so many plot holes and the story was just dragging on and on and on and I didn't have a clear direction, so I never finished writing the story. Instead, I made a synopsis saying, "And then there was a big battle and it ends happily ever after." (Oops, spoilers!)
So, basically, I have reached the stage of the story where I am making up what happens next.
I've thought a lot about the ending since 2014, and I know exactly how I want to do it. Getting those ideas from my head to the notecards in front of me is a different matter.

~Time Passes~

Let it be known that on August 13, 2015 at about 11:50 AM, Abbey finished the plot revisions to her fantasy novel's outline! Hip hip!

Self-congratulatory selfie with my outline.

In my hand (well, actually, it's on the floor right now), I hold a fully-functioning outline! Yay! And I am SO happy with how it turned out! I can't wait to start rewriting this story!
The original story had 65 chapters before I gave up and decided to do an outline before attempting to rewrite the story with an actual ending. The final chapter count in my sparkling, new outline is 65 chapters! What a cool coincidence!

Now, I can bask in my triumph, and prepare myself for driving alone to voice lessons for the first time ever. And eat lunch. I'm hungry.

Live long and prosper!

Episode Two: Attack of the Notecards

Today, my soundtrack is Natalie Cole's CD Unforgettable.

The second notebook has always been the most boring of the three. The first one has a lot of action and adventure. The third one has a lot of action and adventure. The second one... It sits still—sinking—in a stinking, stagnant marsh of politics and bad characterization on the part of The Author who had no clue what she was doing when she wrote the first draft.
Going through the fifteen chapters that encompass the second notebook makes yesterday's plot work look easy. And I haven't even reached the big issues that I mentioned yesterday.
As I said, the second notebook is boring. Nothing exciting happens. And if I, as the writer, gets bored reading it, then so will the readers. Today, I realized that I can achieve the same plot advances that I currently have in half the amount of chapters. So, that is what I am busy working on: combining events from various chapters into glorious, new chapters (making sure to include a plot change as I go along, of course!). Hopefully, I can keep my audience (and myself!) more entertained by cutting out a lot of unnecessary scenes. 

We interrupt your regular programming to bring you this weather report: Outside, it is thundering ominously. As of 11:57 AM on August 12th, there has been no rain yet. We expect it shortly.

My stormy view. (The rain never did come.)

I have managed to cut out four chapters. And, I have managed the finish the fifteen chapters in the second notebook! Tomorrow I shall tackle Notebook No. 3. (AKA, the one with the biggest revisions).
Stay tuned for more...

It has begun

Today I am beginning plot revisions to my fantasy novel. After writing out a synopsis of each chapter on a notecard, I'm ready to go through them and fix plot holes and add plot changes when necessary. In the end, I shall have a complete and fully-functioning outline! Then, I can start rewriting.

How novel: a novel in notecards!

The very first notecard presented a problem. A huge plot hole. While waiting for my mom to finish what she was doing so I could talk it out with her and do a little brainstorming, I created a "Classic rock" playlist on youtube. This playlist features a nice blend of Paul McCartney, Elton John, Billy Joel, and Queen, with a scattering of Lou Rawls, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Focus, and others.
Ahile later, huzzah! We fixed the plot problem! Onto notecard no. 2.
I'm slightly apprehensive. Out of the whole novel, the beginning needs the least revisions to the plot. If it took an hour of thinking and talking to fix the first chapter; how long is it going to take to fix some of the bigger issues? Then again, I have thought quite a bit about the later issues, and not at all about this first one. Hopefully, I can quickly and easily fix the problems that I've already thought a lot about.

My goal is to go through five chapters a day; it will take me about two weeks.
Although, my progress today has put me significantly ahead of schedule! I got through the first twenty chapters, which are contained in the first notebook (which is really only half a notebook; the other half is filled with random ideas and stories). These first twenty chapters are the easy chapters. The only real difficulties are a few plot holes that need patching, the need for some foreshadowing, and some inconsistencies (goats magically changing into sheep and then back into goats again). The major plot changes happen in the second and—even more so—the third notebooks. I have a feeling that they will take quite a bit longer to get through than the first notebook.

75 plot notes and 20 notecards down; 160 plot notes and 40 more notecards to go!