As you all know, I've been having a busy week as I show my mom around Hong Kong. I'll update you all with pictures from our adventures soon. In the meantime, here is my next writing journey video about some important tools I discovered as I got into the best part of writing: revision.
Oh no, I can't watch the video. When I click play it tells me it's private :(
ReplyDeleteSorry about that Alicia! I just fixed it.
DeleteHey Shannon..got ready to sit down and see this, but YouTube is telling me it's Private!
ReplyDeleteI just fixed the video Jennifer. Sorry!
DeleteThis is great and such good advice! I for one know what it's like to revise!! It was difficult for me to delete in the beginning, but eventually I became a pro at that. Gosh, I would never leave home if I had a view like yours. The lantern is a great accessory, too!
ReplyDeleteThanks Susan. I felt like I was doing tons of deleting, but my writing partner still managed to help me chop out another 8,000 words or so. I think the manuscript is better for it.
DeleteI love hearing about other writers/avid readers' process. I just finished writing a 15 page short story that I have to submit on Wednesday. I had 2 days to write it. I think I work well under pressure (after I've been thinking about the story obsessively). Revision and editing is my favorite part of writing as well. It's like plastic surgery!
ReplyDeleteThanks Nagehan. I hope your short story is going well! I agree that revising is like surgery, and it's amazing what a big difference it makes!
DeleteI totally agree about cutting/consolidation/revising. My current writing project ended up being a whopping 145,000 words at the end of the first draft, which I'm in the process of editing away 50K of those. Turning out a finished product takes a LOT of work, but it's still fun.
ReplyDeleteThe one thing I would add to your suggestions is, when you're cutting, be sure to save the stuff you cut in a scratch file. You never know when you might be able to reuse some of those snippets in something else you're writing. I can't count the number of times I've gone back and re-purposed an old bit of unused writing and saved myself a lot of time and trouble trying to miracle up something else.
That's an excellent point Jonathan. Just because something needs to be cut from one piece does not mean it isn't good writing that could be useful later. I guess it's a matter of leaving in only what that particular manuscript really needs; you'll have a lean, powerful story to show for it. I hope your current revisions are going well!
DeleteCutting words is difficult because Authors get attached to what they have written. Sometimes it's best to let another person read the manuscript and make the cutting, because he or she isn't attached and can make a better decision. If a passage doesn't advance the main storyline, it is a candidate for elimination.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely. I have a terrific writing partner who has helped me eliminate a lot of material that I just couldn't see was making the plot drag. That's an extremely important point about focusing on the passages that advance the main storyline.
DeleteShannon, I love your new posts about writing. This one was especially helpful. I've been doing an outline on my computer, but it's not as visual and harder to move around. I like the color coding, too. Mostly, I love that you start and end every little video by saying, "I'm a writer." That can be a hard thing to say to someone you know, let alone to a bunch of strangers. Thanks for the inspiration.
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