11/18/13 Emily Contemplates



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Ooooh, busy week. Packaged up and have begun shipping the Dimitri commemorative glasses. Started re-writing my novel (which I wrote last winter) (and, yes, it needed a rewrite).

Had fun too. Sat in the Rockhill Bakehouse on Saturday and listening to live music. Saw “Ender’s Game” (after reading that Card won’t receive a % of ticket sales) and I thought they did a fair job with the material. To me, the teeth of the story is Ender’s growth as he goes from team to team, but they skimmed over that. I also saw “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” (was showing at the local library) which I really loved. But I’m a moody teen of the 80s, so that should be no surprise.

13 Comments

  1. Night-Gaunt

    Rewrites, when do you know to stop? I am working on when to stop the rewrites. But usually anything you write isn’t set in stone so…it deserves at least one rewrite. Depends on the writer and what they want to be said.

  2. Christopher

    @Night-Gaunt, I’m good at not over-worrying the rewrites. But, in this case, it was one idea, which evolved into another idea, and then was trying to be another idea. In stepping back, I finally had to accept that the changes needed were too massive, there was no “fixing” it. And so I kept some of the ideas, most of the premise, re-plotted the ENTIRE thing, and am writing it again from square one. NOT my usual path, but in this case I think it was the right one.

    In general, I’ll edit it thoroughly a few times, show it around to writer friends, do a large edit with their comments in mind, then have someone do a grammar/spelling edit, and voila. Done.

  3. Christopher

    @Muzhik, Ha! In some cases I’d agree, but no. In this case it needed a rewrite. Trust me, I am not into putting my own work down nor do i take rewriting an entire novel lightly. 🙂

  4. Maybe Pielab needs to drop subtler hints: “Gee, my memory’s not so good – I might not recognize him if he tries to leave…”

    Also, I got my Dimitri glass on Saturday, along with the special note about the packing material. 🙂

  5. In the last panel…I’m not sure that the emphasis should be on the word “I”. I think the emphasis should be on the word “customs”, as in, “Hello, I work in *customs*. What do you think our paychecks are made of? Not-bribes?” Emphasizing the “I” makes it seem like Pielab is distinguishing himself/herself from somebody else in some fashion, which he/she isn’t.

    I mean, it’s your call, but that’s my view.

  6. Christopher

    @Philip_”Action”_Jackson, you may be right on that one. I’ll think about it. It’s hard after you’ve edited a line a dozen-or-more times, you can’t tell WHAT it naturally sounds like any more.

  7. The secret to good writing is good beta readers. My wife is my first and best one. If a whole book is the “forest” in the old saying about “not seeing the forest for the trees,” the author who’s been working on it for months to years is someone standing with his face pressed firmly to the bark of one trunk.

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