 | 3 Mar 08 |
I’m writing this on Sunday, while waiting for my new stove, dishwasher and microwave to be delivered.
Waiting and waiting.
On Monday (when you all read this) I’ll be waiting for the installation guy. (I’m not being sexist, I know he’s a guy because I talked to him on the phone.)
More waiting. Good times, huh?
I can’t even concentrate on writing my book while waiting.
And speaking of my book, I finished my draft. My first draft. That’s about 470 pages, but the entire thing needs work. I have to make some decisions. But I am pleased that the first draft came together, that I trusted myself to keep moving forward until I had the whole story. Even though I am writing for a new editor and perfectly capable of freaking myself out trying to guess what she will like and won’t like, I refused to go there.
Mostly.
Okay, sometimes I woke up in a panic and thought, “What have I done?” But I told myself over and over, “It’s a first draft, I can fix anything.” And I kept going.
We all know that we have to keep going, keep moving forward and building the story, in order to finish a book.
But now I’m waiting. I can’t concentrate enough to write. So guess what I’m doing?
Thinking. Worrying. Thinking about the first draft, second guessing everything I did.
Jen-In-Waiting is NOT a good thing for my mental health. Which is patently clear since I referred to myself in third person and first person in the same sentence.
But you know what? This is exactly the right time for me to start second guessing. To start asking myself some serious questions about plot, characters and pure story. Questions like:
1) Have I hooked the reader? (And did I start in the right place to hook the reader?)
2) Do I keep the tension going? Is there a sagging middle?
3) Am I introducing the characters correctly and revealing them in a well-drawn fashion? Are the characters consistently acting “in character?”
4) Are the plot and pacing working? Are things being revealed in a way the builds and accelerates the story pace? (I know of two plot problems that drag that are currently slowing the story pace. They should be easy fixes…hopefully…but they MUST be fixed to establish and maintain the all-important tension and pacing.)
5) Do I answer all the story questions? Have I left any unintended hanging threads?
These are just some of the things spinning in my mind WHILE I’M WAITING! STILL WAITING!
But the truth is that while the first draft is the place to tell yourself repeatedly, “Don’t sweat the small stuff:” Come revision time, it’s exactly the time to sweat the small stuff. The next month or so, I’ll be worrying about every aspect of the manuscript while revising and polishing. It’s what I’m supposed to do.
But do I have to do it while WAITING FOR A DELIVERY? I mean really, how hard it is to deliver appliances on time?
So while I’m waiting, do you all have any tips on revising? Or if you are a reader but not a writer, tell me the things you wished authors would look for when revising.
Jennifer Lyon 
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