Everything Old Is New Again
One of my favored tricks, when I'm stalled on a book, is to take the material I have and retype it. I have about a hundred pages on the current book, and this morning I started the big retype.
Before my readers recoil in horror, let me point out that this technique allows me to examine on a word to word basis what I've written and to make new choices. I do a lot of fat-cutting in the process, and frequently find plot opportunities that don't occur to me when I'm just reading or line-editing.
This morning I retyped fifteen pages (down from sixteen) and made copious notes. I feel, if not virtuous, at least worthy. Onward and upward.
Before my readers recoil in horror, let me point out that this technique allows me to examine on a word to word basis what I've written and to make new choices. I do a lot of fat-cutting in the process, and frequently find plot opportunities that don't occur to me when I'm just reading or line-editing.
This morning I retyped fifteen pages (down from sixteen) and made copious notes. I feel, if not virtuous, at least worthy. Onward and upward.
posted by Madeleine Robins at 2:15 PM
2 Comments:
One of my favored tricks, when I'm stalled on a book, is to take the material I have and retype it. I have about a hundred pages on the current book, and this morning I started the big retype.I do this, too. I suspect it has something to do with my disinterest in writing an outline for the book.
Hi, Leslie!
I don't like to outline. In fact, I hate it. The only time I ever did a really tight outline was when I wrote a licensed character novel for Marvel; they required a 25 page outline, and I had to turn it in within a week. It did make the writing of the book faster, but that week was horrible.Sometimes, when I'm halfway through, I make a cursory outline of the rest of the book--but I'm writing mysteries right now, and sometimes I need to keep track of various bits and pieces.
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