Editing Update: Breaking It Up
So, I’d never written a novel before.
And the next time I do, I’ll certainly do some things differently, both from having learned a better way AND wanting to explore new ways.
PROBABLY one thing I’ll do differently next time, is not write 106,000 words in stream-of-consciousness with no discernible structure. Cuz lemme tell ya, THAT’s been fun to address.
But it did make Step One of editing rather obvious: I needed to comb back through the whole thing and break it up into scenes or chapters…at LEAST for the sake of organizing it.
So I did! And now now I have 40 chapters to deal with. Sweet. Great. Moving forwa—
WAITWUT.
Forward. Right. How do we do that, again? I had no idea. I DO have a few notes-to-self in the margins that are of some significance and will require writing new scenes and even creating, ditching, or combining characters to get the dynamics I want, but….OOF. I’m not ready to tackle that.
So I procrastinated. Or deferred the decision-making, if you’d rather. But then…
Bob Hoskins voice: Lightnin’ has just struck my brain.
Remember how I just wrote the whole-ass novel with no experience or planning or structure? So my next editing pass will be to overlay a three-act structure onto the thing (not because that’s the best or only structure…but just because it’s solid and popular and this is my first time and so let’s not get experimental, eh?). And now that I have chapters, I can nudge things around a little or at least draw an imaginary line between them and say “This is Act 2 now” or whatever.
I think that’ll help me see VISUALLY (SO important for me) how the thing is structured…what the rise and fall of its tides are. And I think that’ll in turn reveal potential areas for shuffling or development.
AND THEN! One of my ideas early on was to lean into the ranch/agricultural/seasonal life in the story by breaking the story into sections identified by season. I’m pretty excited to at least try it and see if it makes any sense.
So there we have it! From stream of consciousness to chapter breaks, to three-act structure, to season-sections. It feels exciting to at least have a direction, and I’ll be using my weekly writing group time to further that effort. Onward!