Thursday, November 09, 2006

Horsing around


8:30 am and 78 degrees. I just got in from my walk and it's back to editing. I am on a roll. I woke up at 3 am thinking about my book and decided to get up. I will pay for it later I am sure of it.
I am trying something new.
I am a visual learner.
I need to see things.
I laid out the structure of my book in excel.
Listed each chapter, how many pages and the content i.e. how that particular chapter drives the plot forward.
When I did this It became obvious why I had some second act sag and why the last quarter of my novel feels rushed.
I could see where there was excessive chapter length and too much chapter brevity .
I rearranged a few chapters at the end to advance the flow and enhanced what was there.
I am liking it better and better.
I know how to proceed now.
Kudos to agents who guide the editing process.
Kudos to you Dorian.

1 comment:

Kimber Li said...

I just did this on a book I wrote a decade ago and shelved. I had to stop because the story was morphing into three different novels in my head. I suppose I should just let that happen and develop the one that nags me the most.