Amrin Stuff

[kriadydragon]

Re-edting a story from my early writing years is certainly turning out to be interesting. I had gone in with the firm beleif that I would be cutting a lot out - which I am - but I also seem to be putting a lot more in. Which, yeah, okay, I accept that stuff needs to be added as well but, dang it, I was really hoping to shorten this sucker.

But it's so fascinating to look at how I used to write and be able to compare it to how I write now via the changes I'm making. My mom used to say that one of my biggest writing shortcomings was my tendancy to repeat myself. And, boy, was she right. I'd touch on a subject in one paragraph only to touch on it again immediately after only worded differently. And I recall, while writing Amrin, being one of those writers that, for some reason, never felt confident that I'd made what I was trying to say clear, so I would say it again.

It's also interesting to see how rambly and wordy I was then, and also see how much more... condensed and to the point I am now (Amrin the Dreamer ended up being over four hundred pages when I first finished it. My latest book is barely over two hundred pages. In fact, if you were to line all my original novels up in chronicological order, you'd see a steady decrease in the number of pages in each book).

Writing issues aside, though, I was at least decent at putting a story together. I have yet to read a chapter I want to completely remove. However, there are parts of the story that are coming up that I'm seriously thinking about cutting, which may also mean cutting some characters. The first several chapters of Amrin are pretty much a whump fest that I know will eventually wear on readers. Problem is, many of those chapters introduce characters and concepts that will be important later on, which will mean figuring out how to condense everything without losing what's needed and possibly having to do a complete rewrite of those chapters.

Another interesting thing about Amrin is that when I wrote it, it was meant to be mostly action and adventure. But what I got was something a lot more character focused. At least I hope that's how Amrin comes across - as a story about Amrin and what he goes through, and that readers don't become impatient with the slow build (because, yeah, this is definitely not a fast-paced story).

Comments

[timespirt.livejournal.com]

You can always make it 2 books like you were talking about? It would take care of all the stuff you want to add and subtract and give you more space to write in your OC's?

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Well, the problem with the upcoming chapters isn't the length, it's whether or not they're making the story drag. Amrin has kind of a slow beginning with a lot of build, and while the chapters do introduce important characters, most of what happens is just kind of the same old, same old.

But, then it's been a while since I looked at the book, so the details of those chapters elude me, so they may be perfectly fine how they are.

And I do think I'm going to have to divide it into two books. It is a ridiculously long story.

[imbecamiel.livejournal.com]

Arrrgh, the whole "Repeating the same concept slightly differently" thing, and over-explaining... Something I've been wrestling with. In editing phase I'm getting pretty good at catching it, but man. I'm not sure how much is due to insecurity over whether something's clear enough, and how often it comes from writing some things over the course of several days, or out of order. (Thinking I need to get X detail into the scene, or that Y would make for some good description... forgetting that I'd already said basically the same thing earlier, and that's why it's in my head. :P)

I do think that ability to write a good story in the most streamlined way possible is such an encouraging sign of growth!

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure how much is due to insecurity over whether something's clear enough, and how often it comes from writing some things over the course of several days, or out of order.

I think it's all of the above, because the things I repeat due to insecurity I usually repeat close to each, usually within two paragraphs. While the stuff I repeat that I'm repeating due to forgetfulness are usually a chapter or two apart (and I think the latter tended to be more of a problem for me than the former, and still is a problem, sometimes).

Heh, but the issue with condensing is that you sometimes end up saying too little ;) Because now my habit is not saying things I probably should, in the belief that it's been "implied" enough for the readers to figure it out for themselves.

But it is awesome seeing yourself go from taking a whole paragraph to describe something, to needing only one or two sentences. It's even nicer not to end up with stories that are monstrously long ;)