kriadydragon (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kriadydragon) wrote2015-02-12 08:31 pm
kriadydragon) wrote2015-02-12 08:31 pm
Entry tags:
Amrin Stuff
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).
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).