Monday, July 19, 2010

Edit Babbling

I've edited the first Act. I felt I needed to do that before I even started on the fight scene. I also found I need to add another scene sometime in the first Thursday/Friday area because there's no mention of how Genna feels after her lacivious behaviour with Tony. So how could she know what to do with Pete, if she hasn't said what she's going to do with Tony?

I've also broken down the chapters into days. Some days are shorter than others, some days are really long. Like Tuesday for example, the day she arrives. There are 3 scenes which add up to almost 30 pages, but I do have my little ****** breaks in there. I have to see what it looks like when it's all done. I really don't want to have chapters per se, I like the idea of days, as this novel is only 21 days out of Genna's life. I may break the scenes into chapters like this "Tuesday 23 June Morning" "Tuesday 23 June Afternoon" "Tuesday 23 June Evening" I don't know though. I have to see how it looks.

I also put the sex where it naturally should go and had to rewrite most of the rest of the act. Once I get Genna's reaction to the sex, then I need to move the conversation she has with Tony on Saturday night, out of where it is because that would lend so much more credibility to the conversation she has with Angie in the second act. If I put it on Thursday or Friday, it would work because...
I've also had second thoughts about the party at the bar. It really doesn't move the story forward, it's mainly filler but was the lead up to Tony's confession. I'll have to see what I can do to make it better. If I move the conversation maybe I can have Tony to show up anyway and cause all kinds of other problems. hee hee Am I brilliant or what?

I've also changed Genna's reason for coming home. I can't tell you what it is but it adds a whole other dimension to her angst. Yay me! It blends right into the story arc perfectly and I think will make her torment at the end so much greater.

I've also had second thoughts about the flashback scene. I may move that to the prologue but as you know prologues are dead, but then again so are flashbacks. But it really needs to be in there. Somewhere. It would really work as the prologue (Well, I would call it "chapter one") and it would really set the basis for the whole book, HOWEVER it would screw up the flashback. Decisions decisions.

I'm hoping to get to Act 2 this week. It's going to be harder because I've changed so many things around, reasons and actions of secondary characters that cause Genna to react differently. But I also want to finish up Act One before I start anything on Act Two. I found a few 'holes' that need to be fixed, which could be easy as everyone goes on vacation the first two weeks in July in Rhode Island so it might be easier than I expect. We'll see.

So there is my edit babbling. I know it doesn't make any sense to you but at least it's written down and I can be held accountable now. If I can finish all the editing/revising before the end of the week I'll be good to go to finish the book by the end of August. Then comes the fun part. Beta Reader anyone?

And just so you know, I found a woman on the blogs who wrote 46,000 words in 20 days. She had an idea for a story a month ago. She put it on her blog. She just posted yesterday she's halfway through. And it's not YA. And it's not Natalie.

I also finished another craft book I picked up two weeks ago.

EATS, SHOOTS & LEAVES by Lynne Truss. Is a wild ride on the puncuation trip. I love her quirky British humour and now I understand why I have to write words like humor with a 'u'. I guess I'm secretly a Brit at heart. If you get a chance, read this book. It's not Strunk & White by any means but it does what it's supposed to do. Teach about the dreaded puncuation...lol.

And don't forget to stop by Wednesday for my character pics for REMEMBERING YOU.

Have a great Monday!!!

6 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Interesting idea to have each chapter be a day. Who says they have to be uniform in size, either?

Melody said...

Excited about your progress!
Please don't say prologues are dead... *looks askance at her WiP* :/

Anne Gallagher said...

Alex -- I think the read would be so much easier when you know what day it is.

Melody -- I personally don't think prologues are dead, I have one in each of my books, that was just a nasty rumor I heard on the internet.

Summer Frey said...

I think Blogger may have eaten this post--I had to search it out in specific, because it didn't come up on my Blog roll.

Anyway, glad you're making progress! I'm about to dive into revisions on my recently completed novel, and I'm feeling some trepidation.

My chapters are completely inconsistent; I'm not even sure I like the idea of chapters, per se....

But yes, I do like knowing what day it is. :-)

Anne Gallagher said...

Summer -- I'm so glad you told me about blogger eating this. I was starting to get paranoid. I didn't like the idea of chapters either, for Genna & Tony, that's why I decided to use days. Best of luck with your revisions. Let me know how it goes.

And thanks for seeking me out special. It means a lot that you would.

Shelley Sly said...

I'm so loving all of this Genna talk and can't wait to read more!

For what it's worth, I like when chapters are broken up into days. I did that when I rewrote my first novel, and I felt like it put the story in a better perspective. Less confusing.

I'll probably be looking for beta readers around the same time you are, so if you still need someone... keep me in mind? ;)