This week on Revision Island, we get back to deeper work than changing or rearranging a smattering of words. The need was obvious, so maybe (fingers crossed) the tweak-only portions really were mostly fine. Heroine has never trusted Hero because he lies like a rug on the floor, but—as noted in the text—hers is a
This week on It’s Always Sweltering in Revision, we begin with a scene that received only nitpicks. That felt too easy and may need more substantial changes, but I can’t fix a problem I can’t identify. I’m due to send myself an updated draft and read the latest batch of scenes for speech therapy, so
Last time on The Young and the Revision, I cut an unnecessary chunk of a scene and removed a scene break to make that unit of activity more of a speed run. “Speed run” and “still over 3000 words” really aren’t compatible concepts, however. About halfway through that unit of activity, Heroine briefly observes Hero
Content Warning Discourse is in the air again, which means people are showing their whole asses again, now with links to news outlets breathlessly and uncritically regurgitating anti-content-warning opinions because journalism is dead. I’ve already blown my stack about media literacy elsewhere at length, so I’ll drop the short, semi-polite version of that here, along
Are we really at 20% of this revision already? Whew, the fourth draft of a years-long endeavor just whizzes by! Next Scene on Deck: Oh, cupcake. We’re gonna be spending a lot of time together. For future reference, getting a handle on a main character only during the second revision pass is ungood. Like and
This revision update gets us past the end of Act 1, which is marked not by some formulaic percentage but by Heroine being forced into the thick of the quest she had previously refused twice. Act 2 starts at that point of no return, where it’s physically impossible to walk back her decision. Like it
Revision III resumes in Heroine’s POV. Pretty sure this is her first scene of this pass in which I added more words than I deducted. The deductions were mostly the author’s compulsion to overexplain infrastructure. If I provide one solid reason why she doesn’t go one way, I don’t have to provide six reasons to
The revision continues with The Chapter of Really Long Sentences. For one character, that’s fine. He’s an academic. He’s noted at one point to “bloviate unbidden.” Heroine shouldn’t join him for several reasons: it’s windier than her established style, contrast to her conversational partner, and even lovers of long, twisty sentences get exhausted when that’s
Tracking for the third round of revision will be same as the last. The target is the final word count of the previous draft (182,580). Progress will be measured by how many words of that are removed with transfer of revised scenes to the new draft. Since it has been opined this method is dottier
*points at status bar* By the power of drudgery, I have half-assed my way to 100% of Revision Round 2! *listless confetti* This number is meaningless, but in the interest of trivia, the final word count of this draft is 182,214. Up more than 8K from the previous draft, but at least half of that