Another Quick Update
Still working on revisions for the new, revised Pivot. I am on the second round.
The thing that I am noting as I work on this round is that in order to work with a professional on revision, you have to have stamina and desire. My novel is approximately 200 pages in a single-spaced Word document. So far, I have thrown out approximately 600-700 pages, as I have laced and unlaced and re-laced Pivot. These cut pages have been worked and reworked scenes, scenes cut altogether, rewordings, etc.
600-700 pages cut might seem high, and it probably is high; however, I learned recently that the author of Cold Mountain - Charles Frazier - said he reworded every sentence in his novel 10 different times. His book is 450 pages long according to Amazon. What this means is that 4500 pages were written. 450 were kept.
And I'll mention very quickly that this sort of labor-intensive development exists in every field. For instance, Anthony Hopkins says he reads each script out loud 250 times before filming: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000164/bio
You've got to have stamina, and you've got to love it, and you've got to be able to handle it like it's a job, not a fairytale. It's different than I expected, I think, but that does not mean it is bad. It is a struggle in the way that grad school is a struggle, that work is a struggle. It is sitting down to wrestle every day.
So, my update is that I am still revising Pivot. =)
I hope everyone's December is going well. The holidays are just around the corner. Have a sweet and merry one.
The thing that I am noting as I work on this round is that in order to work with a professional on revision, you have to have stamina and desire. My novel is approximately 200 pages in a single-spaced Word document. So far, I have thrown out approximately 600-700 pages, as I have laced and unlaced and re-laced Pivot. These cut pages have been worked and reworked scenes, scenes cut altogether, rewordings, etc.
600-700 pages cut might seem high, and it probably is high; however, I learned recently that the author of Cold Mountain - Charles Frazier - said he reworded every sentence in his novel 10 different times. His book is 450 pages long according to Amazon. What this means is that 4500 pages were written. 450 were kept.
And I'll mention very quickly that this sort of labor-intensive development exists in every field. For instance, Anthony Hopkins says he reads each script out loud 250 times before filming: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000164/bio
You've got to have stamina, and you've got to love it, and you've got to be able to handle it like it's a job, not a fairytale. It's different than I expected, I think, but that does not mean it is bad. It is a struggle in the way that grad school is a struggle, that work is a struggle. It is sitting down to wrestle every day.
So, my update is that I am still revising Pivot. =)
I hope everyone's December is going well. The holidays are just around the corner. Have a sweet and merry one.
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Happy Holidays to you as well!! :0)