Revising Fiction and the Challenge of Alternating Points of View
How would you like to face this mess every day?
I'm in the revision process (on a page like this, the "rewriting process" is a more accurate term.) Every day, I go through a few chapters and scribble all over them, as you can see here. Then I start typing the changes into the document. It's arduous, though as usual, I must add it's not as arduous as fighting fires or teaching junior high. Still, with deadline looming (and a few other stressors in my life, which I won't go into here. . . Good stressors, for the most part), a page like this one really gives me the willies.
Here's a tidbit about this book and how I'm writing it: It has two points of view--sisters Maya and Rebecca, who are both doctors. I'm alternating Maya's first person POV with Rebecca's third person POV, but that confusion I'll save for another post. What I'd like to discuss here is the fact that their stories are wildly different from one another. Therein lies the challenge. Rebecca is working with hurricane evacuees in the closed environment of an airport. Maya is trapped in the backwoods with strangers. I found it impossible to work on their stories simultaneously--that is, shifting back and forth from a Maya chapter to a Rebecca chapter, etc. So, as I've done with other books that have a similar structure, I wrote all Maya's chapters first. Then, all of Rebecca's. Once I completed the rough draft of their chapters, I worked out the timeline to make sure what was happening to Maya matched the date of what was happening to Rebecca in the next chapter. (Ha! Easier said than done). Now as I revise, I'm doing the same thing all over again. I've revised all of Maya's chapters and am now working on Rebecca's. Then I'll once again be sure they flow well together. I will probably have to turn the book in at that point, although I know it will need more polishing, but it will be time to see what revisions my editor wants. After that, I can make it pretty. Right now, it's kinda ugly. But I love the story. Love it! I usually hate what I'm writing around this time in the process, so I'm not sure if loving it is a good sign or not. We'll see!
I just noticed it's already 7PM, so I'm going to grab a slice of pizza, take one of Rebecca's chapters out to the porch, and make a mess of it as I did with Maya's above. Wish me luck!
P.S. Remember, your comments on any of my blog posts give you a chance to win the cute tote bag in my current contest!
I'm in the revision process (on a page like this, the "rewriting process" is a more accurate term.) Every day, I go through a few chapters and scribble all over them, as you can see here. Then I start typing the changes into the document. It's arduous, though as usual, I must add it's not as arduous as fighting fires or teaching junior high. Still, with deadline looming (and a few other stressors in my life, which I won't go into here. . . Good stressors, for the most part), a page like this one really gives me the willies.
Here's a tidbit about this book and how I'm writing it: It has two points of view--sisters Maya and Rebecca, who are both doctors. I'm alternating Maya's first person POV with Rebecca's third person POV, but that confusion I'll save for another post. What I'd like to discuss here is the fact that their stories are wildly different from one another. Therein lies the challenge. Rebecca is working with hurricane evacuees in the closed environment of an airport. Maya is trapped in the backwoods with strangers. I found it impossible to work on their stories simultaneously--that is, shifting back and forth from a Maya chapter to a Rebecca chapter, etc. So, as I've done with other books that have a similar structure, I wrote all Maya's chapters first. Then, all of Rebecca's. Once I completed the rough draft of their chapters, I worked out the timeline to make sure what was happening to Maya matched the date of what was happening to Rebecca in the next chapter. (Ha! Easier said than done). Now as I revise, I'm doing the same thing all over again. I've revised all of Maya's chapters and am now working on Rebecca's. Then I'll once again be sure they flow well together. I will probably have to turn the book in at that point, although I know it will need more polishing, but it will be time to see what revisions my editor wants. After that, I can make it pretty. Right now, it's kinda ugly. But I love the story. Love it! I usually hate what I'm writing around this time in the process, so I'm not sure if loving it is a good sign or not. We'll see!
I just noticed it's already 7PM, so I'm going to grab a slice of pizza, take one of Rebecca's chapters out to the porch, and make a mess of it as I did with Maya's above. Wish me luck!
P.S. Remember, your comments on any of my blog posts give you a chance to win the cute tote bag in my current contest!
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