Books aren't written--they're rewritten. Including your own. It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn't quite done it.
--Michael Crichton
I'm not on my seventh rewrite, but I'm finally back to revising In Her Eyes. The process alternates between exhilerating and frustrating, and I'm in a frustrating patch at the moment. The reason: I'm trying to heighten the conflict.
There is a very real conflict between the hero and heroine, but I resolved it almost immediately in the first draft. That left the main part of the story being the search for a missing diplomat. Now I'm going back to the beginning and building the conflict. The characters are going to have to work a bit more to get past it. I think it will help make In Her Eyes a stronger story, but it will take a lot of work to get it there.
I'm planning to keep going forward, taking a short break for the holidays.
Merry Christmas!
Half of my life is an act of revision.
--John Irving
I spent a few hours tonight revising Office Relations. My reader's comments were helpful, and I think the result is a stronger story. I'm rereading it now, and it amazes me that I wrote this. Some parts of it are quite good, LOL!
Haven't heard from the second reader. I have tentatively decided that she doesn't like it but doesn't want to tell me. I think it's my way of preparing for the worst. Still, I'm forging onward.
If a story is in you, it has got to come out.
--William Faulkner
It's been a good day. I heard from one of my readers, and she was very complimentary about Office Relations. It is such a relief to have many of my thoughts about the story confirmed. She had some valuable suggestions for me, as well, so I plan to spend a bit of time revising, probably next week.
I'm feeling better about Hannah and Ben's story (must think of a working title for it soon). After wrestling with Ben a while over the weekend, I feel like I know him a lot better. To be honest, I'm not sure how long the story will be. It looks like it will be longer than I expected. It might be time to do some outlining.
I had an idea come to me for a trilogy of short stories. It's a very vague idea at this point, but I'm intrigued by it nevertheless. I've written some notes but probably won't start writing it until after the new year.
The worst thing you can do to an author is to be silent as to his works.
--Samuel Johnson
My two readers for Office Relations have been ominously silent. I don't blame them; I did ask them to return comments by Saturday, which is still three days away. But I must admit that I was hoping to hear something before now. Hopefully they'll both like it. I could use some encouragement.
I may be waiting for feedback on one story, but that hasn't kept me from working on another one. No title yet; as the sidebar indicates, I'm just calling it Hannah's story. I have a pretty good idea of what Hannah is like. The hero remains a little mysterious. I'm hoping to figure him out in the next few days. I need to establish the conflict, too. LOL! Actually, I have an idea about that, but I want to play with it a little first.
The mere habit of writing, of constantly keeping at it, of never giving up, ultimately teaches you how to write.
--Gabriel Fielding
I've begun a new story. It will probably be about the same length as Office Relations, and it, too, is a contemporary.
This makes me wonder if I do better with shorter stories. I hope this isn't true, but I suspect that I'm more suited to writing contemporaries than futuristics. I'm not setting aside In Her Eyes completely, however. I have a notebook I'm using to jot down ideas for revision. Maybe I'll work on it two or three days a week and write something new on the other days. As Fielding states in this quote, the habit of writing is teaching me to write. I'm still learning what works best for me.
Rewriting is like scrubbing the basement floor with a toothbrush.
--Pete Murphy
Did I really say that I like revising? I am still working on In Her Eyes, and the revisions have been incredibly difficult. I talked about it with a coworker yesterday, and she gave me some good ideas to heighten the conflict. In my first draft, my hero and heroine move from distrust to trust very quickly, so now I'm going back and (hopefully) making the transition less abrupt and more realistic.
I've also got some world building to do. I was writing so fast to meet the NaNoWriMo word count that I simply plowed forward with the story and told myself to worry about the world building later. It's later, so I must spend some time figuring out some of the fine points.
I love criticism just so long as it's unqualified praise.
--Noel Coward
I've gotten some feedback on Office Relations from a few coworkers. Aside from one comment about my hero being too sensitive (at least in one particular scene), the response has been very positive.
Now, I need to send it off to some romance readers. I may include a questionnaire to elicit specific feedback. Keep your fingers crossed that the news will be good.
