writing-tips

Revisions, Revisions

This past month, I had to present a paper for a local group I belong to so my creative writing time was squeezed into the last week of March and the beginning of April. I am enjoying being in the first revision stage of my most complete novel. My Excel spreadsheet has presented good opportunities for understanding what I must change, add, revise, and improve. It has made clear to me how much work remains for me to do.

I realized that my timeline was off considering the ages of my characters. I had to go back and spend time better defining when they were born so their ages and knowledge of the world would make sense for my story. I went back to my original character outlines and did some serious revision. I had to redefine the age of my main characters in my own mind, not necessarily writing their ages into the novel but clarifying for myself. I also had to move their marriages and the birth of their children in my story back by eight years.

Using the spreadsheet to examine the scenes in my novel, I also realized that I needed to add four new scenes to the beginning of the story for it to make sense. Building a novel is like fitting the pieces of a puzzle together—but first, you must create the pieces.

My Writing Goals for 2024

Continue to develop my poetry and connections with other poets:

Over the past month, I attended a Colorado Poets Center reading at the Boulder Bookstore which featured Art Goodtimes and Judyth Hill. I also hosted a BWA Poetry Circle with the singer, songwriter, and pianist, Karen Karsh. My book-producing editor/cover designer has created a beautiful design for the poetry book I am preparing to publish. I am hoping that it will be printed in time to submit it to a contest this spring.

Finish my first novel and query agents:

Our critique group gave me feedback on about 2000 words of the novel I am currently revising. I also prepared another 2000 words for our next meeting.

Continue to work on my second novel:

I downloaded some supportive information to use for this novel.

Continue to work on my third novel:

I had a discussion with a knowledgeable person about the time and the area where the novel takes place. She recommended references. I also studied up on costumes for the era which will help me visualize my characters and the scenes they are in much more clearly.

Continue to develop a network of kindred spirits in the world of writing and publishing:

Boulder Writers Alliance: Participation in our monthly Happy Hour at the Hotel Boulderado has grown. The writers who attend have fascinating discussions. I also attended Gary Alan McBride’s Writers Who Read discussion of Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld. The novel was a rollicking read.

Denver Woman’s Press Club: As a participant on the membership committee, I responded to edits on the new bylaws regarding membership.

Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers: I read the new president’s newsletter. I also decided not to attend the conference this coming fall.

Women Writing the West: Our critique group met and critiqued each other’s pages. When I joined this group, I never dreamed that I would learn about ghosts locking houses and about a dam being blown up in California! We do have interesting discussions that revolve around the fiction we are writing. The other readers give me helpful feedback. I also reserved my room to attend the fall WWW Conference in Denver.

Document my writing progress through my blog and post it on the seventh day of each month, one blog per month in 2024:

Today is April 7, 2024, and I am posting my fourth blog of 2024. A month that starts off with a “Fool’s Day,” is bound to be full of surprises. It has presented several: a little snowstorm, a few nice spring days with a Colorado blue sky, and a terrible windstorm here this weekend. Thousands of houses in my area have been without power. Fortunately, we have had electricity and heat. I am looking forward to seeing the eclipse on Monday, or rather the shadows it casts, as we have no eclipse glasses on hand.

Writers who were born in April that I particularly enjoy:

Hans Christian Anderson, Samuel Becket, Charlotte Bronte, Isak Dinesen, Henry James, Harper Lee, Vladimir Nabokov, William Shakespeare, and Eudora Welty

Poets that I love who were born in April:

Maya Angelou, Seamus Heaney, and William Wordsworth

Revising the Timeline and Adding New Scenes

I must admit that when I finished my first blog for this year “Figuring Out the Major Scenes of My Novel,” I felt overwhelmed and incompetent. My spreadsheet made me realize how many holes there were in the manuscript, how fuzzy my idea for the novel was, and how much work I would have to accomplish to add scenes, build a workable structure for the novel, and revise the timeline.

To deal with my discomfort, I worked more on my spreadsheet. I also listened to an interview with Eleanor Catton whose novel Birnam Wood I was in the process of reading. One area she discussed was writing a novel in three acts. This caught my attention. I looked over my spreadsheet with this idea in mind and realized that I could potentially use a three-act format. Next, I set to work on puzzling out the scenes I have already written. I reorganized them into a three-act format that follows a chronological timeline. This showed immediately which scenes I would need to move and which kind I would need to write to tell the story. It also revealed periods in my timeline that needed to be moved either backward or forward, so the entire period shifted slightly.

Once this first attempt at reorganization was accomplished, I felt energized instead of overwhelmed. I set to work reorganizing my spreadsheet. I also added more columns to cover other issues I need to work on. I will let you know next month how this worked and how much progress I have made.

My Writing Goals for 2024

Work on poetic forms and continue to connect with other poets:

I wrote my first villanelle. It was interesting to work on a poetic form. The form forces a type of artificiality and feels more like working on a puzzle than on a poem. It was a struggle but I did it. I hosted the BWA Poetry Circle which featured the impressive poetry of Larry LaVerdure. I also zoomed in on a Bardic Trails reading by Andrea Gibson the current enthusiastic Poet Laureate of Colorado hosted by the Wilkinson Library in Telluride.

Finish my first novel and query agents:

I continued revising this novel and prepared my pages for the critique group.

Continue to work on my 1970s novel:

I listened to a workshop with a teacher on this subject.

Continue to work on my 1930s novel:

I let this one rest this month.

Continue to develop a network of kindred spirits in the world of writing and publishing:

Boulder Writers Alliance: I joined a BWA group to view the film American Fiction together, followed by a discussion of the movie over drinks. I also attended our monthly BWA Happy Hour and enjoyed meeting some new writers. Additionally, I participated in BWA’s Writers Who Read Group with Gary Alan McBride. We discussed Victory City by Salman Rushdie. I enjoyed reading this epic with a woman as a compassionate builder of society and as a leader. If any of my readers are interested, they can follow Gary’s new Writers Who Read podcast which is available on various streaming platforms including Spotify and YouTube.

Denver Women’s Press Club: I attended an open mike session with a friend and read one of my poems aloud.

Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers: I read the newsletter and enjoyed the puns.

Women Writing the West: I submitted pages to our critique group and provided feedback to the other writers.

Document my writing progress through my blog and post it on the seventh day of each month, one blog per month in 2024:

Today is February 7, 2024, and I am posting my second blog of 2024. January was so cold and dark that I sat by my fireplace and worked. It made for a productive time (when I was awake and not napping!). At the beginning of February, we had a nice deep snowfall. Happily, Flatirons Freddy did not see his shadow on Groundhog Day so spring should be on the way.

Famous Writers Born in February

A diverse group of writers and poets whose works I enjoy personally were born in February:

Writers: W. E. B. Du Bois, Bertolt Brecht, Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo, Sinclair Lewis, James Michener, Anaïs Nin, Colum McCann, Christopher Marlowe, Toni Morrison, Georges Simenon, Gertrude Stein, John Steinbeck, Amy Tan, Alice Walker, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Jules Verne

Poets: Elizabeth Bishop, Thomas Campion, Langston Hughes, Audre Lord, Amy Lowell, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Jacques Prévert

Figuring Out the Major Scenes of My Novel

For 2024, I plan to write this blog about how I am revising the novel that I have been workshopping with a critique group for the last year and a half. Having to write about my revisions each month will force me to work on specific elements of the novel. At present, this novel consists of what I would call “characters’ voices.” Because the story of this novel, the place of this novel, and the characters are entirely fictional, I have had to create everything from scratch. To figure out who my characters are, I have placed them in a variety of scenes and let them interact either through dialog or through diaries or letters. Thus, I have a series of about fifteen to twenty drafts for each of about eight characters.

To begin this new year, I read my entire document file and figured out how many distinct scenes I had already created. I made a list of the scenes—there were twenty-seven. I added dates for the period in which the scenes occurred and rearranged them chronologically for now. I wrote out the purpose of the scene and noted who was in the scene. This exercise showed me weaknesses in my timeline, in the plot, and in my character development. It also revealed what is missing and what remains to be figured out.

Now during the coming month, I can work specifically on the timeline and draft new scenes to begin to fill in the holes. Amusingly, I had a very technicolor dream in which colorful pages of the story were pasted on a wall and my job was to rearrange them.

My Writing Goals for 2024

Work on poetic forms and continue to connect with other poets:

I attended a Colorado Poetry Center reading led by Beth Franklin in December. I also attended a poetry circle in Lafayette arranged by Larry LaVerdure. Beginning in January 2024, I will work on poetic forms. This month, I began exploring the villanelle—a poetic form with a rhyming pattern and refrains.

Finish my first novel and query agents:

I prepared 2000 words for my critique group and did some more research.

Continue to work on my second novel:

I’ve been reading a lot about the 1970’s when this novel takes place.

Continue to work on my third novel:

I looked up some old car models for this 1930s novel.

Continue to develop a network of kindred spirits in the world of writing and publishing:

Boulder Writers Alliance: The other officers and I were re-elected to serve throughout 2024. We have a new newsletter editor and plan to publish the newsletter tri-annually. I attended our December Happy Hour and our January Writers Who Read session with Gary Alan McBride on Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. Gary and two of the group members will begin publishing a podcast of his work this month.

Denver Women’s Press Club: Our December holiday party was fun. A local friend joined DWPC, and now I have a companion with whom I can attend activities.

Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers: I read the newsletter. I am amazed at the puns TH Leatherman tucks in his essays. I also appreciated his article on project management software including Notion, Airtable, and Solaris.

Women Writing the West: Our critique group plans to continue throughout 2024, reading about 2000 words for each member each month. I prepared my pages for the group which meets next week.

Document my writing progress through my blog and post it on the seventh day of each month, one blog per month in 2024:

Today is January 7, 2024, and I am posting my first blog of 2024. After a month of pondering how I would focus my blog for this year, I decided to write about revising and editing because this is what I am personally working on this year. I think, learn, and reflect as I write and converse with myself about my writing. Perhaps my process will be of use to other writers.

Famous Writers Born in January

A diverse group of writers have been born in January: Isaac Asimov, Julian Barnes, Anton Chekhov, Lewis Carroll, E. L. Doctorow, Zane Grey, Patricia Highsmith, Zora Neale Hurston, Jack London, Somerset Maugham, A. A. Milne, Haruki Murakami, Edgar Allan Poe, J. D. Salinger, J.R.R. Tolkien, Edith Wharton, and Virginia Woolf.