Just When I Thought I Had It
So, I just finished working through a massive rewrite of my novel. *fist pump* I reached the end and felt like I'd made some freaking brilliant changes. Thank you beta reader!! You know who you are. ;)
"Look out, publishers. Here I come!" :)
The problem with revisions is as soon as you complete one, you’re about to
start the next. I went back to the first chapter to tighten, clarify, and look
for inconsistencies throughout the novel. What I read caught me off guard.*Stella face-plants onto the floor*
There is quite an inconsistency in voice and style from the beginning of the novel and the end. It made me realize my writing style really evolved over the rewrite. While it's a good sign that my style has changed it means more work in the upcoming revisions than I'd anticipated.
Let me know if this has happened to your writing, and what your thoughts about it were. I'd love to read your comments.
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Okay, enough procrastination. Back to work.
Comments
So what happened to your voice? How did it change?
It's harder to spot, though, because I don't write linearly. I flit back and forth from scene to scene, leaping ahead to interesting bits and then coming back to fill in the gaps, so the end result is more even.
I agree with you, and that’s not me choosing the path of least resistance. LOL! I think it’s fine if she’s got a little more sass in the beginning. It is a coping/distancing mechanism. The problem is some of the sass is not in keeping with her personality. Mia would definitely not think or say some of that stuff, so I have to make it more in tuned to her.
Botanist,
So far I’ve been working quite linearly, which I’ve read one shouldn’t do. *shrug* I needed to make some serious changes to the story so I started from the top. This made it quite obvious when I went back to the beginning of the book. I’d also just come straight off the heels of the rewrite. I agree there was a big change in style from my first to second revision, and the change in this third revision was a bit more subtle. But it’s still quite obvious to me as I start my fourth revision. >_< Maybe I thought it sounded better in my head when I remembered the beginning of the novel. Reality checks never bounce. Booooo! ;)
The problem of having pet phrases/words can still be a problem though depending on how fast I get through the revision. I try to be more aware of that too, but sometimes I just get wrapped up in writing and don't see it until what I'd hoped was the final read through.