I feel like Jurisfiction

[TheEarl]

I'm currently rewriting my non-Lit novel and bloody hell is it hard work. I've discovered a couple of plot holes, a couple of strange actions and the fact that my characters have changed slightly (and not in a good plot-arc kind of way) already. And I've not left the first chapter.

True, this chapter is the one that has had the least editing and was written back when I didn't have a scoob who these characters were, what they were going to be doing or even that this was going to turn into a novel. But it's very hard work to realise that you've written something which, although good writing, has taken the character in the wrong direction and makes a muckle of a later plot development.

Why does good writing have to die?

The Earl
Trapped in the Well Of Lost Plots
Waiting for Boojumming.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

I'm currently rewriting my non-Lit novel and bloody hell is it hard work. I've discovered a couple of plot holes, a couple of strange actions and the fact that my characters have changed slightly (and not in a good plot-arc kind of way) already. And I've not left the first chapter.

True, this chapter is the one that has had the least editing and was written back when I didn't have a scoob who these characters were, what they were going to be doing or even that this was going to turn into a novel. But it's very hard work to realise that you've written something which, although good writing, has taken the character in the wrong direction and makes a muckle of a later plot development.

Why does good writing have to die?

The Earl
Trapped in the Well Of Lost Plots
Waiting for Boojumming.

Writing is a genisis Earl. Not only do your character's evolve, so does your plot and if taken over time, perhaps your skill as well. Re writes & edits are a fact of life, and sometimes, they are a painful fact.

I detest writing dialogue and mine generally sucks. In one story, i wrote the best dialogue I have ever written, it was the one time I have looked at my dialogue and been proud. My editor, blocked out the whole section, noted it didn't advance the plot, and neded to be removed. talk about an ouchie.

*HUGS*

 

[Guest]

Aw, muffinbum, go visit Miss Havisham.

Pear

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

TheEarl,

The problems you mention are why I need at least a rough outline, create a bio/character profile on all major characters, and have a thumbnail sketch of the minor ones. Otherwise, knowing how the collection of nerve endings that passes for my brain works, I'd have the red-headed boozer who smokes cigarettes in the first chapter reappear in the twelfth as a bald-headed, non-drinking pipe-smoker.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[TheEarl]

Aw, muffinbum, go visit Miss Havisham.

Pear

Actually in the middle of reading Great Expectations for the first time and it's very disconcerting to have the two Miss Havishams going around in my head.

TheEarl,

The problems you mention are why I need at least a rough outline, create a bio/character profile on all major characters, and have a thumbnail sketch of the minor ones. Otherwise, knowing how the collection of nerve endings that passes for my brain works, I'd have the red-headed boozer who smokes cigarettes in the first chapter reappear in the twelfth as a bald-headed, non-drinking pipe-smoker.

Rumple Foreskin

I know exactly what you mean, although it's not a method I can subscribe to. This first chapter was written nearly 2 and a half years ago, back when this was just a vague idea of two characters and a situation and hasn't really been touched in the edits. I'm now working with the fact that my flip, vibrant and exceedingly sarcastic main character in the first chapter turns into a more cerebral person by the middle of chapter 2 and in fact has performed a major plot act in the Ch1 that makes no sense when her backstory is revealed later in the story.

I've just had to erase quite a bit of dialogue and start again, completely changing the dynamic between two characters. I just have to hope it can be stitched back together again to lead convincingly to the same conclusions. Still, some of that dialogue needed to go. It read like it was being spoken by a 13y/o boy instead of a 24 y/o woman.

The Earl

 

[Guest]

Actually in the middle of reading Great Expectations for the first time and it's very disconcerting to have the two Miss Havishams going around in my head.

That's funny, you should send Fforde a note, I'm sure he'd like that.

Pear

 

[brightlyiburn]

TheEarl,

The problems you mention are why I need at least a rough outline, create a bio/character profile on all major characters, and have a thumbnail sketch of the minor ones. Otherwise, knowing how the collection of nerve endings that passes for my brain works, I'd have the red-headed boozer who smokes cigarettes in the first chapter reappear in the twelfth as a bald-headed, non-drinking pipe-smoker.

Rumple Foreskin

I don't think everything Rumple does will work for everyone, but he's definately got the right idea. I used to hate writing anything down about my stories. And with my romance stories, I don't have to. I mean, we're not exactly talking long, complicated plotlines there, are we?
However, with fantasy novels I'd run into so many problems. Forgetting names, places, having contradictions in my continuity. Plus if I got writers' block, I'd come back, look at the thing, and think it was the lamest work I'd ever done.
I think different people need different levels of organization. I don't need to write down too much about characters (although I'm not sure being able to keep a whole bunch of different personalities straight in my head is really something to be proud of). But when it comes to parts of the plot, I'm always scribbling it down, crossing things out, adding new things, you name it.
I could never do a full character profile, though. I know my characters will just defiantly turn out to be exactly opposite of what I wrote if I do that.
Try writing down the things that you have the most trouble with. You can always go back and scratch them out and change them. Organizing a bit can also help with writers' block some, too. It keeps you in mind of where you want to go next.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Well put, Brightly. Outlines and character bio's are definitely a different strokes for different folks deal. And as you pointed out, using them can also depend on the type of story.

Rumple Foreskin