The fastest book ever.

This was the fastest book ever.  You know, if you don't count the last 30 years of dabbling, and the last 2 years of writing other things.

I have an artificial deadline of finishing what amounts to the second draft of my novel by the end of today.

I've been grinding it out over the last few days, as the creative momentum has slowed.  But I want to finish it.  I read somewhere that these passages where you just sit down without inspiration and write are often as good as the ones where you feel inspired. 

It does seem true that when you go back and read, the differences aren't readily apparent.  But I don't quite believe it.  I think WHAT I write comes out different.  In this case, I already had what I wanted to write in mind, so I don't think any harm done, certainly outweighed by the benefits of finishing.

This is the point where the doubt sets in.  The creative euphoria has worn off. 

I want to go back and both expand and revise.  Fill in all the holes. 

I want the language to be a better, without loosing too much freshness. 

This is also the point where I wish there was a "Magic Editor."  A Maxwell Perkins, if you will.

But I doubt any such animal exists.

This is where I start fiddling with the structure.  Sometimes where to place a scene isn't obvious.  I suspect sometimes it's more a 49 - 51 choice.  Really hard to figure out.

I tried to make this manuscript readable all the way through at every stage.  But problems still accumulate -- I'll change a name, or a description, or a backstory, and not have time to go back and change everything.

So those have to be fixed.

I've learned a few tricks for revising.

1.)  I grab chapters at random, and look just at the writing, not the story.

2.) I look for alternative words, using the thesaurus.  This can be dangerous if you overdo it, but it can also spark some creative use of language.

3.) I tend to look for places I can give more information, expand more.  When I do the final draft, I can pare some of this extra away.  I know this goes against every advice I've ever heard given to writers, but for me its necessary.

4.) Strangely enough, I just look at the shape of the writing: how big or small the sentences and paragraphs are, how much dialogue.  You can tell sometimes whether the story is flowing by whether there is too much of one thing or another.  I can't explain it, but there is an overall feel.

5.) First thing I'm going to do is go through the book beginning to end and try to catch all the names and spellings and make them consistent.  I'll catch other things as I go along.

6.)  I probably will try to get as much editorial advice as I can get on the first 10 or 20 pages of the books, since this seems to be that part that agents and publishers will see, and it's not asking people to read an entire book,  (Which I've decided is much more presumptuous than volunteers realize.  I know it is, so it is up to me not to ask.)


I have another artificial deadline of having a "Reading" copy by the end of the month.  Then, I'm going to set it aside for a month, and perhaps start writing the second book.