Last time I posted, I stated I was working on combining two similar stories into one novel. I’ve been trying to focus solely on the first revision for the past week. Of course, kids and life refused to let me focus as completely as I would have liked, but I’ve made some progress.
As I mentioned previously, I have a big pile of paper on my desk and a short list of things I felt needed to be changed. The first 80 pages were pretty simple to revise, just a few little things to change, like character names, time frames, etc.
While I was working on that section and not making many changes, I couldn’t decide whether it was because it was so awful, I had no hope of it ever being better, or if it really wasn’t too bad. I knew all along that things would get much more complicated when I got to the “second story”.
Well, I’m to the “second story” now, and it’s a mess. I’ve been working and working on it. From page 81 to 111 has taken me most of the past week. And I know it’s not going to get any easier in the near future. But, it will be so much better than I originally thought when it is complete.
Now, some thoughts on what I should have done differently. Instead of starting at page 1 and going through the manuscript chronologically, I think I should have made a list of things I needed to fix and then prioritized them (biggest issue to smallest issue). It would have made more sense then trying to remember everything I’m changing and trying to keep coherent. At least, it seems like it would be easier. Whether it really would have been easier is debatable. (I suspect, no matter what, revisions on this novel will be complicated while I patch things together.)
I’m having a hard time remembering that instead of playing with Frankenstein, I should just figure out what I want to convey in each scene and rewrite it if there are a lot of changes. It would probably be quicker and would definitely make future revisions simpler. However, I’m stubborn. And often make things harder than they need to be.