Week 28 - Hello Again

The next stage has begun.

After a few days’ diversion around the byways of note collation and overdue filing, I am back on the main road. I have started my second draft.

As I have previously mentioned in this blog, I am now in uncharted territory and am learning as I go. The current stage is planned to run from now to the end of the first week in May and is focused on structure.

What this means in practice is that I am back on the computer and going through my notes from my read through of the first draft and making changes where necessary. So I am adding and expanding scenes, as well as the strangely addictive experience of cutting scenes. I have just expunged a character from my novel and while in my head she still inhabits the same landscape she did before, she is no longer evident in the book.

The theory is that I make no changes to the prose until the big final stage (10 whole weeks) where I will be fine tuning and polishing my words. It’s actually quite difficult to leave sentences alone when it’s clear they need a little work; but I am trying to stay focused on sorting out my structure.

The next 5 weeks will hold some real challenges. I have to introduce a brand new character at some point and then work him in to the rest of the book. I must admit I have put this off and now that the time is almost here, I am still not sure how I am going to do it.

I just know that somehow I will.

That’s the beauty of working to a deadline - a big one as in the 52 weeks I have given myself to write the novel - but also the smaller ones along the way.

It’s also what makes all the hard work and caffeine abuse worthwhile. Whisper it quietly in the earnest world of letters, but it’s actually quite fun. Knowing that there’s a character waiting for me to give him life and make him interact with others is a strange but exciting feeling.

I also need to weave a new plot strand into the earlier part of the book and this is proving quite challenging - but I have the next week to sort this out, so I will let you know how I get on.

Of course, that’s one of the problems you face with a second draft. You already have a book in place - written in black and white and it can be painful to undo - or even delete - work you slaved over. What’s also noticeable is that as I am back at the beginning of my book and am revisiting scenes that I wrote six months ago, I am making some surprising discoveries.

It’s just like meeting old friends - it’s great to catch up, but sadly some have aged better than others. Of course, that’s life.

And fiction.