Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Editing words words words

I'm happy with the way this short story is turning out. Yesterday I edited half, which came to about 2,000 words. I'll tackle the next 2,000 today.

By "editing" I mean I added 800 words, cut with abandon, and filled in gaps so the story reads more smoothly. It's different than I normally write. The story is told in first person and the narrator is not my gender, not my culture, and it takes places in 1853, so I get to play with language like crazy.

I have no idea when I'm going to finish this story, except I know it will be before the deadline. Mostly I'm impatient to send out another submission, since we are a third of the way through the month and all I've done is work on this one story. But I don't want to rush the editing process at the expense of writing the best story I can write. At least not while I have the time to commit, which I don't expect will always be the case.

On Sunday, I attended a one-day Clarion West workshop taught by author Mark Teppo called "Jumpstart Your Novel." It was a great opportunity to think through some of the problems with my longer work before starting NaNoWriMo. He also shared his method of using Tarot cards to help work through creative blocks.

I'm looking forward to giving Tarot cards a try next time I get stuck. It's funny that idea never occurred to me, even though I own several decks.

1 comment:

E.M. Jeanmougin said...

Tarot cards? That's an interesting idea. I guess I should go buy a deck.