tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2488887316391780144.post6246973184905622757..comments2024-03-28T06:16:39.508+00:00Comments on Help! I Need a Publisher!: Do you have the bottle for a major re-write? Nicola Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12189894289540344094noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2488887316391780144.post-31154229407814073942013-09-30T11:29:44.633+01:002013-09-30T11:29:44.633+01:00sinistrainksteyne - perhaps the minstrel will find...sinistrainksteyne - perhaps the minstrel will find its way into another book :)<br /><br />Sally, you have my permission to use the phrase with abandon! It was actually Anne Rooney who prompted it, because I'd been using cockroach vomit and she pointed out that cockroaches don't vomit but eels (or, specifically, hagfish) do.Nicola Morganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07847390687632715336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2488887316391780144.post-10183315211453193162013-09-30T11:11:50.924+01:002013-09-30T11:11:50.924+01:00I have to say, Nicola, I found this post of yours ...I have to say, Nicola, I found this post of yours enormously heartening. In that horrible world where everyone else seems to be churning out novels once a year and know exactly what they're doing, it is good to know I am not the only one who has discovered that the only novels worth producing involve a great deal of eel-vomit* eradication. And it's never to be found where you first whiff Sally Zigmondhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07520579251842006765noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2488887316391780144.post-75513830327193809952013-09-26T09:04:17.409+01:002013-09-26T09:04:17.409+01:00I got to about 30,000 words before the smell of ee...I got to about 30,000 words before the smell of eel-vomit became overpowering. <br />I killed off about 3/4 of my characters (the new version isn't a bloodbath, I just didn't put them in) and it seems a lot better. Different, but better.<br />I still miss the invisible minstrel, though.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2488887316391780144.post-36522471354820759922013-09-25T14:52:24.131+01:002013-09-25T14:52:24.131+01:00Fingers crossed! I must say, I have not got any be...Fingers crossed! I must say, I have not got any better at avoiding the major rewrite. Nicola Morganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07847390687632715336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2488887316391780144.post-3843140137471082532013-09-25T14:48:03.514+01:002013-09-25T14:48:03.514+01:00I don't seem to able to write a novel without ...I don't seem to able to write a novel without a major re-write. Frustratingly, that seems to be the only way it works for me. In spite of my planning, the 'better' way to write it is only obvious after the first draft... or worse, after the final draft when I'm just beginning to think I'm on the finishing straight!<br /><br />The encouraging thing is that my first novel, Wendy Percivalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06902813313352050696noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2488887316391780144.post-81631872154410072382013-09-24T21:19:20.641+01:002013-09-24T21:19:20.641+01:00Glad it's hit the mark with lots of you! Sorry...Glad it's hit the mark with lots of you! Sorry for the delay in replying - I'm snowed under and a bit overwhelmed.<br />Nicola Morganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07847390687632715336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2488887316391780144.post-90450382731522833362013-09-24T14:54:45.461+01:002013-09-24T14:54:45.461+01:00I needed this post to help motivate me to do a maj...I needed this post to help motivate me to do a major rewrite of my novelette! It never gets easier but you've reminded me that it will be a stronger story in the end. Thanks very much for this post.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2488887316391780144.post-90932010368990057192013-09-23T13:04:22.047+01:002013-09-23T13:04:22.047+01:00Having done four major rewrites of current WIP alr...Having done four major rewrites of current WIP already...can completely relate to this post! Only problem is that the version I have works as a story - but probably isn't commercial enough. It has rings in it - which apparently won't sell. (Thanks Tolkien and Wagner!)<br />Yet another BR to put the commercial in and take the rings out, or keep as is and see how it's received by agentsKatherine Hetzelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04558829833528787055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2488887316391780144.post-78697464057220679432013-09-23T11:43:35.521+01:002013-09-23T11:43:35.521+01:00Oh, this is SO familiar! I'm wrestling with bo...Oh, this is SO familiar! I'm wrestling with book 3 of a trilogy (first one comes out 10 October - terrifying) and no matter what I fiddle with the bloody iceberg still hits it at 50k. I went away to do something totally unrelated and on the drive home I realised - the whole book was sent in the wrong direction. On what turns out to be page twelve. Sigh. Rewrite - coming up.Rebecca Alexanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00474010455394752000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2488887316391780144.post-83010991651870753052013-09-23T09:57:19.660+01:002013-09-23T09:57:19.660+01:00I'm about to embark on a major rewrite - it...I'm about to embark on a major rewrite - it's not my first, but it's certainly the most problematic because I don't know how to start the story. And because where I begin will dictate the whole structure, I'm currently in limbo... And this was supposed to be a project-between-projects!! Annalisa Crawfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14943610814274794998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2488887316391780144.post-86345695432531342212013-09-23T09:41:12.446+01:002013-09-23T09:41:12.446+01:00Well yes, I sort of expect this to happen to me. W...Well yes, I sort of expect this to happen to me. What I start with is never what I end with. <br />I have written what I think needs to be written and put it aside. I have come back and thought, "That's rubbish." Then I start again...and again...and again. I thought I was writing about one person only to realise that I was really seeing that person through the eyes of other people. catdownunderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06959328192182156574noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2488887316391780144.post-41573015050234825152013-09-23T09:25:39.230+01:002013-09-23T09:25:39.230+01:00Oh yes - I knew I had the change the voice of a MC...Oh yes - I knew I had the change the voice of a MC and that knocked onto how other characters responded to her, and so they did different things ... but once I began it was fun!! That's the bit that surprised me - once I had a handle on her I felt the book was coming out to play, rather than me making it do as it was told.JOhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03127111575563904349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2488887316391780144.post-10034658984933458312013-09-23T09:13:36.528+01:002013-09-23T09:13:36.528+01:00Congratulations to BOTH of you! It's scary but...Congratulations to BOTH of you! It's scary but exciting because you know it's right.Nicola Morganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07847390687632715336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2488887316391780144.post-26912844904797157812013-09-23T09:12:49.575+01:002013-09-23T09:12:49.575+01:00I completed my first novel in 2005. Then I edited ...I completed my first novel in 2005. Then I edited and rewrote and tweaked and discarded. It's taken me 8 years to decide to start again. Same character, new plot, new voice, new POVs, new structure, new everything. It's going to be a lot of work, but I'm excited! ~MiriamAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2488887316391780144.post-2580634957013707812013-09-23T08:42:13.478+01:002013-09-23T08:42:13.478+01:00I read this with my hands over my eyes, peeping be...I read this with my hands over my eyes, peeping between my fingers. For I too have known the hell of the BR. I wrote an entire novel from the point of view of one character - well, in the third person, but checking that it included only things that this one character would have witnessed, done, said, etc. After leaving it alone for three months, I re-read it and realised that I MUCH preferred Penwrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06031587909414196797noreply@blogger.com