Major Revision/Rewrite of Violets & Violins
Status: 90,000 words out of 100,000
Words added/rewritten this week: 14,000
No. Those are not original words.
I experienced a pleasant surprise this week, as well as a not-so-pleasant one.
I reached a point in the earlier revision of Violets & Violins where little needed to be changed before I added it to the current rewrite. Not only that, but I also had the discovery that the final quarter of the previous version was better than the first three-quarters. To my delight, I seemed to have matured as a writer during the previous rewrite. There's far less telling in the final chapters, more action and plenty of conflict.
On the downside, I realized the story is going to end up longer than the 100,000 words I predicted. I'm not surprised, since I tend to write a loose first draft. What this means, though, is that I'll have to cut and tighten. While not what I planned, I've learned from experience that doing so makes my stories stronger.
For now, I'm focused on adding the final chapters and getting to The End. I want a complete version before I put Violets & Violins on a diet. The day is fast approaching when I'll reach that point, and I'm excited.
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Do you write flowing first drafts that need to be trimmed, or are your early attempts skeletons in need of fleshing out?
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Have you ever read a manuscript you wrote over a long period of time and noticed your writing had improved as you went along?
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When reading stories, do you like those that are concise with focus on action or those that paint a period and setting using the bold brush strokes of description?