Time to Start Digging In

 

It's been about four months since I decided to revise my third novel, retitle it, and republish. In those four months, I've done exactly zero work.

Something else "more urgent" always seems to show up, which is the mark of a classic procrastinator. At Christmastime I was gifted a memorygram book, for which I'm expected to compose answers---detailed answers---to 45 questions. It was fun at first, but I've since gotten to the boring questions, and while the site allows customers to substitute their own questions, I can't even think of any. 

Then came the mini-projects that weren't anything, really; just another excuse to not work on the novel.

But now that Running From Herself has run out of gas, and it was starting on only an eighth of a tank to begin with, I want to be excited about something again.

Way back when this idea first hit me, I read through the manuscript and found a lot of bad, but also a lot of good. When experts advise taking a break before starting to edit, I don't think they mean a seven-year break, but that enormous time span certainly allowed me to read it objectively. For a third effort, I'd give it a C. And as you know, as a writer I'm a C student. I can probably raise my grade, though, with some effort.

The novel is dialogue-heavy, which should come as no surprise. I used to worry about that---that I was relying too much on dialogue---but I don't care anymore. That's the way I write. That said, much of the dialogue in the manuscript needs to go, especially in the first chapter. Overall, the first chapter is a giant fail. It sets the scene, but doesn't give the reader a reason to keep reading. I've decided on a better opening, which came to me in the shower, where all good ideas originate. "Show versus tell" isn't always the best route. That opening did a lot of showing: a kitchen scene that revealed subtle family tensions, but what it really needs is grounding. In its original iteration, it reads like five people who hate each other for no apparent reason. 

As for other elements, the subplot isn't terrible. I don't like subplots, but at the time I was writing this manuscript everyone insisted that a novel needs a subplot. This one at least ties into the rest of the story somewhat. 

I wonder if many writers reread their manuscripts and find them to be a mess. I generally haven't experienced that. Well, I did with novels one, two, and to a lesser extent, three. But I was still learning, so I grant myself a measure of grace. Honestly, though, if I had to start tearing everything apart and rebuilding it, I just wouldn't. While revising this novel is not going to be simple, I believe a lot of it can be salvaged.

The biggest hurdle for me is actually digging in and starting.