The sucky chapters

[pjthompson]

Revision isn’t usually painful for me.  It’s a chance to make better and I actually kind of like it after the agony of the first draft.  That is, until I hit the sucky chapters.  Then it’s embarrassing.  There are about three chapters in the middle of this book that are hellacious and need to be gutted, maybe completely redone, maybe scrapped.  The information in them is conveyed through to the end of the story, but there has got to be a better, more dynamic way to get that information across to the reader.  I’ve done a little of that kind of thing along the way, but these chapters will need a major overhaul, I think.

The urge to stop the read-through in its tracks and battle with these chapters is strong, very strong, but I’m going to press ahead.  The purpose of this read-through is to clean up language and frayed threads and places where I decided to take the story in a slightly different direction, not to do a massive restructure.  To make it readable, in other words.  I want to continue on, noting stuff I think needs to be slapped silly so that when I get to the second draft after betas have given me feedback I have a clear mandate for who and what’s butt to kick.

But man, those sucky chapters…really do suck.  And I really do want to fix them.

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I hear ya.

[pjthompson]

lol! A lot of that going around...

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

You are a stronger woman than I. I usually have to succumb to the immediate butt-kicking. :D

[pjthompson]

I have done that in the past, but I wanted to get an overall feel for what needs doing this time, then see what betas say, and maybe gain some perspective.

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

*nods* I'm always trying to convince myself to go for the "overall," but somehow, I seem to be too easily mired in the must-fix-now.

Because, then, you know, the betas will be able to concentrate on other stuff. :P Or that's what I tell myself. :D

[pjthompson]

I'm a reformed Virgo, but you're still in full active Virgo mode. ;-)

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

*lol* Maybe our friend Time will help me out in this domain. :D

[geniusofevil.livejournal.com]

the worst part about suck is when you know what you wanted to do, you just can't get it across well

[pjthompson]

Yes! That is the essence of suck...

[kmkibble75.livejournal.com]

I totally feel the same way... it's almost like you'd rather just hide them away and pretend they never happened.

[pjthompson]

Yeah, but here's the ironic part. After working on those chapters and cringing like hell, I reread what you and Elizabeth said about them and you were all, "Wow! Really liked this!" So I'm definitely waiting to see what betas say. I may just be skittish and overreacting. Probably the really bad chapters are the ones I'm not even thinking of...or those I've yet to read.