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Oct. 19th, 2011 08:56 amMy unexpected project over the last week was working on Secret Jewish Women's Business. Something an editor said to me about it at Conflux clicked and I thought "What if I combine it with my geek novel and lose 50,000 words?" I rushed the writing of both of them because that year I paid attention to the bods who said that one has to be able to write at a certain speed. I've grown since then. I know that some people can and some people can't and that if I write quickly then half the ideas remain unwritten and they will all creep into the next novel. Well, I know it happened that once. I wrote the original SJWB in six weeks and the ideas that hadn't fully formulated in that time came out six months later in my geek story.
When I put the two novels together (and lost 50,000 words) I realised how I work. This new understanding is a by-product of the PhD. It wasn't the plotlines that made the books two halves of a whole, it was the concerns expressed and the family culture of the main characters. I didn't force the plotlines to dovetail in my revision - I reinforced the cultural similarities and made it clear that we were talking about one family. I reduced the number of extraneous characters and made my main characters interact in ways the reader will hopefully work out but that aren't necessarily important to the characters.
I don't know how much this will work, but it was really fascinating doing it. Finding out what I write when I'm in white heat and how it fits together with other narratives was almost worthwhile just for itself.
It took me a week to edit the two into one. I have two beta readers who are checking it for me. I can't wait to see what they think!
While I wrote this, Nicole put up the second section of her interview with me. It's on writing processes. How apposite! (Also, that's two good things to balance the three negatives of first thing in the morning. I can now go and teach with less fret.)
When I put the two novels together (and lost 50,000 words) I realised how I work. This new understanding is a by-product of the PhD. It wasn't the plotlines that made the books two halves of a whole, it was the concerns expressed and the family culture of the main characters. I didn't force the plotlines to dovetail in my revision - I reinforced the cultural similarities and made it clear that we were talking about one family. I reduced the number of extraneous characters and made my main characters interact in ways the reader will hopefully work out but that aren't necessarily important to the characters.
I don't know how much this will work, but it was really fascinating doing it. Finding out what I write when I'm in white heat and how it fits together with other narratives was almost worthwhile just for itself.
It took me a week to edit the two into one. I have two beta readers who are checking it for me. I can't wait to see what they think!
While I wrote this, Nicole put up the second section of her interview with me. It's on writing processes. How apposite! (Also, that's two good things to balance the three negatives of first thing in the morning. I can now go and teach with less fret.)