Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Revisions: Enhancing the Setting

I'm surprised about how much rearranging happens during the revision process. I thought events were pretty much in the right order, but once I started cutting and condensing, the structure became a lot clearer in my mind. Sections needed to be moved. Some needed total rewrites to make new transitions.

But....I managed to cut about 5,000 words! Even though I got rid of some writing I was proud of, the novel is much tighter and more coherent for having done it.

My next step is to think about details - details that show my characters personalities and details that show the setting. For settings, I've made a scene by scene list of the settings in my novel. This gives me an overall picture of whether there is variety in my settings (because some of the scenes I cut had interesting ones). My plan is to brainstorm sensory details that go with each setting. Then I'll look for places in the novel where I can bring in a few additional details to enhance the setting.

3 comments:

  1. I think listing things out like this is a great way to keep track and get you thinking in layers, both to include those important sensory details and to create characterization!

    Angela @ The Bookshelf Muse

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  2. I know it sounds weird, but I kind of love cutting things out of manuscripts. It's so liberating, even though it can be hard to see what needs to go. Good luck with the sensory details!

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  3. I've been doing a lot of cutting lately, and like Anna says, it feels liberating.

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