If you've been reading my blog this week, you know I've been trying to organize my shoe shelf. I've thrown out the shoes I don't need, put some shoes away until spring, and stacked some shoes on top of each other. I now have room on my shelves for those Ugg slippers I must have (that is, if I can get my pocketbook to agree to purchase them).
I've also been trying to organize my manuscript to make room for some desperately needed additions. I've cut scenes I didn't need, stored some away for possible future use, and layered several scenes into one. I'm not quite there yet, but I make more and more room every day for those things that need to be added in. (Luckily, my pocketbook doesn't have to agree on this one because my words are free, right?)
Have you ever realized you had too much of something unnecessary in your manuscript and not enough of something really important? If so, how did you fix it?
Thursday, September 17, 2009
I Love Ugg Slippers!
If you've been reading my blog this week, you know I've been trying to organize my shoe shelf. I've thrown out the shoes I don't need, put some shoes away until spring, and stacked some shoes on top of each other. I now have room on my shelves for those Ugg slippers I must have (that is, if I can get my pocketbook to agree to purchase them).
I've also been trying to organize my manuscript to make room for some desperately needed additions. I've cut scenes I didn't need, stored some away for possible future use, and layered several scenes into one. I'm not quite there yet, but I make more and more room every day for those things that need to be added in. (Luckily, my pocketbook doesn't have to agree on this one because my words are free, right?)
Have you ever realized you had too much of something unnecessary in your manuscript and not enough of something really important? If so, how did you fix it?
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My critique partner pointed out to me that I had too much backstory. I had to cut some scenes that I really loved and then add dialogue. I added 4000 words of dialogue last week!
Thank goodness for free words! I base much of my life around them. :)
I've been the "not enough" route. Well yeah, and probably too much, too. It's giving yourself a break, taking time, and pursuing all the ways to reach a balance. It's different for each of us, each story. But your posts this week have been great in guidance!
finding that balance can be so difficult! And I always wonder/worry if I've achieved it
Right now I'm on the "not enough train". I am going back in and adding dialogue. The trick is adding purposeful dialogue that develops the characters and story without repeating myself.
I think it's a balancing act. At the core of my story a the relationship between the boy and the girl (like most MG or YA). It seems like everyone who reads it wants more of them, but there's also a plot that has to move from point A to point B, so I can't spend the whole story letting them have moments. But, I can let them have their moments WHILE moving the story forward and that's what I'm trying to do. It's a challenge.
Hi, Susan! I'm with Terri Tiffany--backstory is my weakness. I realized yesterday that most of what I wrote on Tuesday fell into the "tell" category. The good news is that now I know what to "show"!
Too much whining from my MC, not enough romance... or at least, not enough interaction between the MC and the leading man for their 'deal' at the end to make any kind of sense. Sigh. Still trying to fix that one. :)
I notice things all the time in my current WiP. So I put it on a checklist for round I revisions. Hopefully it'll make room for what might need to be added in. We'll see what happens when I get there.
Those slippers are cute!
Love Ugg slippers. I wear slippers a lot in the winter because my house is frigid cold. I go through a pair a year. Maybe I need some Uggs :)
I noticed I had too much repetition. It's probably my biggest fault. So I went through and just worked on that.
I make comments in Word whenever I notice something that needs fixing on a read and go back and make all the changes later, so I tried my hardest to make sure I caught everything.
Those slippers look so comfy!! Too bad I'd never need them in Ghana! But luckily they sell UGG flip flops with the furry stuff under your feet... not sure if that idea was very well thought out... :)
Oooh, my favorite, warm fuzzy slippers!!!
I'm such a packrat. I save everything. I have boxes and boxes of stuff. The same goes for my writing. I have folder after folder of cut scenes, and previous revisions. I can't bare to get rid of anything. LoL.
On my last WIP, I did an edit where I ditched the redundancies and added a new story arc at the same time. Word count change for new draft: -3000 words.
Right now I'm thinking I have too much character development and not enough plot! YIKES! I'm working on beefing it up.
I have the fake Uggs from Target, my husband calls them my "thuggs" :)
I want some ugg too. My birthday is coming up on the 27th. I need uggs! Winter is coming! :)
Maybe the family will take pity on my, huh?
I had to take out the unneeded stuff from my MS that I finished a couple of months ago. It's funny, I thought the stuff HAD to be in there, but it turned out that it was much better without it. I went through and read each chapter separately. I mean I pasted it into a new doc.. Seems extreme but it really helped me to see the things that I could do without. And it was MG so there were only 22 chapters and an epilogue.
Really nice post! :) Now back to the uggs...:)
I LOVE Ugg slippers, too. I tried them on in a store and now I want a pair!
Yeah, I don't have enough of the Chapter 2 in my rewrite and I have been struggling to figure out what to do. I decided to just make it a short chapter for the time because I don't want to just write a bunch of stuff that I will have to take out. Today, I was thinking that I just need to take my time and let it flow and when it does, just go back and continue to write more. I am not gonna lie, it has been a bit of a challenge. Love the slippers, they look so comfy! :o)
Well, if anything I might have too much dialogue. I like writing dialogue more than description.
Although I don't have a manuscript, I always find I have too much trivial stuff in my writing and not enough relevant material.
BTW Thanks for the comments on my blog. Hope our seasonal feelings go by quickly.
Love the slippers. I have three pair!
And I had too many characters in my first manuscript based on feedback. Cutting a few out was easy but some were intertwined throughout even if they offered no real merit. UGH. I am still not fully finished with this process.
I realized that my MS needs another point of view. that's major re-writes and this is suppose to be a second draft *sigh* but hopefully it will be worth it in the end :)
PS- love those slippers :) Ugg boots rule
Yep. Too much telling. Not enough showing.
(love the UGGs)
Shelley
I have too many explanations of what exactly some characters are doing. One time I was so tired and out of it I wrote like ten pages on a shopping trip my character went on...completely useless lol.
Took it all out. Not sure what I'll add next but we'll see.
I need to get rid of shirts more than shoes...I have probably a hundred t-shirts...it's ridiculous.
I am completely amazed how blog after blog you can do it...... make it relate to your shoes in such a great way! I'm sure there must be a coffee table book or some kind of calender you could make to showcase your shoes and a story with each one. :O)
I guess the bottom line is we keep doing it over and over until it feels right.And I'm not sure it ever feels right. I'm pretty sure Whitman kept revising each new edition Leaves of Grass until he died.
I'm always finessing, going back and making changes.
I'm still stuck on those shoes. They look SOOOO comfy. I didn't realize there was such a thing as Ugg slippers.
I just realized I read your blog this morning and forgot to come back and comment. Today hasn't been a good day. Bleh. And yes, I have found that sometimes I have a scene in my manuscript because it's funny or cute or something, but totally unnecessary and could be much better served by a scene that actually moves plot forward.
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