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Monday, April 25, 2005

Changes in the Blog

Note the new name for the blog. As well, I've linked it a little differently from my website. The idea being that if I open myself up a little, rather than narrow my subject to strictly novel writing, perhaps I will spend more time blogging and less time only thinking about what I would like to blog. ... perhaps...

Anyway, my four pages for critique group should be easy at this point, since the novel is pretty much written and I am only on page 57 or so with the group. However, I pulled it up this morning and began some pretty serious re-writes. Nothing that's going to affect the overall structure of the story, but I decided to eliminate a character from the actual current happenings in the novel (been thinking about this for a while, but I just knew this morning that it was the right thing to do). Basically, it's going to help me to develop a few of the other side characters a bit more thoroughly, and I think it will give the story a little more punch... something that is still missing... I think.

So I guess I am officially on my third draft. It's all about filling in holes and making things consistent at this point. Lots of polishing, sure, but mostly I need to fill in the blanks and round out the story a bit more. I'm going to return a few scenes that were cut from the last draft. Some of what I did through the second pass cleaned the story up so much that I feel like it's like a big bone after the meat's all been eaten. I'm finding it easier to hold on to the humor in the story. I'm also finding it easier to read and the areas that need fixing are pretty clear.

My sister has the entire thing, but she hasn't finished reading it yet. The last time I spoke with her, she asked, "How do you know when it's done."

I'm really looking forward to having that answer.

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