The Revision Diaries: Episode 1

Hello Funny People. I know I haven't been as diligent in updating my blog in the last couple of month, so I thought I'd tell you what has kept me so occupied recently.

Back in July, I finally finished the first draft of my long-time work-in-progress, A Sword Named Sylph (or ASNS). This fantasy novel has been one of my major writing priorities since 2018 when I began writing it in earnest. First drafts of anything have always been hard for me, but this in particular was extremely difficult. Between working out a plot as I went, a busier than usual day job, trying my best to maintain my familial and friend relationships, plus my own bouts of poor mental health (which were not helped by the pandemic), a lot has divided my attention, and still does.

Thus, I've taken to devoting any and all the time I can to my writing to one, main goal: revising A Sword Named Sylph. And, so far, I've made some good progress.

Near the end of the first draft, I began keeping a running list of things I might want to change once I got to the revision phase. Simple bullet points of spots in the narrative I wanted to revisit and rework a bit, along with whole massive structural changes that would require a good deal of work. Once I had finished the draft, the question then became where and when would I be able to focus on this. Thankfully, the St. Louis Public Library answered the question for me.

Like a lot of places across the country, the libraries in St .Louis had virtually shut down during the height of pandemic, except for book rentals and returns which were all done, curb-side style. However, in the last few months, the library nearest my place of work put back its chairs and tables so that patrons could come in and use the inside space again (as long as we wore masks). 

So, almost every afternoon for the last two months, I've gone to the library after work and devoted between an hour to an hour and a half to my project at hand. And the results speak for themselves. Thus far, I'm managed to revise 14 Chapters, and this week, I'll be heading into Chapter 15. If I keep this pace up, the first portion of the revisions should be "finished" by the end of the year. Of course, I'll have no choice but to take a break once the holiday season starts ramping up, but that's a time to spend on family, not work anyway. 

I suppose I should explain what changes I've been implementing in the last several weeks. 

I've mainly focused on putting into place 3 major changes: 1) adding new viewpoints, 2) shortening my chapters, and 3) separating the book into parts. 

The first draft of ASNS stuck exclusively to one viewpoint. However, as the book went on, I began to experience something that I found disturbing: I started to get bored with my one viewpoint. Perhaps, this was inflamed by some of the other novels I'd read while writing my book (I'm one of those lucky writers who can read fiction while writing it), many of which utilized the chief strength of 3rd person limited: the ability to jump from viewpoint to viewpoint between scenes and chapters. Considering that my story really dealt with an ensemble of characters, it only made sense to give them "stage time," in addition to my original main character.

Another thing I noticed from my own reading habits as of late is a preferment for long books with short chapters. It didn't matter what genre they were either. It was a structural element that I found myself really enjoying because it made even the longest tome seem short. So, I figured since my original word count for ASNS was 178k (which I do hope to shorten a bit as I go), I might as well try imposing that structure onto it. And so far, it's working.

Finally, the parts. A lot of novels I've read of late, especially lengthy ones, tend to break themselves into sections. Sometimes, it's just  a part one and a part two. Sometimes, it's a bit more elaborate than that. And there's usually a structural reason for this choice. Either, a large chunk of time has elapsed between sections, or there's been a change in location change and the author doesn't want to bore the reader with a travelogue. Given that ASNS has five separate locations where major parts of the action take place, it seemed logical to me to divide the book into five parts, each named for a separate locale. 

The first part, which I mentioned earlier, I hope to have finished before the end of the year, takes place all in one location: a small town called South Mason. So, that will be the title of the portion I hope to complete. 

As I continue this process, I hope to keep you all updated on this effort. Hopefully, I'll reach my goal; all I need to do is stay dedicated and recognize that even the smallest chunk of progress is progress. 

Stay tuned for more.