Yes, I agree — I am NOT Dr. Seuss, but multiple drafts of multiple projects (short stories, novels, novellas, etc.) sometimes make me feel like I’m living in an odd Seuss-ian juggling act. It’s a one fish, two fish for writers.
Right now there’s a novel in COLD STORAGE. One Beta reader loved it; another said that it was not working. The reality is most likely in-between the two poles, but that is simply not good enough. After spending the better part of a year on the tight draft (of my third outing on this basic story) I didn’t have the heart to dive in again. I need distance and time in order to be ready for the next outing with this crazy tale.
That’s why I’m trying to plod along slowly with a new mystery novel—one that is plotted and outlined in a three-act format to maximize the suspense. This kind of methodical writing makes my head hurt, so while I’m plodding and plotting, my zany side is churning out short stories—and bits and pieces of short stories— in the fluid write-on-the-fly style that is my comfort zone. (Yes, I’m more comfortable when I don’t know where I’m going… hehehehe)
That’s what brought everything to a halt long enough for me to try a dramatic monologue. I loved writing it. I loved reading it out loud (like an actor) and I hope to do something with it (and a real actor) soon. The anthology folks at Transylvania University rejected it, while giving me solid encouragement. They liked it (they really liked it!) but it didn’t fit the criteria for the anthology/performance schedule as closely as I thought. Rules and me… we do not always get along.
So this circles us back to one draft, two draft, read draft, toss draft and start all over again. Seuss understood the writing process!
I’m currently struggling with editing a manuscript as well. Sometimes, it takes LOTS (my max has been 12 edits). Good luck with yours!
Thanks! In my case, I think it’ll take more than luck. I’ve got have a strategy that will take this novel to the next level. Still working on it! In the meantime, less stressful fiction and a new, very stressful, novel.
I gave this advice to another writer friend of mine just a couple of days ago – get yourself a dedicated writing software. I won’t push any one in particular but ideally you want one that will allow you to do structural edits in a much easier manner than Word. Then, once the story has had time to percolate, you can go back to it and make the changes you know you should but can’t face because they’re so much work. With the right tool the work is not so daunting. -hugs-
hehehe… even my three-act format is improvised and in Word—except the part that was drawn (yes drawn) I made a series of connected family trees AND another with my character in the center and all the people with suspicious behavior toward her circling around.
I’m pretty brutal about changes so I don’t think I need the structural software. But send me a name or two if there is one I should investigate.