09 February 2011

Reacquainted

Coming back to my story after a break of a few months, I realize I'd forgotten some little details. Yikes. Fortunately, it was names of things like a castle, an estate, and a few minor characters. But still, yikes.

At least I didn't put everything out of mind, it's not like I could forget Akeva and Brian after I searched long and hard for their names or how long I've worked with them before, although they are a bit more snarky than I recall. Is it me or them? Not sure that it matters, but should I try to hear/write them as I remember them, or as they sound now? I'll have to think about that.

This revision process also highlights lots of "missed opportunities," you know those things that don't look so good after some time and distance. The upside/downside ... I have lots of those to capitalize. The Emily Contest comments have been extremely helpful to understand what I can do to improve the story. I'm finally getting the "Show, Don't Tell" mantra that writers see and hear everywhere.

In all, this whole process is a good learning experience, and reiterates to me that I should find some critique partners soon.

It's also nice to get reacquainted with my story again. Sort of like when you get back in contact with old friends from high school and college. If only it were as easy as those sorts of reunions. Speaking of which, time to get back to my keyboard, I still have some catching up to do.

2 comments:

Sylvia said...

This is really cool! And I find that when it comes to picking up with stories, meeting characters again is so much fun! I have started putting notes on setting and characters so I don't forget the little details when I pick up a story again.

And so funny, I blogged about revisiting old stories this week too!

Anne Velosa said...

And here's a rub -- I had created a sheet with names and stuff, but I hadn't incorporated into Scrivener. I'm sure its around somewhere, and I'll find it AFTER I finish the revision.

I liked your post about starting something new, was entirely TOO tempting to do as I looked at my 4" stack of manuscript to type.