These days writing sessions remind of Jan from the Brady Bunch, only instead of “Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!” it’s “Velocity, Velocity, Velocity”.
Unlike the endless nightmare revise, discard, draft, revise, discard ( repeat three more times ) of The Ridge Runner, this novel is a much more ordered beast. Hemingway said it so eloquently, “First drafts are s***”. Oh Papa, have I been there. Been there and done that dance way too many times.
I don’t mind revising, even guerrilla-style revisions, but I have tired of top-down-throw-out-the-baby drafts. For this project I borrowed a tip from Dean Koontz. He works on a chapter until it’s exactly how he likes. Only when he feels it is ready, does he approach the next one.
The advantages:
1) Tighter writing – the method forces all the focus on the moment. Staying in the moment with the story and the characters is my biggest problem.
2) Streamlined quality control – the revisions consider fewer pages than a top down assault. A chapter runs 2-10 pages, an almost bite sized chunk.
3) Lower frustration levels – there’s really nothing worse than finishing a draft, turning to page one, and discovering it’s still horribly f*****.
Disadvantages:
1) Page count grows more slowly. Gone are the 5 page caffeine induced seizures.
2) Projecting an end date is impossible, because each chapter is complete when it’s complete. Might take 1 day, or it might take 11.
3) Stokes the perfectionist streak. The more time invested in a given chapter, the blurrier the line between nit picking and a judicious edit.
In sum – if working more slowly means I don’t have to rewrite 6 times, I’ll live with the downside. At least for now. Who knows what the process for the third novel will be.