Plugging along November 16, 2009

I wish I had something interesting or astonishing to report here about my life in writing. The fact is, I’m in the long grind of rewriting. As I’ve said here countless times (so why say it again, right?), I am now rewriting my novel with a third person narrator rather than the first person narrator [...]

No name left unchanged November 11, 2009

I don’t think there is now a single character in my novel-in-progress who still has his or her original name. I changed my protagonist’s name from Frere (and old family name) to Frye because Frere happens to be the name of a 19th Century painter, and painting is important to the story. (I didn’t want [...]

Chapter One is completed November 10, 2009

Here I go again, giving a chapter-by-chapter account of my progress through yet another rewrite of my novel, The Sleep of Reason. As I said in my last post, I haven’t faced any severe difficulty in transitioning my text from first person to third person, but I’m sure it’s raw and clumsy. I’ll need to [...]

A report on the rewrite rewrite November 9, 2009

I’ve barely begun on the rewriting of my novel to have a third-person narrator and  I already see how this is going to work. Basically, my rewrite of the rewrite is going to need a rewrite.
I’ve only made it through about a third of chapter one, but it went smoothly. Granted this is an introductory [...]

The rewrite is complete November 4, 2009

I have done it. I have finished the final rewrite of my novel-in-progress, The Sleep of Reason. Now I feel the relief that I missed when I finished writing the first draft. I knew then that it needed work, which may be why I didn’t feel this way then. (Does that make sense?)
I have now [...]

The rewrite still progresses October 31, 2009

I continue on my rewrite of The Sleep of Reason, taking far more time at this pass through than I had expected I would. I have only four chapters left to go. I’m trying to consider each sentence and even each word to make sure it is the best that it can be for the [...]

Making progress in Sleep October 24, 2009

I am now nearly halfway through the final rewrite of my novel-in-progress, The Sleep of Reason. When I say “final rewrite” I mean of this narrative’s draft. The novel is currently in first person narration by the protagonist. After I get through this rewrite, chiefly to add seasonal and weather references and clean up whatever [...]

Where matters stand October 11, 2009

I continue to make slow but careful progress on the current pass through of the draft of my novel The Sleep of Reason. I’m going through it now to slip in seasonal and weather references and to clean up any lingering plot and structural problems I had identified earlier. (Most of these I set in [...]

Close reading October 5, 2009

I’ve given names to my characters in The Sleep of Reason with careful consideration. Their names have reference to historical or mythical characters or themes or otherwise somehow help to illuminate their role in the story. (Okay not all of my characters. But the ones I could spot a reference for I gave such names [...]

First rewrite pass is complete October 1, 2009

I finally made it through the first pass at rewriting the woolly beast that is my novel-in-progress, The Sleep of Reason. It comes to twenty-one chapters, though the last two could easily be combined, comprising only 2,473 and 787 words respectively. Altogether, the first draft checks in at 109,164 words, which means there is plenty [...]