What do you do after you finish a novel?
Here’s what I do (crossposted from theophrast.us):
1. Add a new Chapter 5.
2. Rewrite Chapter 4 so new Chapter 5 makes sense.
3. Go back to Chapter 1, change one line to make new Chapter 4 make sense.
4. Update Chapters 2 and 3 to accommodate the effects of that one-line change, originally motivated by that new Chapter 5.
5. Fix Chapter 4 again, recovering from the rippling effects of that one-line change in Chapter 1.
6. At last, begin rewriting forward, making minor edits to Chapter 6 (formerly Chapter 5) and Chapter 7 (formerly Chapter 6)
7. The shit hits the fan. Chapter 8 now needs to be rewritten from scratch. Longingly contemplate working instead on novel #2 (unfinished) or novel #3 (unfinished). Play Kingdom of Loathing instead.
8. Rewrite Chapter 8 (formerly Chapter 7), doing beautiful job, loving every minute of it. Unfortunately, it’s in third-person objective instead of first person.
9. Rewrite Chapter 9 (formerly Chapter 8!) in third person.
10. Start the third-person rewrite of Chapter 10 (formerly Chapter 9). Realize that this is how I got into this problem in the first place.
11. Rewrite first 1000 words of Chapter 1.
12. Rewrite first 1000 words of Chapter 1 again.
13. Write new Chapter 1, occurring entirely before existing Chapter 1. I’ve been wanting to tell this part of the story for ages, wrote thousands of words at it, couldn’t do it. Now it works.
13. Rewrite Chapter 1, now Chapter 2. Was 6500 words, a long goddamn chapter. Now it’s 4500 words, every one of which I like better than the old version.
14. I’ll let you know…
The last time I had this much trouble implementing a bug fix, I was probably twelve.
Software’s for suckers.
Feb 10, 2008 at 6:32 pm
Chris Howard says,
I forwarded your list on to Yasmin, Skott, and well, let’s just say, she’s a bit disappointed. She gave me this sort of blank big-eyed stare, put on her dancing shoes, and said Skott needs one more item on his list: 15. Sit my ass down in front of a keyboard and do more writing. Man, she’s vicious–and there’s pink glitter everywhere.