I think I'm going to throw up.
I just took out 8,000 words of my very best writing out of my WIP.
I did save it into another file. Hopefully I'll get to use it someday. But not in this book.
As we've discussed, my character couldn't have been held in the Hanoi Hilton because he was a foot soldier in the south, and therefore would have been held in a South Vietnamese POW camp. I want to be historically accurate, so I'm changing the location where I'm holding him hostage. (Well, I'm not holding him hostage, but you get the drift.)
But as I'm copying and pasting and deleting and rearranging, I'm also reading over these Hanoi Hilton scenes I wrote. And they're good. I mean, they're really, really good. (I'm allowed to think so, aren't I?) And they all have to be yanked. Every single one of them. I have to find ways to create that kind of power as I write about the camps in the south. I'm sure I can do it as I research and put myself in the place of my character, but I still feel sick. 8,000 words. Where's the bathroom?
6 comments:
I will commiserate and cry in my cocoa with you. I have been cutting pasting and rearranging for weeks and today I closed it down completely and started a new fresh document. I titled it "Take 3" because that is what it is--my third attempt at this story. I don't even care about being accurate, I just want my story!! I made a graph yesterday though (i.e. stalling) and I think I know where I'm going with this one, but I'm not sure. Sigh. I thought this was supposed to get easier.
Isn't it just the most miserable feeling in the world? And here I am all out of Utah Truffles.
You'd think it would get easier. This is what, your 8th book, Josi? If it's not easier by #8, it makes me wonder at what point it does get less painful.
It must get easier at point 8,987. At least, that's my theory, because it certainly isn't getting any easier where I am, and I'm certainly past #8 (not at published #8, but WAAAAAY past drafted #8).
Sorry to hear about the massacre, Tristi. Any chance you at least have a brownie mix on hand? It's a far cry from Utah Truffles, but it's better than nothing.
No brownie mix, but I think if I dig hard enough in my spice cupboard, I might come up with some chocolate chips and then I can make some cookies.
All together now: "Ahhhhhhhhhhh!"
Not being sarcastic. Genuinely feeling your pain, because it's my pain, too.
Thanks, Marsha -- we'll all support each other! Bring on the brownies!
Post a Comment