I’m revising. It’s something I do a lot, and I like it. But with every revision, that’s more time not spent either being read by editors or fandom. And more time spent further diluting the original “genius” that brought the story to life. (I guess the answer to that problem is to write more stories that I can revise.)

I’m working on this story I pulled out of the dust because I found a good publishing opportunity for it. I’d workshopped it a couple of times over a year ago, but unsatisfied with it, decided to park it for a while. When I pulled it out, I examined it thoroughly with fresh eyes and “fixed” it and workshopped it again. Now I’m making yet another pass.

While I feel like I am finally drawing the story together and polishing up to a high-shine, I am so sick of looking at it. They say that means you’ve read it enough. But I have my suspicions about that.

For one, I find that it just draws out the process–I’m board with it. Is it because I’m not looking at the story, which I like, as much, but making sure all the underlying technical bits are there? Going through check lists is not very exciting business (ok, I’ll admit I do love crossing things off to-do lists), it’s not what I love about creating stories and I wish I didn’t have to do it.

What I do like about the revision process is that it is where most of my background world building takes place. It makes me ask why is it like that? And I need to explain it. I guess that’s the pantser in me, because I will never know these things before I write a story. So instead of sticking to the technical stuff, I get lost in the story again. And that dilutes the original story further. Sometimes this is good, and sometimes, I just want to write yet another novel, which does not help me get the story into print.

Scribings is now available!