I rewrote most of the problems in Chapter 1 even before I got the teacher’s notes. (My four-way conversation was tedious.) There’s too much “the loud man said,” and “said the man in the aisle.” I’ve got dialect that can identify one person, but I can’t use the trick of having Person B say Person A’s name because they start out as strangers. I felt a little bad for having her read something I re-worked anyway.
Chapter 2 incorporated far more of Jerry’s work. Still, I didn’t just cut and paste, I tidied up and wove in parts that will come into play later. Because I have A Plan.
No one else in class has a Plan, and the instructor doesn’t encourage Plans, and the Bird by Bird writing book by Annie Lamott she recommended doesn’t either. Jerry, also, had no plan, which is why his plot’s an afterthought in the last half of his book.
The Plan was why I felt a little smug when she reminded us that the last assignment in the class, three weeks from now, would not be to write our fifth chapter but instead, our final chapter. Everyone else was aghast. I was thrilled, because then I could just hop over that empty spot at plot turn 1.
We meet in groups of four to read aloud our chapters. I find this inadequate because my eyes are on the chapter, so I can’t tell if the others are bored or amused or confused. Still, I truncated my reading when I thought we were going to run out of time for the others, then when we had extra time they suggested I finish. That was nice.
3 responses to “Re-writing the Novel: Chapter 2”
This project fascinates me. Do you find you are bringing the story closer to what you think Jerry meant to write, but never went back to edit and clean up his plot? Or are you going to turn things in a subtly different direction to introduce more meaning (or more spite)? I’m super impressed with the speed of your progress – I clearly need a class and a teacher and the pressure of embarrassing myself by not completing my assignments to get me to write one chapter per week.
Also: excellent plan. I suck at the plans. I am going to try a plan and see how it goes. LIkely terribly but who knows :).
I think anyone who works well with plans should have a plan, and anyone whose writing turns stilted when they have a plan should not have a plan (unless they *really* want to train themselves in to working by plan, I guess, sure, have a plan, write some terrible books, and adjust/develop as a writer).
Hooray for the people in your group wanting you to finish your chapter!!!
I’m very glad this class seems to be working out well for you!
Lynn – closer to what Jerry wanted? Nope. He did not want a plot, at all, evidently, Or any appealing characters. However, there are many excellent descriptions. So I have kept the descriptions, given the characters more appeal, and cut out the scenes with the dog-kicking and emotional abuse. And don’t be impressed with my speed – when we say chapter in class, our “chapters” are 10 pages double spaced. I think that equates to a six-page chapter, which is very short.KC – I think the books I like to read best always seem to be very well plotted out. The type where there are twists and callbacks and things like that. I suppose that can be added in revisions, but I like to do it all upfront.