The revisions that weren't

[pbray]

As part of my writing process, when I finish writing for the day I'll print out the pages I've just written. Later I'll mark them up, and then the next time I sit down to write I start by inputting the changes and then move on to the new stuff. It's the equivalent of warming up, a way to stretch my creative muscles and get back into the flow of the story, which is vitally important if you're not on a schedule where you can write every day.

Yesterday as I was having my morning coffee I pulled out the hardcopy of the last scene I'd written before work went crazy. As soon as I started to read it, I knew I'd made a mistake. These pages were old, and had none of the changes I'd planned. There was still that awkward info dump on page 3, the order of events was off, and I spotted a character that I'd already decided didn't need to be in this scene.

So I set it aside, went to the computer and printed off the pages again. But they were exactly the same as the ones I'd looked at earlier. Confused I checked to see if I'd saved it under a different file name. No luck.

"Ah ha!" I thought, "I must have been working on the laptop and forgotten to copy the file back to the desktop." So I checked the laptop, but that version was even older.

I retreated back to the kitchen and stared at the offending pages. They were wrong, wrong, wrong! I knew that I had fixed them.

Except, it seems I hadn't. Or if I had, the changes had been lost when someone decided to reset the universe without telling me.

I finally did go ahead and revise the scene, but the entire time I had to fight off the sense that I wasting time making changes I'd already done before.

Comments

Yep, I've done that...

[zornhau.livejournal.com]

Comfortingly, the time the work actually did turn up, it was more or less the same as my attempt to replicate it.

Re: Yep, I've done that...

[pbray.livejournal.com]

That's always the fear, that you won't be able to recapture the magic.

Re: Yep, I've done that...

[zornhau.livejournal.com]

It's like a good rock and roll solo - you don't know what you're going to play, but you know you can play it. Our magic comes from ourselves, not the keyboard. So, never fear.

[lagilman]

oh gods yes. That.

As Di says -- "Marco..."

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Not just EZ Pass, I think writers get seasons tickets with box seats :-)

[jennifer-dunne.livejournal.com]

Switched universes by mistake again, did you? :-)

[pbray.livejournal.com]

To a universe that was clearly lacking in pie!

[pbray.livejournal.com]

True enough.

[jjschwabach.livejournal.com]

See, that's why I wait to do revisions for a couple of days. I don't want to end up in a universe where the last three chapters were never written. That's happened to me before.

[sylvia-rachel.livejournal.com]

You want to be careful with that inter-dimensional travel, dude.

[jjschwabach.livejournal.com]

I know. I stepped into a votrex eight years ago, and only now found my way out. Fortunately, all my friends came along.

Steer clear, steer clear!

[vespican.livejournal.com]

Just as what we each write differs, so does how we write it. I don't bother to print anything out until I've finished a chapter. Then it goes in a binder...the working copy of the manuscript. When I have time, either a few days, or several weeks later, I'll go over it and mark changes. I'll incorporate those changes at one of the next times I'm at the keyboard. When working on a particular chapter, I might start reading on screen from the beginning of it in order to get a "running start" on continuing it. I often find errors or changes I need to make and make them then and there. But before I am willing to say the chapter or the entire book is finished, it does get read in hard copy.
Dave