Writing Wednesday

Hooray for Wednesday!

I was finally able to piece some time together and get some writing/editing done. While I was reading the opening of my latest MS, I realized, I hate my voice. Have you ever been recorded for a video and when someone plays it back, you cringe?

That's what reading the opening was like for me. The voice would work if this were a Middle Grade novel, and if I wasn't so dead set on the plot and events, I'd be happy with Middle Grade.

That being said, I don't really hate my voice, just that voice for the character.

So, just like my last MS, I bit the bullet and started rewriting the opening scene. (The pacing was too fast anyway, so it helps to rewrite it).

I seem to end up rewriting large portions of my novels for any variety of reasons. For my first novel (MS, not a published book, yet), I rewrote over half the book. And let me tell you, I'm better for it. The first half moves faster, lame scenes were deleted, and the dialogue is snappier. I learned a lot from completing the novel the first time, so I needed to apply what I learned to the beginning (and parts of the end).

What I'm getting at is sometimes scenes just need to be rewritten. Sometimes the entire MS needs an overhaul. It's ok, I know it's rough. Just save your first version, and then work on the second. You'll always have the first version to go back to if you want to.

(Sorry for the short posts, I'm swamped with work for the next few weeks).