Last week
Bonnie wrote about her editing woes. Specifically about all the backtracking
she’s had to do to fix the timeline, and plot holes. She also mentioned
discovering that my copy of book 4 in my sci-fi series started with well over a
hundred pages of scenes that were now in book 3.
What she failed
to notice is that I had decided to end book three at a much later point than it
had originally ended. Meaning, I’d copied those pages and pasted them into book
3, where I intended to keep them. The issue was, I hadn’t removed them from
book 4 yet. Mostly because I was still working on edits to book 1.
However, when
she mentioned the issue it’d been long enough since I’d done that for me to
forget I had. Though I did remember while I was checking those files for
myself. And doing that got me back into working on the edits to my books.
I quickly
breezed through book 1, which I had mostly edited already anyway. Then I worked
on book 2. It took a bit longer because I hadn’t done as much editing on it
previously. Then I started book 3. It needed a bit more work. But with some
effort, I finally got through it.
Now at this
point, what I have for books 4 and 5 isn’t enough to cover two books, but more
than I need for one. Also, what I have for book 5 (both title and content) is
not in keeping with the theme/pattern of the previous ones.
Though the
biggest issue is the reason I ended book 3 at a different spot. I wanted the
story to be a better match for the title, therefore ending in a different spot
was needed. This also means that book 4 must end at a different spot.
The other issue
I have with both books 4 and 5 is that since I last worked on them, I’ve added
aliens and languages, not to mention other details. I’ve even changed some
scenes. So both books are going to be more work.
Book five is
going to be the most work because of the changes in content, plus needing more
material to fill the novel. Different beginning and slightly different ending.
Now, however, I
have an issue. I have seven POV characters in my sci-fi but each book has a
main focus on one or two of them. (Book 1 is Hero and Heroine 1, book 2 is Hero
and Heroine 2, and books three, four, and five are Hero 3, 4, and 5
respectively.)
I’ve also
written prologues for books 1 through 4 but I still need one for book 5.
However, I’m unsure how to go about it. Each of the four prologues is in the
POV of one of the heroes. Book 1 is about Hero and Heroine 1 and the prologue
is in the POV of Hero 2. Book 2 is the same, just switched the POVs. Book three
is about Hero 3 with a prologue in Hero 4’s POV. Again, Book 4 is switched
POVs. All of these prologues are set several years in the past. I don’t have a
counterpoint POV character to provide that glimpse of the past for Hero 5. It
should be interesting to come up with his prologue.
The other issue
she pointed out in her blog was all the backtracking she had to do to fix plot
holes and other discrepancies.
Yes, I’ve been
doing a lot of that.
Either that or
I’ll have to backtrack to check what I have written previously. So I don’t
contradict myself. Like saying where an office is in book one, then putting it
in a completely different place in book three. I changed book one only to later
realize I needed that office where book 1 originally said. So backtrack again
and change both book 1 and book 3 so they will match book 4. Yes, that was a
bit complicated.
But I think the
really fun part is when I realized I’d changed at least one scene in book 3 to
take out Hero 5. However, I need the deleted content for scenes I need to add later
in the story (book 4 or 5). I went looking for the previous version with Hero 5
still in it. I could not find it.
It wasn’t in
previous versions of book 3. I panicked, looking everywhere I could think of
for the old files of book 3. It took searching through several more files
before it sank into my panicked brain as to why I couldn’t find it.
I’d moved
several scenes from book 4 to book 3!
I found it.
Smile. Make the day a brighter day.
No comments:
Post a Comment