A few hours ago I posted about how I'd finally found my idea for how to revise HH, and I said I was about to start doing some essential research for it and then start planning out how to make the changes. I'm pleased to say I have done exactly that -- proper research, not attempted research (in which I dither about on the Internet looking at random stuff -- there's a difference).
Whenever I'm working on an idea for something -- characters, a plot point, a storyline, or a whole book plan -- I open a new document in MS Word and type, type, type. I type like I'm talking to myself, discussing each idea and its merits/downfalls as it enters my head. It's sort of a stream-of-consciousness thing and helps me understand why I thought of things and how I saw them linking together when I read it later on. Sounds a bit crazy, but it works for me. Once I hit on the idea I want to use, I save the "discussion document" and start a new file in which I go through the Good Idea in more detail and plan out how to put it into action.
This is what I've been doing today. I went back through my discussion document, separating out each individual idea I'd thought of and tidying up my rambling so that it reads more coherently. As I went through the document, I found myself marvelling at the number of different ideas I'd managed to rack up despite the fact that I was so sure I was thinking of nothing at all (at least, nothing useful -- again, there's a difference).
During my tidying, I numbered each idea individually. And guess what -- it turns out that the Good Idea I eventually managed to hit on after moans, gripes, Yahoo discussions with Nell, "yes-I've-got-it"s that were quickly followed by "nope-that's-crap"s, and more than a couple of 4-hour stints in which I sat, stared into the distance and typed four lines of poop, the Good Idea presented itself at...
... lucky number 13. Funny.
Then, when I logged in to Blogger to create this post, I realized that it would be none other than milestone post number 100.
And with that said, I'm getting back to work. In case you haven't guessed, it's been tough work trying to excavate the Good Idea from the recesses of my mind, but now that I've got it, I'm hanging on tight. I think I've got my groove back.
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1 comment:
That's an interesting way to do things. I should try it sometime. Lately I seem to write the new ideas down as a bit of hookish paragraph with a few scribbled ideas of scenes or character's...lines that show up out of thin air then tuck it away in a hanging file to wait for me to go back to it.
Good luck with revisions!
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