Re-Wiring
Re-wiring. That is to say re-writing.
To the observer, it can seem drudgery – this business of working on this novel I have called N3 since late 2022. In fact, I think in probably About on this site, I have asked why would anyone want to write a story when he already knew how it comes out. Obviously, I only think I know how N3 comes out. Another problem is, N3 is full of characters I’m now attached to and I can’t stand to ditch them on a zip drive. Not yet. They are not yet real enough.
About a month ago, I began the first re-write of N3. I mean, yes, there must be re-writes. But in the re-wiring - the re-writes - that is where you get to use color. In the re-writes, one is not so much struggling with events and actions. Re-writing is all about the euphony of the thing? But not necessarily pleasant. How the story feels and what it seems to say. The choosing and re-choosing of words that come closer and closer to the heart of what the story means to the author.
I mean, all the stories have been told. Now, what remains for me is the HOW of the thing.
What some known writers have to say about early drafts of stories seems to me exaggeratedly dramatic. Personally, I celebrate that I have managed a rough draft at all. The story that is N3 is dauntingly important to me. I celebrate that I have been given events and characters that to some extent say and do what I think this particular story deserves. The story is a love story. The story is about believing in a person regardless. But my featherless draft is just flopping around feebly in the nest.
In 4 weeks, I have re-written the first seven of the 40 or so chapters. Having learned the value of such, I have radicalized chapter 6, greatly improved(I actually think this) this bit of action, and moved this segment to the chapter 1 position. Right slam bang into the story. Splashes snot all over the narrator’s face. Slamming to the end of his tether, hanging up-side-down in a roofer’s safety harness, he is completely disoriented. This is actually a state of mind I know pretty well.
Re-writing Chapter 8 means the elimination of an already-roughed source of story conflict and grafting in a greater illucidation of the main lady’s(the narrator is a chick magnet, but twice divorced, he doesn’t know what to do with them) slippery character.
My narrator. I wonder about him. He seems completely insubstantial. Why does she still love him after 19 years? They were kids back then. What is it that captivates them both? For that matter, what is she? Besides a sought-after Architect - both in academy and on-site. Besides some sort of Dragon Lady?