We have arrived at the stage of carrots. Moving words around so that they make more sense; expanding ideas; cutting things out that regrettably don’t add anything of direct value. Carrots, of course, is a term created by Ceri and I to describe a measure of something non-quantifiable as pertains to writing. They’re an acknowledgement of energy expended in making the work better.
The book is improving. There are many carrots. It just doesn’t feel like it, because the word count isn’t reflecting the general amelioration of worth.
I have to do this before thundering onward and throwing more words at the book, because I need to know where words should be happening. What are the bits that just kind of trail away into nothing? Where is there a leap instead of a logical bridge? Where are the places where I start out arguing one thing, and end with an entirely different conclusion about a different topic? What sections are in the wrong place? (I made chapter 1 make a heck of a lot more sense by moving two parts around, for example, and now it has a much more sensible structure.) What is missing entirely? What have I outlined but not delivered? And does it need to be delivered, or can it be cut out without robbing the book of something crucial?
It just feels like I’m dabbling and fooling around instead of working. I can’t entirely quash the little internal editor that yells “MAKE MORE WORDS!”. Putting a mass of new words down will only end up making more carrot-work later on; it would be an inefficient use of my time and energy.
Yay! Carrots! If you get enough of them, you can make a delicious soup!
This is a part where it can start to feel like a slog — because it takes so much time to think through things and put them in a logical structure, it can feel like you aren’t getting anywhere. But you are.
I am here if you need to shriek. Or cheer.
Oh, good.
CERI, I’M LOSING WORDS! I WILL HAVE NEGATIVE WORD COUNT TODAY!
*wails, beats fists on keyboard*
*pets* Yes, but the words you have will make more SENSE. And then you will be able to easily add words in the right places!
That’s the theory, anyway. But I did all right in the end.
Glad to hear it. At this point proper headspace is very important.
Crucial.
Primordial, even.
(Gods help me, but I CANNOT get that word misuse out of my head.)
Yes. Primordial. You would not want to diffuse it.
BWAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!
You know, one of these days one of us is going to come back and look at the comments for this post and think “What the HELL were we talking about?”