On Revision

Still on the theme of revision...! I love the first draft stage, it's as effortless as running downhill towards Johnny Depp. This last stage is more akin to combing nits out of Captain Jacks dreadlocks...and there's a little
voice whispering, ah leave it, sure what does it matter?

So near, but yet so far.

Solution:
Fall back on an excellent small town technique for getting people to do what they ought to. It's called shaming. So on the 31st March I'll have the novel finished and in the post (with unforged and ungoogled photographic
evidence on this blog). And in case your wondering, this is
not just excuse to include a photograph
of J Depp. Honest.

On Revision

"Revision is where fine art begins. It’s thrilling to take an ending and pull it backward like a shiny thread through the whole fabric of a manuscript, letting little glints shine through here and there. To plant resolution, like a seed, into chapter one. To create new scenes, investing a character with the necessary damage, the right kind of longing. To pitch out boldly and try again. To work every metaphor across the whole, back and forth, like weaving. I love that word “fabrication,” because making an elaborate fiction feels so much like making cloth.

Perfectionism is my disease. Revision is my milk and honey."

Barbara Kingsolver

This quote is taken, with thanks, from a link to a Kingsolver interview over at WomenRuleWriter. I 'll be holding fast to the metaphor of fabrication as I revise this weekend, I don't know if it's because of time spent at the loom, but this is the only quote I've read recently that has given me a real sense of how to progress.

Have a great weekend.