The First One to Speak Loses

Epigraph is from one of my favorite books.

What we, or at any rate what I, refer to confidently as memory—meaning a moment, a scene, a fact that has been subjected to a fixative and thereby rescued from oblivion—is really a form of storytelling that goes on continually in the mind and often changes with the telling. Too many conflicting emotional interests are involved for life ever to be wholly acceptable, and possibly it is the work of the storyteller to rearrange things so that they conform to this end. In any case, in talking about the past we lie with every breath we draw.

—William Maxwell, So Long, See You Tomorrow

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Day Nine: July 10, 2013

Overcast and cooler day up here on the mountain. Up very early and was greeted outside my window by a mother deer and her baby. Yes, reminded me of Bambi, but no I did not pet them.

Before sunrise . . .




So today I picked up where I left off. The "3 Rs." Rewriting, rearranging, re-vising. I examined Plot Point Two, which takes place at the end of Chapter Eight, but in order to do that I first had to comb through Chapters 6 and 7. Expansion, compression, and deletion. The "3 ions." Questions posed: How does PP II connect to the climax? How does it relate to the midpoint?  Upon examination indeed they do. More questions: How many scenes in PP II? Answer: 3. How many subplots end? Answer: 1.
 In addition, at the word choice level it's about ACTIVE verbs.  You don't want to read boring, passive sentences and neither do I. So there you have some of the ingredients that we use in the recipe to rewrite a novel. Trust me, there's plenty more . . .

And speaking of recipes, all this work makes me hungry. The most delicious, juicy, full breasted rotisserie chicken--buttery garlic flavor--the best in Temecula comes from none other than Walmart.
She will sustain me  for several days . . .







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