So, it’s been a while!
A belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all since I was last here. Nothing much has happened since my last post, except that the rewrites to CHASING RABBITS have finally begun, after leaving it sit for three months. It’s slow going – I ended up trashing around 80% of the first draft, so the second draft is a series of slow, trembling steps as everything unfolds – but I’m very excited, and I think I’ve finally found my footing in the book.
The last major research I need is to retrieve all of my Victorian history books from my father’s house, mostly for the little niggling details that I glossed over in the first draft so I could keep on going. Everything that needs to be changed or clarified is being noted as I go. This odd rewriting draft stage is where I do most of my major work. The first draft is the easy one for me to write; the second where I do most of my tapping and shaping, so I spend a lot of time rereading what I’ve written the day before and do some very obvious syntax and word changes. Then I read it out loud and do further changes to what doesn’t sound right. It’s very slow going – a finished chapter can take up to a week when things are going bad, but it means my second draft is 95% finished, before I do a quick third edit and send it to readers for opinions.
It’s very odd that for this second draft, I do my best work in the mornings and early afternoons; I’m usually too tired in the evenings for the level of concentration I require for this. Yet in the first draft, I do some of my best work at night. I suppose it’s the amount of brain-work the polishing requires, or, more likely, it’s to do with my laziness. 😉 Still, it’s interesting to think about.
Signing off now.
Helen Corcoran 