Out of focus

I'm working on the rough draft of IF I DIE right now, and I think the hardest thing about writing this, the fifth book in the series, is holding the tone of what I've written so far in my head, along with what I know comes next. It's really hard to maintain a consistent "feel" of a series while still pushing the characters to develop and mature.

Why is that hard? Okay, you asked for it... ;)

Writing a rough draft is like standing too close to the mirror. So close that you can only focus on one feature at a time, and everything else is kind of blurry. You can’t truly see your whole face at this point in the process. Much less the rest of your body (the previous books in the series).

Right now, in IF I DIE, I can see the scene I’m working on, and on the periphery, I can see parts of the previous two scenes. That’s like seeing my nose and part of one cheek. But I have yet to see the entire face of this novel, and for all I know, once I do, the parts won’t line up. It’ll look more like one of Picasso’s disjointed women than anything truly recognizable.


If I follow this analogy, that makes rewrites analogous to corrective surgery—rearranging the parts until they all match. At this point, the manuscript feels more like Frankenstein's monster. The features are all there, and in focus, and lined up. But the seams are still visible. And there might be a slight greenish tint. ;)



After that comes plastic surgery (revisions), where I smooth over the scars and do whatever repair work I missed in the previous round. With any luck (even if it takes multiple operations) by the end of this process my manuscript has a smooth, pretty face (the words on the page, and their rhythm and flow) over a sturdy bone structure (the plot--the story itself).

But I'm not going to illustrate that part because just as no face in a magazine is ever truly flawless, neither is any book. There will always be typos and even some small inconsistencies. Minor flaws that drive the writer nuts (I hate my lazy eye, and the way some of my freckles group together to form Superfreckles) but that readers only really notice if they're out to analyze or criticize, rather than reading for pleasure.

So, that's how writing a manuscript is like piecing together Frankenstein's monster. Now...does anyone know a good plastic surgeon? ;)