Thursday, June 9, 2011

Flying By...

I've broken down my manuscript into 70 scenes in a Word table. This will help visualize where I'm at in the latest revision. I'm reworking all the scenes with Julia and Grandma. There are approximately seven phone conversations total after Esther's death. As they currently stand, these conversations have no dramatic arc and feel emotionally stagnant. An agent who read the book offered some suggestions that I'll incorporate into these passages. Kubler-Ross's DABDA model is an effective tool to generate the kind of emotional variety I hope to achieve.

The days are flying by. I'd like to have my revisions complete by the end of July, but that may be pushing it. I haven't received Sam's line notes yet and am in no hurry. Many of the more mechanical lines and details throughout the story are given more refinement so they don't sound so clunky. Last week, Chris said it best: good writing disappears.

I have 200 pages left on my Richard Yates biography. I also downloaded Alexandra Styron's "Reading My Father' on my Kindle.

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