Thursday, April 22, 2010

First Chapter Blues or Manuscript Mayhem?

If the plot is the skeleton or framework of the story, the story the meat or mortar, then the first chapter must be the foundation … right? (well, and other things)



Taking a look at my lovely MS I found a FEW cracks in the mortar, a few places to be smoothed, maybe an appendage or two that needed trimming…and then…I look down. My first chapter. Is. In. Ruin. It’s crumbled. It’s distorted. It’s a blundering mess. What happens then? If the first chapter, THE BASE, of your novel is crumbling, is the rest salvageable? Can I grease up the mortar, water it down, shove the pieces together, hold it in place until it has hardened into the beautiful shape I am hoping it will take?


This is my dilemma. But I’m working on it. Silly that such a ‘little’ thing as a foundation should cause so much upheaval in my brain today that I just couldn’t let it alone…I had to blog about it. Hahaha. Yes, craziness is a part of genius. (or is it?)


Please tell me your horror stories of writing. I would love to hear them!
Yes, this about sums it up. The caption here would read : NO, Please! Not another revision!!

1 comment:

Natalie said...

I can totally relate. I revised a ton before I submitted my MS to agents. And I'm still doing revisions. I've done 3 major rewrites since my agent took it on. Writing is revision.