Rewriting can be scary, like deliberately walking off a tight rope. The rope is the strand of plot that has existed in my mind for nearly two years. I could sit down and tell you the story, and this is how it goes. Except, once I’m finished with these revisions, it won’t go like that any more. Certain plot elements will be different from how I originally conceived them. Better, one hopes, but different. Scenes will take place in different orders in different locations and will play out differently. Characters and events that took place by implication off stage will be brought before the camera. Loose threads will be tucked in or tied up. Motivations will be explored to complete character arcs.
I made one set of changes that only took a few words here and there, but which has a fairly large impact on one of the metaphorical readings of the novel. While I am deliberately leaving one set of circumstances ambiguous, I realized that I as writer had subconsciously come down on the side of one interpretation and hadn’t resolved the second interpretation plot. It didn’t take much to rectify, but without the astute eyes of my agent, I’m not sure I would have seen the problem.
I’m now in the midst of writing a new scene to address a fairly major character decision that formerly took place off stage. I’d done so consciously because I wanted to delay a revelation for added suspense, but the decision the character makes off stage is so monumental that it has to be shown. Over the past two writing sessions, I’ve added 1600 words, which is probably half of the new scene. I may combine another scene that takes place later, a confrontation, that could naturally occur in the same setting. Haven’t decided that yet.
Stepping off the tight rope, once you get the courage to do so, can be liberating and invigorating. You give yourself permission to reconceptualize. You bump the needle out of the groove (a metaphor whose days are numbered). And, like a cartoon character, you don’t fall unless you look down.
Damned Nation, which contains my story “The Garden of Earthly Delights,” ships soon from Hellbound Books and from Shocklines. It also features tales from William F. Nolan, Poppy Z. Brite, Tom Piccirilli and Weston Ocshe, among others. Check it out — it’s less than $10!
I have numerous links to reviews of Cell on News From the Dead Zone online, as well as other articles of interest and a King interview with Bill Maher at Amazon Fishbowl. I don’t mention my Message Board very often, so there it is!
