Richard P. Nixon's Blog

Working the first chapter a little – taking out some unnecessary detail as it seems too busy. One particular scene will be refreshed and augmented to bring out its impact – after all, it is the catalyst of the story. 😉

Also resequencing some character introductions as some are abrupt and lack context which makes them thin and less important than they really are.

I don’t see anything difficult about this section so I’m off to make the changes.

Edit: funny how things change. I started with a clear vision, and ended with clarity enough to go back and change things. LOL.

Starting at the front of the manuscript making ever smaller changes mostly for clarification. This should be a very rapid edit as I’m looking for technical issues rather than content issues (though I did make one content change this afternoon, with permission).

A small update. I reworked Soho 1 and the following chapter to draw out some detail. Am very pleased with the result. I’m also adding character detail which is proving interesting.

It never ceases to amaze me how changing the order of things and rewriting accordingly can make such a dramatic difference to a piece. Right now I’ve resequenced the beginning of the Pierrepont section, pulling forward a few details from later on and filling in with finer detail. What had been a series of events connected only by context now flows as a story. Makes the writing so much easier when that happens.

Upon review, it seems there are two issues with the Pierrepont section. Parts of it need to be resequenced and/or split off on their own, and some stuff needs to be focused on more closely.

Part of the problem is that my reaction to certain events is atypical, at least as I’ve been told. I’ve had one reader ask me about a certain person that seemed to be important but then vanished. “Surely she’d remain in your thoughts.” I had to think about that because she was right – the person was important and yet, once she disappears from sight I don’t ever mention her again. I’m having that same issue now much later on only with more people. Weird. Oh well…

Once again I thought I might have the story done only to find I’m unhappy with how the Pierrepont section flows. There are some really good bits, and a lot of the story comes through fine, but there’s also extra crap and muddled imagery creating sour notes taking away from the overall piece.

I know what needs to be done, so I’m off to tear away the scabs again. Ugh…

Felt like someone hit me with a baseball bat last night as I realized how much power the bookends control – if I get it right.

Before this morning I knew I was close, but I also knew I needed something extra to really bring it home. This morning I found what I was looking for, a way to juxtapose my peace with the continuing turmoil.

We’ll see if it does the job.

Just about time to tie the whole thing together. I’ll refresh my bookends as there are a couple of things I want to add to heighten the overall impact.

I’m still not very happy with the Pierrepont section – too much gloom. Ironic considering I always thought of Pierrepont as a bit of Animal House. Now I see just how far removed from reality I’d become.

Doing some rough editing of the final two chapters at present. Last night I decided moving some stuff out of the second to last chapter was the right thing to do. Today I did the move, then chopped it down from a page to a paragraph. When I read the result, I got chills. Interesting…

Dancin’ Days – Spring 1983, the second to last chapter (as of this moment). Getting closer and closer to the final page.