Monday, July 11, 2011

I Write With Scissors!

Okay, I don't really write with scissors. But in this, the Summer of Revision, scissors are my new favorite revising tool.

Hacked-up draft
I discovered that trying to do a major revision on a computer monitor just doesn't work for me. I need to be able to see more than what's in the viewable area of the screen. I need the BIG PICTURE. So I'm printing one chapter at a time--on actual paper! dead trees!--making notes on it, and cutting it up so I can physically remove parts and rearrange it. And it's going soooo much faster. There's just something about being able to take in the entire chapter in one sweeping glance.

Am I the only one who does this?

I expect I'll be relying on this paper and scissors method from now on.

Author K.C. Neal:: Pyxis Series :: YA Paranormal

7 comments:

DgW said...

Ha, old school indeed!

But, the old ways are indeed sometimes better. I've done this a few times because no matter how great having all your stuff is on the computer etc, just being able to physically move it around helps sort things out in my head too.

K.C. Neal said...

That's nice to hear! Thanks for commenting. :)

Daezarkian13 said...

That is sweet!

Never done this. Maybe I should... ;D

K.C. Neal said...

You should! It's really satisfying! :)

Ruth said...

I've resisted the urge to do this so far - I weep for the poor trees, also I'm a miserly sort :P

I can see the advantages though. I'll have to see if it becomes necessary when I edit the WiP!

http://ruthsteven.blogspot.com/

Ryan Schneider said...

Faulkner did this with THE SOUND AND THE FURY. So you're in oh-so-good company.

Katie Parr (K.M. Parr) said...

Ahh, great idea! I actually haven't done this with my novel just yet, but the concept came in handy when I was editing a documentary film project. :)