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Publishers want lots of ‘stuff’ from authors now. Not just the book, but lots of other stuff. Content, it’s called, for online things.

One of the bits of content I’ve given my publishers recently is a file of deleted scenes, from my new(ish) teen thriller Mind Blind.

It wasn’t hard for me to find half a dozen deleted scenes, because I delete lots from my manuscripts as I rewrite and redraft. It’s not unusual for me to reduce the length of a book by 20,000 words or more between first draft and final publication. Which sounds very inefficient – wouldn’t I be better just writing shorter books in the first place?

But I’m not a planner and plotter. I discover the story as I write, as I follow the characters on their journey, and that means diversions and doubling back. I never deliberately write anything that I know is irrelevant at the time, every word helps me find out about the characters, their reactions to problems and my own feelings about the story. But once I reach the end and get a sense of the main thrust of the story, it’s usually clear that I've regularly wandered off the narrative path, and that some scenes are now unnecessary. They may have been necessary to get me to the end, but they’re not necessary to get the reader to the end. So I'm ruthless in slashing them out. I reckon that if you can slice out a scene without it seriously affecting the rest of the story, it probably wasn’t that important.

And in a thriller like MindBlind, where it’s very important to keep the pace up and the pages turning, I also removed scenes or parts of scenes because they slowed the story down too much. (Here’s an example of one.)

And sometimes I cut a scene, not because it’s slowing the story down or because it’s an unnecessary diversion, but because I come up with a stronger idea once I know the story and characters better. However, the original scene is still part of the way I got to know the character, so it’s part of my history with them. Here’s an example of that – it’s the first scene I ever wrote about Ciaran Bain, the hero (anti-hero) of the book. It’s not in the book, but it’s still the place I first met him!

Of course, it’s misleading to suggest that all this slashing and slicing is my idea. Quite a lot of it is, but some of it is in response to gentle prompts from my wonderful editor.

a mountain of many Mind Blind manuscripts

So, I have no problem removing large chunks of my first draft or even my fourteenth draft, because as I’m writing, I know that I’m just discovering the story, not finding the perfect way of telling it first time around. And I know that it takes a lot of work to make that original mess of scribbled ideas into a book.

But having taken all this stuff out, why on earth would I want to show it to anyone? These deleted scenes have often been removed quite early in the process, so they’re not that polished (why would I polish them, once I’ve deleted them?) So it does feel quite weird and slightly uncomfortable, revealing these unfinished bits of my creative process to the public gaze.

Even if these are scenes that I took out for plot or pace reasons, rather than pieces of writing I don’t like, they are still parts of the story that didn’t make it into the book. So is it a bit of a risk to show less than perfect examples of your writing to the world? And why on earth do it?

The first reason is the pragmatic one of feeding the voracious social media monster. (This is not a particularly good reason.)

But I wonder if a much better reason is that realising how much an author cuts from their early drafts can be useful, especially for young writers. It’s a very practical way to show that published writers don’t get it right all the time, that our first drafts are just the start of the process and that we have to work at them, slash at them, perhaps radically change them, to get them into shape. Deleted scenes are perhaps the online version of showing manuscripts covered in lots of scribbles and scorings out to groups of kids at author visits. ‘Look, I don’t get it right first time, so you don’t have to either. Just write, and see what happens!’

So, while I was wincing and cringing this week as yet another deleted scene appeared on Tumblr, I wondered:
How much do other writers delete?
Are other writers happy to let the world see the bits they sliced out?
And do readers learn anything about the writing process from deleted scenes?

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In the past I’ve blogged about my pattern of ‘Writing with the Seasons’ on ABBA, and how it’s always worked for me, but over the last few years it’s all gone out of sync – not just the whole writing with the seasons thing, but my entire routine and writing process.

Various factors have contributed to this, which I won’t bore you with, but they have had a major impact. It’s not that I haven’t been writing, because I have, but not quite in the same way.

Reworking a manuscript is a very different kettle of fish to writing a new book.

With a new agent and fresh eyes on my work, I spent the first part of the year re-working a manuscript that is very close to my heart, and by the end of that process I was quite happy with the end result. I am now reworking a second manuscript, which I am finding much harder going. The voice of the main character eluded me for a long time, and I couldn’t understand why. It was only when I switched to the first person that things started to click and fall into place.
But this is when I come to the writing with the season thing. I know my most productive time of year for writing is autumn and winter and spring. Not the summer. The summer has always been the most distracting time of year, firstly because of school holidays,(although my teen is now old enough to arrange his own distractions, which he happily does!) family holiday, the sunshine, the allotment, the tennis, the...you get the idea. Routine disappears and with it the word count plummets and the guilt rises. There are too many offers for a game of tennis, the swing seat and a good book are always beckoning, the weeds on the allotment need to be kept under control, and there way too many courgettes to give away and recipes to look up!

What’s the answer? Well, we all know that writers never fully switch off, that story ideas, scenes and characters are always percolating in the grey matter, and that a break from writing is good and necessary, and that a holiday is essential. That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t get the present re-write re-written, which has to be done before the end of summer. For my own peace of mind I need to be back in synch.



First crop of cherries for my two year old tree

Without the external pressure of a looming deadline, and the self-imposed deadline not working as it does at other times of the year, it’s all about time management for the summer months for me now: allotting hours of the day, days of the week to the current re-write and fully committing to them, and if that means turning off the phone, the internet, and dare I say it, Facebook and Twitter and the rest of it, then so be it.
Well, that’s the plan...





Third time lucky garlic crop



Four varieties of potatoes

My website

Twitter @savitakalhan

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What do you do when you're sick of the book you're working on? This hasn't happened to me often, but it has on an occasion. In talking to other authors this seems to be a common occurrence for most authors. You get bored of working on the same project, or maybe it just doesn't seem as exciting or interesting as when you first started. Or maybe you think the piece just plain ol' stinks.

There's at least two reasons that I think this happens during the writing process. The first one is that maybe,you're right. Maybe it does stink. Maybe it's boring. There have been times when I've been working on a novel that I have started to get bored with it. When this happens, I have to reexamine my writing, because sometimes I'm bored with it because my writing has turned stale or boring. When that happens, I have to figure out what I've done to make it boring and inject new life into it. Maybe I'm not creating enough tension. Maybe I've portrayed my characters as one-dimensional.  Perhaps, I'm failing to make the setting come alive. So, if you ever start losing interest in your writing, first take a hard look at ways you can improve it to make it more interesting.

However, sometimes we get sick of what we're working on simply because we've been working on it for so long that it has become too familiar to us. It's like listening to your favorite song over and over and over again. You love it maybe the first few hundred times, but after awhile you grow sick of it and you hate it. It's not that the song has magically gone bad, but it no longer holds any appeal to you. If this happens in your writing, you have to fight through it and keep writing until you finish it, even if you think every word you write is junk. Maybe it is junk, but that's what rewrites are for. But once you have it finished, you can breathe a sigh of relief, let it sit in your drawer for a while, and then take a fresh look at it to do your rewrites. Chances are that when you do, you'll realize that it isn't nearly bad as you thought it was and that it fact it's pretty good, or at least it will be once you get your rewriting done.

So, once again, what do you do when you're sick of what you're writing?

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Two agents have weighed in on my book. Agent #1, on whose critique of the first 75 pages I bid at a charity auction, said, This delivers. You have quirky characters, and people up to no good. I love the humor in the book; you’re very funny.

Here's the but. When I asked if she'd be interested in representing it, she said it wasn't her kind of book; she tends more towards family dramas. But - she did ask me to send her the rest of the manuscript, which she looked forward to reading.

And in even better news....I asked the agent who'd requested the full manuscript a few months ago for a status report. And she said,
We have been considering your manuscript, which we think is very good, but needs some revisions before we'd be able to take it on. We thought that ANIMAL CRACKER was very funny, well-paced, and irreverent. The heroine is brash and relatable, which makes what could be conventional chick lit feel fresh and engaging. We did think, though, that the second half of the book could use some work...the resolution, even for such a lighthearted work, came too easily. We'd love to see a revision that addresses these ideas.

I shall revise away.

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Revising in the Home Stretch

I know what method of working has made the first 2/3 of my mss better. I’m just getting tired.

Don’t get Lazy Now! I’m on the last third. I know that I must rewrite a major scene for a subplot/secondary character climax. But much of these later chapter are in good shape. By now in the story, so much is set, the stakes are established, character arcs and plot arcs are underway, the scenes are focused and full of tension. My inclination is to avoid the work!

But I think it’s still essential to question everything! Runners know you can’t stop until you’ve actually crossed the Finish Line.

Questions I’m still asking myself:
Is this scene essential to the story line?
Is there a better way to present this scene?
Is there a better way to set it up?
Can I raise the stakes?
Is the dialogue snappy enough?
Could the reader possible be confused at any point?
Are the emotions still building?
Are the characters’ actions exciting?
Can I improve the language at any point?
Are descriptions static or full of emotions?
Can I connect scenes in any way?

Of course, each scene presents new challenges, so these are only a few of the concerns at this point. The main problem is to not rush this last section, to slow down and take each scene very seriously, as if this scene might prevent the entire book from working well. It’s very, very hard. I want to be finished! But I’m trying to keep to the working method that worked and trying to keep myself focused and working.

Related posts:

1. Omit Scenes
2. Goal disaster in Novel Revision
3. Compress Novel

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I wasn't certain if I was going to blog about this - tempting fate and all that, but I figured it's all part of the process and the journey and that I should. I also figured if I maintained radio silence for a month, I'd go insane and then I'd drag you all to the lunatic asylum with me. Though maybe Jack Nicholson's there, and we'd all have a wild time.

So, here's what I like to title, 'The Reason I won't be participating in NaNoWriMo this year'.

Up until last Monday, I was working on Grim Glass Vein and scratching out some plans for my NaNo project (I had several ideas and couldn't decide which to go with - not a bad thing), I was also jotting down ideas for a story for the Cafe Doom competition and starting to wonder about ideas for flash stories for 52 Stitches when it reopens. Life was good, and then life got complicated and a little bit exciting.

Parties, who shall remain unnamed, have been reading my book Theatre of Curious Acts (publisher not agent) over the past couple of months. On Monday evening they asked if I would consider doing a substantial rewrite, and the following morning I received the rewrite details. Oh my god! I may have panicked for about thirty minutes, but once I got my head around what was needed and what wasn't I decided, I could do this. I made sure I had a full plan of what was to be removed and what I wanted to add and started the rewrite yesterday. Scratching out unnecessary characters is far more fun than I expected.

When it all falls apart - I joined PessimistsRus (they require only a bleak outlook) at the weekend as well as the SFWA - I know I'll be left with a much better book and the experience of tearing a book apart is proving invaluable. I'm even looking at Grim Glass Vein with new eyes.

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ROAD TO TATER HILL by Edith Hemingway

Introduced first in 2007, debut children’s authors have formed a cooperative effort to market their books. Last year, I featured many of the Class of 2k8 on Revision Notes, as they told the stories of how 2k8 Novels Were Revised.

Today, I’m glad to begin the 2k9 Series of novel revision stories.
Class of 2k9

“When your editor says your character isn’t stepping up to the plate…” by Edith M. Hemingway, author of ROAD TO TATER HILL (Delacorte Press, September 8, 2009)

Structural Changes?

I consider the process of revision to be the true meat of writing. In fact, I revised my middle grade novel, ROAD TO TATER HILL, for three years before I decided it was finished and polished enough to submit to an editor. So, when I heard from Michelle Poploff, VP and Executive Editor of Delacorte Press, that she was interested in talking to me about my manuscript, I was confident that if she wanted it, there would of course be changes, but surely not major structural revisions.

She was interested and wanted to set up a telephone conversation a week later. I asked if there was something I should be thinking about in terms of revision before we talked. She said, “My assistant and I think your character, Drew, isn’t stepping up to the plate. We’d like you to consider removing him entirely from the story.”

I was thankful this was communicated through email and not face to face or over the telephone because there would have been a groan, a gasp, or a fleeting look of panic. My immediate reaction was, “How on earth could I take my brother out of my book?”

What I neglected to say earlier is that the seed for ROAD TO TATER HILL was my own childhood experience of the premature birth and death of my baby sister. Since I started writing it as a memory of an emotional childhood incident for a creative writing assignment, of course I included my older brother in the story. He was a significant part of the whole experience within our family. As the story evolved into fiction and took on more characters and an actual plot and story arc, the brother in the story tagged along, too. We had always been close, and I could not imagine life without him for either my character, Annie Winters, or me. However, the student in me that constantly strives to improve my writing urged me to be open to all suggestions—especially those from an experienced editor.

Yes, to Editor’s Suggestions

By the time our telephone conversation rolled around, I had come to terms with the change and realized the loss of a longed-for baby sister would be all the more poignant if Annie were an only child. I had even taken the necessary steps to mark every point in the story where Drew had appeared physically, through dialogue with other characters, or by reference in Annie’s thoughts and memory—especially those scenes where he played a significant role in driving plot points. Drew had appeared in 81 pages out of the then 154 total. I had also figured out the perfect character to beef up and take over the plot points that Drew could no longer control—Bobby Miller, the neighbor boy, who not only now became Annie’s best friend, but also added an interesting boy/girl dimension to the story.

Michelle and I talked for nearly two hours—going over those ideas in addition to many other lesser points and clarifications she needed. She ended the conversation by saying she would mail back my manuscript with all her written comments and suggested I think it over for a couple of weeks to decide if I wanted to move forward with these revisions. I did not tell her then that I had already decided—of course I would make those changes and even take them a step further!

Taking Time to Plan Revision

Once I received the manuscript, I spent several days reading through and taking meticulous notes. Then I put together a 4-page revision strategy list which included 9 detailed character improvements, 17 other considerations based on Michelle’s questions, a clarification of the time span of the entire story, and a plan for resequencing some of the major scenes.

Before scheduling our next telephone conversation, I emailed this detailed revision plan to Michelle, so she had time to look it over first. When we talked, her first words were, “You’ve really stepped up to the plate.” I had demonstrated that I was ready, willing, and able to make the revisions they wanted, and they were ready to offer me a contract, even before I completed the revisions.

Yes, there were more revisions required after I finished the first round and even before we reached the copy-editing stage. I even rewrote the entire novel in the first person point of view in order to dig deeper into the emotional core. It sounds as if I made every single change my editor suggested, but no, I didn’t. There were a few ideas that just didn’t ring true to my characters, even though I tried. In those cases, I came up with alternative plans that worked as well or better. I also learned that revisions often need to be done in layers, rather than all at once. One change perhaps leads to another change, which in turn reveals another problem that must be fixed, and so on. The hardest thing for me is to know when to finally stop revising.

I firmly believe, however, that my willingness to trust my editor, listen to her suggestions, and follow through with revisions was critical in landing my first “solo” contract!

Edith M. Hemingway
[email protected]
Road to Tater Hill
Delacorte Press, Sept. 8, 2009
http://www.classof2k9.com

Related posts:

1. Cheryl Renee Herbsman: 2k9
2. Rosanne Parry: 2k9

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How Many Times Do you Revise?

When do novel or picture book revisions ever end? I’m always a new person, with a bit more knowledge and a bit more life under my belt. I could always make changes to the story. When do you know it’s time to submit your baby?

• My Best. When I’ve done everything I can right now. I try to revise as many times as necessary to get it right. If I’m happy with the story as it is, and I can’t think of anything else to try. And when I do try, it seems to mess it up, then I quit. For me, there’s also an emphasis on RIGHT NOW. Ten years from now, I’d do the story different, but RIGHT NOW (which is the only time we really have), I’ve done my best.
• Cool off. When I’ve let it sit for a while and still can’t figure out anything to do. Now this? I’m not so good at letting it sit. I want it out and accepted and published! But rejections have forced me to get better about letting a mss cool off. Time sometimes shows you what you couldn’t see before and you’ll know exactly where to revise. It might even, if you’re lucky, give you the right approach to improve the mss.
• Critique Group. When my critique group agrees with me. Ha! That doesn’t happen often enough. Sometimes critique groups make me feel like I’m back in junior high gossiping. As my son says, I don’t like all the drama. BUT, for the sake of my mss, I not only put up with it, but I encourage it. I need it. After a gossip session, though, I go away and consider and process and then approach a revision my way. Sometimes, it incorporates ideas from others, but in a different way or with my own twist. If I’m wise, though, I wait until my critique group likes the novel or picture book mss and then I send it out.
• Never. Some old novels and picture book mss are still in my file drawer. They need massive rewrites, I know. But for various reasons, they’ll never get what they deserve: the impulse for the story is gone, the story isn’t marketable today, I’m bored with the characters/voice/setting/plot/whatever. OK, I’ll admit it. Some sit because some critiquer made a remark that stopped me cold. Some sit because I don’t believe myself capable of doing the story justice. Some sit because, well, just because. Not all stories are meant to be shared with the world.

Be brave! Submit.

Post from: Revision Notes Revise Your Novel! Copyright 2009. Darcy Pattison. All Rights Reserved.

Related posts:

1. Revisions Take Time
2. Critique Groups
3. Test Submissions

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I'm so full. The mere thought of another granule of sugar touching my tongue leaves me queasy. This is a good thing. More sugar means more pounds and more pounds means more working out and of course, more working out means I have less time to write. So you can see the vicious cycle.

It's been a great Christmas, with lots of time being spent with my little darlings, martini's with friends, snuggles with my hubby and the overall satisfaction that I live a good life. But having said that, I can't wait to get back to writing....

I've finished my rewrite. (YIPEE!!!). I've re-organized chapters and even in this late in the game, deleted scenes. I discovered some important elements that had been left out. Finding the right place to slip them in has been a bit challenging. I've added sensory details where there weren't any before; I've added action in place of tags: I've introduced new settings instead of using the same ones over and over. Now, I need to finish my read-through on my computer and then...(drumrolls, please)...it's the BIG PRINTOUT.

The last time I finished a revision and printed out my manuscript, I fell into a state of depression. I felt the story could have been better. I even rejected an offer from an agent (who said he loved the first fifty) to read the whole manuscript. Might have been a bad move, but I couldn't possibly hand him over the rest of the story when I knew in my heart it wasn't strong enough.

It still might not be, but at least I love it.

The story now involves Dree's mom. Where once she was dead, she now lives on as a disgraced, former national champion gymnast. Her reluctance of having her daughter train as an elite gymnast, at the same school where she herself trained, evolves from an an initial maternal fear for her daughter (life ain't pretty as an elite gymnast and she knows it best) to one of self-preservation. Who knew that the secret she held onto all these years would be discovered by her own daughter?

I feel this is my last run-through. The final edit before the crunch. I feel a deep anxiousness (is that a word?) to get this story out. The old adage "You can't win if you don't play" haunt me everyday. I know Greenwood Girls will never be published if I keep revising, but then again, it will never be published if I don't revise. It's a horrible cycle, but the fact that this story is deeply personal, motivates me to push on with what feels right.

So having said that, it's back to my story....
Wishing you all much luck and the ability to persevere with your first draft, rewrite or edits.

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The Beginning

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It's the number one reason why editors tell us why your manuscript doesn't cut it. It's the first rule we learn when writing fiction, yet in my opinion, it's one of the hardest.
I'm not going to pretend that I'm an authority because truthfully, it's something I struggle with daily. Some of my critique partners are quite skillful in picking out sentences and paragraphs that tell not show. Once the area is pointed out, it should be easy to fix it right? Not necessarily.
I think you need to be in the rhythm. The flow.
Reading works of fiction that "show" well is what really cements it for me.
I've been reading What I Saw and How I lied by Judy Blundell and I have to say that, so far, this lady is a master at showing not telling.

Check this out:
"A breeze ruffled her blonde hair. She stared out into the air and flicked an ash off her cigarette."
and
"She reached over to his pack of cigarettes on the table and extracted one slowly. She tapped it on the table while she gave him a long look. She placed it between her lips and he leaned over to light it, cupping the flame against a nonexistent breeze."

There are many, many books that show really well. Okay, most published books, but this one stood out to me. I'm only on page 60 but so far, every page is chock full of visual details.

Showing not telling has been a particular problem for me. I've been reworking/rewriting my manuscript for a while now, and some parts of it were written a while ago when my show vs tell skills weren't as polished. More often than I care for, the telling areas will sneak back into my manuscript. Kind of like a bad habit in golf. It feels natural, so it's easy to ignore.

Tami Lewis Brown over at Through the Tollbooth wrote about her "secret" which is showing, not telling. It's a great post that might help you see your trouble spots.

Obviously, the rule doesn't apply to all books. Some books excel in telling not showing. On our SCBWI community list-serve in Southern California, the book talk for this month was The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. Some readers posted that they were disappointed that Alexie used so much telling when writing his story, feeling that he could have deepen the connection between reader and character more had he "showed" more. Can't disagree yet the story is fantastic.
Still, I'm no Sherman Alexie, so I'm going to stick with the rules.

On a personal note, Thanksgiving in Yosemite Valley was breathtaking as usual. We hiked until my knees gave out, biked until I literally fell over from exhaustion and ate until I gained 3 pounds. The calorie consumption must have been enormous considering all that exercise.
I blame the trail mix.

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I'm at the three quarter pole of my rewrite. The words are flowing effortlessly and frankly, I'm in writing nirvana.
I've spent the last two weeks outlining and rewriting the final chapters.
Since I'm a new writer, I try and seek out as much advice as I can. One of my favorite articles on outlining and revision came through Cheryl Klein's blog, Brooklyn Arden. Anita Nolan's "The End" is only the beginning...a step-by-step guide to refining your manuscript has been very helpful in providing concrete advice. I've been using her methods for a few months now.

One of my favorite sections in her approach is to make a list of scenes (within chapters is fine). Number them and write down how many pages in that scene. The idea is to check and make sure the scenes aren't too skimpy. Too many slight scenes can make a chapter too fragmented. I know I was guilty of this. I had proof!
By going over each scene, counting the number of pages it took up and deciding what plot point it was connected to, my scenes went from choppy to (hopefully) fluid.
This was a good thing.

Another strategy Nolan employs is to make good use of your outline. The first revision should ultimately be done within the outline only.
With it, Nolan suggests the following:

• add chapter numbers
• scene numbers
• a list of plot points you are aiming to achieve
  
• starting/ending page numbers
• characters involved
• setting
• time frame
• number of pages in scene/chapter
• highlight turning points
  

It seems like a lot, but it's very helpful. Since my novel takes place during a school year (September to June), adding a time frame to my outline is crucial. I can't tell you how many times during critiques, people asked me for a time reference. I knew this important detail well but hadn't been providing that knowledge for my readers.

The setting became rather important as well. With over 35 scenes in Greenwood Girls, variety keeps my readers interested. My first few drafts used the same settings over and over, until one brave reader asked if I could pick another place to have a particular conversation. I did, and found a spot at Greenwood Academy that no one had seen before. How fun is that!

In particular to my story, I wanted to highlight the scenes containing gymnastics sequences. It's important for me to break these scenes up and balance them throughout the book. I do this all on my computer, using the built-in highlighters to color code characters, settings and plot points.
This type of writing is so different from first draft writing. I know where the story must end, I know how my characters will feel at the end and it's just a matter of taking the reader along for the ride.

On a side note, I've been busy turning my downstairs home office into an electric guitar-jumbo computer-gaming station for the teens in my house. In doing so, I've converted a quiet, never used spot in my bedroom for my new writing retreat. It's glorious and quiet! No more Highway to Hell vibrations clashing with my need for concentration.

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Laura, this one's for you! Without your last comment, I'd have continued with my self-imposed blog blackout for a little while longer. But what the heck..the end of my rewrite is nowhere in sight so my blogisphere exile really didn't do much good.
Well, not exactly true.

Greenwood Girls has developed into a different story. I worked hard rewriting the front end and with the help of my critique group, been ironing out the inconsistencies and questions about the elite gymnastic world. Have to say, it's great to have fresh eyes!

Now I'm working on the back end, building to the climax and working on a dramatic ending. My writing class friend, Marisa, pointed out a cinematic ending to me that was brilliant. Her interpretation of the summary of my plot points sparked a clear picture of how the book should end. It's perplexing to me how she did this. How can someone, who hasn't spent a thousand hours mulling over your book, be able to see so clearly the ending? I think this is the gift editors posses.

For the record, this was the single biggest highlight of my Fall, besides of course, drinking a $300 bottle of Dom Perignon on my wedding anniversary...but that's another story.

So for the last few days, in between parenting and work, I've been trying to capture Marisa's clear vision and blend it with my own. I think this has given me the legs needed to push on with the rewrite and perhaps, carve out some time for a little joy....

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You finish your rough draft. Now what? How do you write an effective second draft of your story rather than just edit what you've already written or simply move words around?

I have a few tips.

1) Fill out a Scene Tracker for your project. Scenes that fulfill all seven essential elements of plot -- date and setting, character emotional development, is driven by a specific character goal, shows dramatic action, is filled with conflict, tension, suspense or curiosity, shows emotional change within the scene, and carries some thematic significance -- keep. Any scenes that do not fulfill each of these elements may not carry enough weight to belong in your story.

Evaluate your Scene Tracker for your strengths and weaknesses. If you find your Scene Tracker has lots of Dramatic Action filled with conflict, tension, and suspense, but little Character Emotional Development, in your rewrite, concentrate on your weakness.

For those scenes that do not fulfill each of the seven essential elements, see if you can integrate more of them in your rewrite or consider lumping together two or more weak scenes in order to make one powerful scene.

2) Create a new Plot Planner for your story. Locate the three most important scenes -- the End of the Beginning, the Crisis, the Climax. Evaluate how many scenes fall above and below the line. Consider how the energy rises and falls. The visual representation of your project should give you clues as to where to concentrate during the rewrite.

3) Write a brief outline of your story by chapter -- simply one or two sentences per chapter that will gives a feel for pacing, plot, and flow. The process of writing the outline should start to reveal holes and weaknesses throughout.

4) Write a one-page synopsis of your story.

Of course, you can always sign-up for a Plot Consultation. I'll let you know where to concentrate the next time around.

How do you go about preparing for a rewrite? What is your favorite method for "seeing" the whole of your story in order to evaluate what's needed for the rewrite???

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Publicity and graphic design in the chemical industry - Hans Neuburg 1967
Contributions by Josef Muller Brockmann

Clap your hands if you love swiss design.

This is got to be one of the best books on graphic design in the chemical industry. Ha! this probably the only book on graphic design in the chemical industry. Most of the design work in the book is for pharmaceutical companies. Companies include J R Geigy and Ciba Aktiengesellschaft, both located in Basel, Switzerland.

The index in the back reads like the whos who of Swiss design. Designers include:Karl Gerstner, Herbert Leupin, Siegfried Odermatt, Hans Erni, Max Schmid, Fred Troller and Kurt Wirth amongst others.

Just look at the pictures above, the work is incredible. Anyone have any nominations for pharmaceutical/ chemical companies that have great design? Maybe we should put together a top 5 list. For example, the always fun top 5 favorite poisonous gas logos.

1950s, 1960s, BOOKS, graphic design, modern, out of print, swiss, switzerland

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Hotel Rigi - Brunnen, Switzerland

Dynamite vintage label design from the Swiss.

1960s, hotels, labels, luggage labels, Mid century, modern, out of print, swiss, switzerland

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Hotel Astoria Lucerne was located in Luzern, Switzerland. As they claim in their promotional material, they were the “most modern Hotel of Central Switzerland”. After looking at this I brochure, I believe them. I’m not sure if the hotel still exists. I was able to find some information on a Hotel Astoria Lucerne designed by Herzog & De Meuron but, I’m not sure if bears any relation. I realize Herzog & De Meuron are modern day architects, but possibly they renovated the existing structure? Anyone have any info on this?

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brochures, ephemera, graphic design, hotels, Mid century, modern, swiss, switzerland

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Our Libros del Mundo series now contains a total of twelve titles. Two more will be released in March 2008 but here is a listing of all fourteen:

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