NSR Block

Revision Xibalba has been going well the last few weeks.  Which is good.  Great!  Until I ran out of “Block” today.

NSR contains the most complex plot I’ve ever woven before.  Although the first draft is finished–so I know where the main story arc goes and ends–I’ve added two new POVs, each with its own sub-plot.  Those two sub-plots meet at the same time the main story arc reaches its climax.  Revision “Hell” has been appropriate, because I’ve got several concurrent threads to handle, in different parts of the world, but they have to MEET at the right time.  Some sections are finished in first draft.  Others I haven’t started.  Now as I work through the second major draft, some scenes have been edited and smoothed.  Others haven’t.

It’s been insane, challenging, and even though I may bitch about it, I’m loving every minute of it. 

I’ve used section “blocks” (like the one I created for 7 Crows last night) many times before, but this time, I needed more detail than ever.  I ended up using the “Day Sheet” idea talked about in Karen Wiesner’s First Draft in 30 Days (which oddly, I’ve never used for first draft, but for major revisions!) and manipulating it into something useful for this project.

Today over lunch, my great achievement was going through the old first draft, my stack of notecards, my jotted notes, and finishing the Day Sheet, at least a first draft which can be used to complete the rest of the revision.  (Note:  I’m not a rigid writer.  This spreadsheet WILL change.  It gives me a guide to go by, but if in writing the section, I feel a break is needed or a different scene will flow better, I’ll do so, and then make the corresponding change to the table.)

At a glance, this is how much work I have left to finish.  Notes follow the table.

 

Day

Scene

POV

Total POVs for Character

Status

Location

Chapter

Count

Scene Title

3 PM	039	Tara	6	FD	Dallas			Haunted
3 PM	040	Ruin	8	SD	Lake Atitlan			My Last Sacrifice
3 PM	041	Jaid	22	SD	Lake Atitlan			Everything has a Cost
3 PM	042	Quinn	6	FD	Dallas			Bad Things, Amigo
3 PM	043	Ruin	9	SD	Chi’Ch’ul			Price of Sacrifice
3 PM	044	Jaid	23	SD	Chi’Ch’ul			Jaguar Kiss
3 PM	045	Jaid	24	SD	Chi’Ch’ul			Through the Navel
3 PM	046	Tara	7	IP	Venus Star			Nightmares Come Alive
3 PM	047	Ruin	10	FD	Chich’en Itza			Low Reserves
3 PM	048	Jaid	25	FD	Chich’en Itza			Everyone Dies
3 PM	029	Quinn	7	NS	Dallas			Team Update
4 AM	050	Ruin	11	FD	Chich’en Itza			Cost of Magic
4 AM	051	Jaid	26	FD	Chich’en Itza			Hidden Dagger
4 AM	052	Ruin	12	FD	Chich’en Itza			Blood Keyed
4 AM	053	Jaid	27	FD	Chich’en Itza			Drowning in Blood
4 AM	054	Tara	8	NS	Venus Star			Save a Life
4 PM	055	Jaid	28	FD	Iximche			Doomed
4 PM	056	Jaid	29	FD	Iximche			Translation Under Duress
4 PM	057	Ruin	13	FD	Iximche			Heart’s Duty
4 PM	058	Quinn	8	NS	Dallas			Hospital Visit
4 PM	059	Jaid	30	FD	Iximche			Iximche Key
4 PM	060	Jaid	31	FD	Iximche			Desperate Bargain
4 PM	061	Jaid	32	FD	Iximche			To Xibalba
4 PM	062	Tara	9	NS	Venus Star			Venus Star Showdown
4 PM	063	Ruin	14	FD	Iximche			Butterfly’s Devastation
4 PM	064	Jaid	33	FD	Iximche			The Caged Heart
4 PM	065	Ruin	15	FD	Iximche			My Heart is Yours
4 PM	066	Quinn	9	NS	Venus Star			The Dallas Gate
4 PM	067	Jaid	34	FD	Iximche			The Final Death
4 PM	068	Jaid	35	FD	Iximche			Broken
4 PM	069	Ruin	16	FD	Iximche			Home
4 PM	070	Jaid	36	FD	Iximche			Closed and Locked
4 PM	071	T/Q	10	NS	Venus Star			Tie Up
4 PM	072	Jaid	37	FD	Iximche			Tie Up

 

Notes:

• Color coding is important for me.  I can see at a glance if the POVs make a pleasing tapestry of Story.  Usually the color means something specific to a character, or invokes a “feeling” in me about the character. 
• I ended up not using the chapter and word count columns after I got knee-deep in revision.  I’ll leave them off next time.
• The day column isn’t specific.  e.g. 3 PM means the 3rd day, sometime after noon and before midnight.  When I finish this draft, I intend to go back through and read for time incongruences only.  e.g. I can’t have Tara do something in the morning, and then switch the scene and it’s night in Guatemala, and then go back to Dallas and it’s noon.  This isn’t science fiction!
• I pick section titles that should immediately invoke the details of the section, but the day sheet alone isn’t enough of an “outline” for me, if very much time elaspes.  E.g. I have notecards for each section with details and thoughts jotted down, and every time I *don’t* write something down because I think I’ll remember it, I end up kicking myself.
• Status = FD (first draft complete), SD (second draft with editing/smoothing complete), IP (in progress), NS (not started).
• I backtracked to the scene in red at the top because it needs a rather major revision after I finished the rest of the block today.  I have something happening too early there and it needs to be removed.

Have you ever done or needed something this complex before?  Or am I simply making it too hard on myself?