Going back into past material

I’m doing something I generally don’t like to do. Instead of just writing straight through to the end, then going back to make major changes in the text, I decided this week to go back to strengthen and braid more elements into the sub-plot in parts of the story already completed.

What works in terms of writing, re-writing and editing varies from writer to writer. Generally for me, going back into previously written material, particularly for major changes, is to be avoided. It serves as an excuse for not writing ahead and thus finishing the work. So what I do is make notes of changes I want and then refer to those notes when I start writing.

In both FIGHTING CHAOS and DEATH AT THE JUNGLE-BUNNY JOURNAL I made one big exception to the don’t-go-back rule. Before the halfway point in both those novels, I suddenly visualized the final scene in the books. Being pressed from inside my head, I jumped to the end and wrote the endings. Then I went back to where I was earlier in the book and continued writing until the beginning met up with the end.

That hasn’t happened yet in THE DEATH OF ART. I haven’t imagined the specific ending, although I am halfway through the novel. But I came to see that certain conflicts that will have to be resolved later are not being fully developed. So I jumped back to flesh out some earlier material.

The good part is that it has been exciting to revisit material I wrote months ago. And it helped to remind me why I liked it to begin with. I changed the name of a character whom I killed off and the name of a character who is going to meet a violent end later. But I want to finish back material as quickly as possible so as not to be bogged down in the earlier parts of the novel.

I will also admit that I am impatient for the ending. Various unfocused thoughts have been swirling around in my head for months but nothing has crystallized. Being only halfway, however, I still have plenty of time. I just don’t want to arrive at the ending and not have thought of one.

So that’s where I am at the moment. Still plugging along. And you should too.

Thanks for reading and get back to work.