Friday, May 04, 2012

Writing Revisions

This morning, I am going through one of my novels changing it from present tense to past tense. I'm not sure why I wrote it in present tense. It just came out that way. But it was something that agents commented on. Things like, "Some readers aren't comfortable with 3rd person present tense." I always just moved on. Too bad, I thought.
Then recently it hit me. I could change it to past tense. And that's what I'm doing.
I'm only on page 51, so this may be a long, tedious process. This is the book about the two women who decide to hike the Appalachian Trail as the ultimate diet plan and as an escape from their almost-adult children who come home for the summer. The women use their time on the trail to figure out what their lives will look like without the day-to-day job of raising children.
As I'm making my way through though, I found this sentence which I liked and thought I'd share with you.

The trail snaked across the mountains, a mere comma in the middle of a sentence of unending trees.
Hope you find a gem in  your work today.

5 comments:

Lucia said...

actually i found one last night, a quote from the BIG BANG series

Gossip is an aide to Social bonding in merged groups...Amy Farrah Fowler

Paulita said...

Lucia, That's true. Nothing like gossip to ensure friendship.

aguja said...

Your sentence is just perfect. It is such an apt description.
Thinking of you as you change tenses! The editing and re writing is all in the life of a writer. It always seems as if novels are effortlessly penned ... but behind each must lie the patience and determination to follow through no matter what is required.

Linda said...

I always thought your idea for that book sounded really interesting. Maybe changing the tense will make all of the difference.

edgar said...

Lyrical.
I admire pople who can write.

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