Designing
I'm more than 95,000 words into my first draft of my second book for my Cypress Hollow Yarns series. The first book, How to Knit a Love Song, will be out early next year. And I'm thinking a lot about knitting.
My main character in Book Two is designing and knitting a sweater, so I decided to knit it along with her, designing it as I go. (It's easier for her than it is for me, I guarantee.) I've been fascinated by how the process has tied me to the writing. I'll be somewhere, knitting, and I'll hold it up: Why is it slanting? What the hell? Did my character have the same problem? Will it block out?
My character is as frustrated as I am, I think, and she's worried, too, holding the back piece up against her stomach (always a bad idea). She worries about fit and about the color, a strange mustard yellow. Has she lost her mind? But all that money she spent on yarn! Must. Keep. Knitting.
And I must keep writing. I'm inches from finishing this book, and then I can plunge into the editing phase -- my favorite part. This isn't something that translates to my knitting, though. I'm not a ripper. If something doesn't work out in knitting the chances that I will push it onto the back of a yarn shelf is WAY higher than the chance that I'll frog the yarn and start over.
With the book, I can't wait to start over, to start reading from the beginning with eyes that are hopefully somewhat fresh, since I don't edit as I write, and work my way through. I'm wondering what my editing knitting will be. Maybe something small, like socks, that I can pick up and knit on while wondering what the hell I was thinking, writing this particular scene. Then I'll drop them in my lap and move paragraphs around.
I can't wait.
My main character in Book Two is designing and knitting a sweater, so I decided to knit it along with her, designing it as I go. (It's easier for her than it is for me, I guarantee.) I've been fascinated by how the process has tied me to the writing. I'll be somewhere, knitting, and I'll hold it up: Why is it slanting? What the hell? Did my character have the same problem? Will it block out?
My character is as frustrated as I am, I think, and she's worried, too, holding the back piece up against her stomach (always a bad idea). She worries about fit and about the color, a strange mustard yellow. Has she lost her mind? But all that money she spent on yarn! Must. Keep. Knitting.
And I must keep writing. I'm inches from finishing this book, and then I can plunge into the editing phase -- my favorite part. This isn't something that translates to my knitting, though. I'm not a ripper. If something doesn't work out in knitting the chances that I will push it onto the back of a yarn shelf is WAY higher than the chance that I'll frog the yarn and start over.
With the book, I can't wait to start over, to start reading from the beginning with eyes that are hopefully somewhat fresh, since I don't edit as I write, and work my way through. I'm wondering what my editing knitting will be. Maybe something small, like socks, that I can pick up and knit on while wondering what the hell I was thinking, writing this particular scene. Then I'll drop them in my lap and move paragraphs around.
I can't wait.
posted by Rachael Herron at 12:33 PM
2 Comments:
i love your process!
Great post, Rachel.
I am with you on frogging -- I've done it a few times, but usually if something isn't working out, I give up.
But I do like the rewriting phase of the book -- the chance to get it right, or at least improve!
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