forest for the trees

[aamcnamara]

Okay, so I have a theory about the novel-revision thing. This theory goes as follows: part of the reason why I can't seem to get my head around it is because I have only been looking at it on the screen.

However, it seems silly to print out 320 pages of novel if I'm just going to change a bunch of them.

(On the other hand, if it would be a useful exercise, it'd probably be worth it.)

So here's the question.

When you're revising a novel, do you print it all out? When? To what purpose? If I were to print it out, would you advise me to print out 320 full-sized pages, or cramp it in eight-point single-spaced two-pages-on-one-sheet to save paper?

(I realize that at least some of this, and probably all, is deeply personal--maybe one writer has to have it printed out double-spaced in Courier, and someone else can do it six-point font four pages on one sheet so they do--but I thought I'd get an idea of the range out there anyway, and an idea of where to start.)

Comments

[alan-yee.livejournal.com]

I'm unsure of what I'm going to do when I get around to revising my first novel. It's slightly over 500 pages in double-spaced Courier, which is waaaaaay too much paper to use to print it out. Not sure if it'll work for me, since I'll need to make major revisions, completely re-write several large sections, and make a lot of notes, which is hard to do by hand.

Your theory is interesting. I wonder if it holds any truth to it. I might test it out with a short story though, since it won't be as much of a hassle as a novel to revise it by hand.