Revising is exhausting. I’ve spent the last four days tearing through the manuscript. So far, I’ve deleted about 10,000 unneeded or illogical words and added 9,000 more, completely new words. In the end, I’m sure it will be much more streamlined and lean than it was before the revision, but right now, it’s just a violent, chaotic mess. I’m not sure if it’s like this for other writers, but the process on my end can be best described with three words:
Hack ‘n’ slash.
Of course, I’m seriously pondering if revising my post-apocalyptic novel will do me any good now that tomorrow might be the start of the
actual apocalypse.
They’re turning it on tomorrow, and by it I mean the Large Hadron Collider.
(And for everyone out there criticizing the name, you know it was intentional. If there aren’t at least 50 sex jokes running through your head every time you see that name, you either don’t speak English or are extremely unimaginative.)
I’m not sure what this thing does exactly, but the closest approximation is that scientists are going to start slamming particles together with the same sort of enthusiasm toddlers show in smashing toy trucks together, and in the process hopefully learn something about how the universe started.
Or, alternatively, they create a black hole that destroys us all.
Hmm….
Scientists messing with particles….
Ginormous machines….
Black holes….
This reminds me of something…..
Prepare for unforeseen consequences.
Comments (19)
Duck under your desks, children. The world may be about to end.
Seems like... never ending manuscript...
On 2nd thought... I don't think I ever ready of apocalyptic novel, or isn't rather a warning of the consequences of a further rise in inflation?
for me, writing is less hack n' slash, more focus. i never can stop revising. probably the reason, i have yet to submit more than one story. but we all have our own way.
not sure you should give up though. the LHC is about to go off, but they aren't planning anything big for a couple of weeks. and the first time SNS (the spallation neutron source, which does approximately the same thing) went off, i didn't feel a ripple. it's not as powerful, but it's another "largest of its kind".
Well, if you cease to exist, you'll know that things went bad.
Never rewritten a novel to the point of sending it to an editor... but when I do rewrite, it can be anything from a little session of pinching and pulling the story into better shape to tossing out almost everything and starting over.
I kind of don't enjoy heavy-duty rewriting... not rewriting something 7,8,9 times anyway, the way some do.
that was good.
@a_postmodern_nobody - you should see the graveyard of documents on my desktop that didn't make the cut. it's morbid.
@fullmetalbunny - yes, for me it's mostly pinching and pulling at this point, but with a full length novel, those pinches and pulls have ripple effects that have to be dealt with across the whole story.
I am not to up on the new one but where in the world did they come up with a theory that it would create a black hole? And if they really believed that then I am sure I can trust them to be smarter than that. Huh?
I am not so sure black holes even exist. A star burns out and colapses in on it's self. The mass is still there so the event horizon is still the same. The mass is just condensed leaving more space between the mass and the event horizon. So it's like a giant mosquito zapper. I am so scientific.
did you see this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j50ZssEojtM It is actually one of the scientist chicks there doing it...
Where on earth have I been? I haven't actually heard of this machine...
*shakes head* I somehow seems to slip by all the important news.
not sure what the picture means, but i really am uncomfortable with particle accelerators. they want to simulate big bang conditions? right... all that energy concentrated there just seems disastrous. but i guess by now the experiment has been performed (i think) so we're still alive... at least hawking said we shouldn't die haha
@Iassi - OMG. I feel ..... strangely educated after watching that.
it has actually has a really catchy chorus.
@npr32486 - gordon freeman? combine? crowbar? headcrabs? eh..maybe you don't play video games
I'm currently working on a novel, a fictitious one of course. The thesaurus has become my best friend. It helps me to look for better, and more fascinating words to use instead of the everyday mumbo-jumbo stuff you see. Scientists are always messing with something, I honestly think things should be left alone. They have so many theories as to what's going to bring on the 2012 rumored apocalypse. From the planets aligning in a single line supposedly causing great disaster to the earth, all the way to crystal skulls that when joined together near the Mayan ruins could save the earth. Some things in my opinion are left better unknown, if we were meant to know then we would.
Are we dead yet? It's a good thing we live in 2008. If it
does create a black hole, we can be sure cnn.com will get a story up in
time for us to duck North America under a desk to prevent implosion (or whatever a black hole would do to us).
They think they're so smart... It's strange how everyone at my school's talking about it, but I haven't seen it on the news yet.
I'm thinking "leave well enough alone."
Don't we already have enough of a mess for ourselves right now?
Why are people investing in this?
Sickening.
Best of luck with your novel, I'm sure it will be worth all the hard work in the long run :)
i think the logo means "Enter, square(d)" in Chinese.
@Parsimony - it's half life 2. a very popular video game featuring scientists messing around with particles and aliens trying to take us over