Sunday, February 17, 2013

Why Robert Pattinson's Twilight Hair Is Like Revision

So. I am revising my WIP. I believe I've mentioned how much I love the revision process. I am, however, rather slow. But in the Land of Why Can't I Just Finish This Draft Already, there is one thing that keeps me going, folks. 

One thing to rule them all, and in the glossiness bind them.

Robert Pattinson's hair in the Twilight movies.

*is ashamed*

*a little*

*okay, a lot*

So. I've come to a realization. You know how revision is all about adding and removing things from your manuscript? And how it's also about looking at your words through a different lens?

Well.

In the Twilight movies, Robert Pattinson can style his hair like this:

'tis an art form to brood. oh, yes it is


Or like this:

 broody mcbroodster, they used to call me



Or like this:

 broody mcbroodster--suburban edition


And his hair always looks nice. 

He always looks nice. 

These are different ways of envisioning his character, but at his core, Edward Cullen remains a messed up stalker vampire who will risk everything to keep his true love safe. My point? Revisions are for changing the way you present your story, but its core remains the same. Take a scene out. Put a new one in. These things will happen during revisions. But remember to ask yourself: why am I making these changes? How do they improve my core? 

In the case of Robert's hair, I think his style evolution is meant to suggest that he goes from boy (bedhead-us maximus) to married man with a kid (tame-us maximus). Or something. 

So. Robert Pattinson's Twilight hair is like revision, folks. It has many ways of looking good, even if they're radically different from each other. 

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to beat my WIP into submission.

*runs off*


Are you currently revising? If so, any tips and tricks for keeping your story's core?

2 comments:

  1. I have to laugh at this post on Robert Pattison's hair even as I see your point. I'm in revision now and look at it like pruning--removing dead weight to make the "tree" of my story to thrive. I have to lop off subplots or characters that decrease the tension or make the story tedious. Sometimes that means cutting lines I dearly love. But they have to go if they aren't helping the overall story.

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  2. This post is awesome. (And what an astute observation about the evolution of his hair!) I'm in revisions right now on the first 40k of my unfinished first draft and as far as sticking to the core of the story ... I guess I just have it in my head. Plus, I use Scrivener and I'm utilizing the notes tool to make notes about each scene which helps mucho much. With my thesis, I actually changed the path of my story during revisions, but strangely, that angled it closer to what the story is truly about. (The downfall to writing a story 20 pages every month, over the course of one and a half years, and under three different professors = your story can kinda get lost.) So it was awesome!

    Good luck!

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