The way to know life is to love many things ~ Van Gogh
If I may paraphrase ~ The way to
know a work in progress is to write many things.
Composing, revising, polishing,
proofing. The road from initial story idea to completed manuscript is not only
lengthy, but fraught with false starts, detours and any number of potholes to jar body and soul combined.
Those chapters constructed with
such care and strict adherence to the concepts of goal, motivation and conflict that have to be
ditched because they just don’t move the story forward. That complicated, epic
length manuscript, that was supposed to have been a simple short story. Or vice
versa.
I know a little something about
the latter. Not too long ago, I whittled a 70 thousand word novel that didn’t
sell down to a 40 thousand word that did. Humbling? You bet. But, surprisingly,
not all that difficult to accomplish.
For those of you who are writers,
which facet of writing do you find harder to do? To write an original draft,
tell the story you want to tell – no holds barred. Or to go back through and
rewrite that draft until it’s, well, polished to perfection?
As far as I’m concerned, the
rewrites are far more daunting than the actual writing. In the rewrite phase
there are rules to be followed, guidelines to adhere to. Being in the throes of
a minor overhaul of a once completed (or so I thought) novel may have
something to do with my current choice.
The, what I have come to refer to
as my WIP Repeat, was originally rejected by an editor who, before this, had
accepted everything I offered her. Among the reasons for her no thanks: Not
enough conflict, bad guy who wasn’t bad enough, and the ever present—in my
writing at least—too much flowery language.
After recovering from any
author’s reaction to rejection unbelievable shock followed by near crippling
disappointment, I got to work on the suggested rewrites.
In my opinion, there’s a lot of
good material in the original I’m trying to preserve and weave into revised
story arcs. Except, I’m haunted by some rewrite advice from a workshop I took
long ago. "If you have a line you simply
love and can’t do without, cut it, get it out of there. You’ll be better off in
the long run."
I think I’m learning the hard way
how true that statement is. Yet I’m confident, eventually this manuscript will
all come together. Much of it already has. I will get there with a submission
worthy work. Until then . . . let’s just say I sure am ready to have this WIP
Repeat behind me.
Then, as I begin that inevitable
next one, I am so looking forward to having that good old blank page in front
of me once again. Because we all know that next one is really the best. The one
that isn’t even started yet. The one still happily floating out there somewhere
with the rest of our still to be fulfilled dreams.
The one of many things—writing wise—we
truly, dearly love.
My days to blog here are the 11th
and 23rd. For more about me and my writing, please check out my
website
23 comments:
Great post, Margo. It's really hard to "kill your babies," but it has to be done. I put all mine in a separate "unused" folder. I may never use them again, but that way, at least in my head, there's hope for life! :-) I think the more we do it, the better we get. Your internal editor has to be trained, and retrained, and trained some more. :-) It really helps me if I put a project aside for about a month, then read it with fresher eyes.
Great post, Margo. I've had to do 3 sets of fairly major revisions for published books recently. In the end, the books DID become something I was rather proud of. But the process of doing it was excruciating. I know it won't be my last time, either. I'm hoping I won't have to do too many more of those in the future. It's not just the act of tearing down a manuscript that gets me. It's being able to see outside of my vision of the book enough to do what my editors want me to that's the painful part. So, I feel your pain. I also agree with Leah. Letting it sit for a period of time (and moving on to something new in the meantime) really helps. I usually come back to it with fresh eyes and can see things I couldn't before.
I'm with you, Leah. I never really 'kill' any of it completely. Consequently, I have a collection of - 'may be used in the future' folders for each manuscript. One time, I was actually able to use some paragraphs I was quite proud of I'd written for a workshop exercise. That was fun, plugging the words in, instead of 'plodding' them in. Like your trained and re-trained and trained again way of thinking.
Very true, Joanne, about the pain part. One editor of mine once asked me to re-write the BBM from her POV into his. After letting loose a string of mild expletives and stomping my feet a few times, I complied. Guess what? The scene became even stronger. Who knew? ;-)
Interesting that you find the rewrites the more difficult. With me, it's just the opposite. That blank page is the one I struggle with. Oh, sure, I can race ahead in spots, but then I come to a halt and worry about all the little things. (It's that editor on my shoulder.) Once I have the entire book written (rough draft), I know I can let that editor loose, play with different ways to word a sentence, flesh out a scene, and get rid of those redundant words and phrases. The rewrites, for me, are fun.
Everything is relative, Maris. Rewrites can be enjoyable. What I like, though, is the freedom to write whatever comes to mind - good, bad or indifferent - in the first draft. Polishing (editor over my shoulder to be sure) seems to take me FOREVER! Now, once my CP gets hold of it with fresh eyes (and suggestions) I'm off and running again.
I can relate to the pain you're feeling over your WIP Repeat--especially since I've edited it twice now. LOL I applaud your determination to beat it into submission!
For me, the rewrites are usually fairly easy. My first draft is pretty close to my last with minor changes (with a few notable exceptions). However that blank page can be torturous. I expect the words put down to be perfect. Which means I go over it endlessly while still writing. I'm a point A to point B writer on a straight course. I can't imagine cutting and adding and rearranging the way you do. We all have our different writing strategy crosses to bear!
Ah, yes, Jannine. The pain and suffering. It is nice to have someone to share that with. LOL! Fairly easy rewrites, for sure. Until someone (ahem) makes a suggestion and throws a monkey wrench into the works - in progress - I should add. Nice metaphor there, crosses to bear. Exactly how it feels. But we wouldn't trade it.
I like the energy of a blank computer screen and a storyline ready to burst forth on it. I also like the read-overs and changing a word, taking out a sentence, or adding more emotion. I tend to write in layers. Dialog and basic movements first. Then a layer of body movements and internal dialog. Finally, narration and description. I tend to make things happen and then pad the action with words. I had an editor tell me to take out a complete chapter. GASP! I did. Then paragraph by paragraph, I snuck most of it back in the manuscript at various parts of the story. Another editor at a big 5 forgot to read my book! I kept waiting for edits and 3 weeks prior to release date, I emailed, asking her for my edits. Silence on her end for a week. Finally...oh, Vonnie, I'm so sorry. I never read your book, I just sent it onto production. Everything is done and ready for release. Talk about panic!!! For I definitely need editing. I'm no super writer. So, I have a "raw" book out there. My latest reviewer said it was a good story, but could have used some editing. Yup, it certainly could have!!! Great post.
Thanks, Vonnie. Interesting way to write. In layers. I think I do that to some extent. I'll have to concentrate more and perfect it. A 'raw' book out there? Oh, no! I think. Hopefully it will turn out to be a blessing in disguise. After all, you've already gotten a good review, right?
I love writing the first draft. But I also go back & edit as I'm writing. I know, people say not to do that but it works for me. What I find extremely difficult is taking an older manuscript and bringing it up to date. Harder to revise than to write new.
Fantastic post! I hadn't really thought about it before, but I think there are pros and cons to both. Starting on a new story is fun and exciting, but I often find myself at a bit of a standstill as to how to fill those empty pages with words. Overall, I find the rewriting easier, but that could partly be the editor in me, although I don't edit myself as well as I do others. :) Best of luck on the WIP. Oh wow, Vonnie...that's crazy! How could an editor let that happen? LOL.
My writing process is sometimes a mixed bag, too, Diane. It's also hard for me to start a new chapter. I find I will revise, revise, revise that first paragraph until it says exactly what it should say in the least amount of words. And bringing an older manuscript up to date. So far, I've done it once and ended up ditching most of it.
Thanks, Alicia. I have a lot of editor in me too, thanks to the day job. Not always a good thing, I'm afraid for the writier part of me. Talk about internal conflict! :-) I'm with you, going gung ho on a new piece of work then coming to a screeching halt wondering what happens next.
I'm a lunch lady at my day job and so I have from about 1 o'clock on to work on writing...if I'm not interrupted by my four children and husband. It seems like someone always needs me! So what I've had to work on is setting things aside with a good heart and looking forward to getting back to them. Of course, if too much time passes I get that antsy feeling that every writer gets when they haven't been able to work on their WIP, and then sometimes things aren't quite so pretty! Great topic!
Well, it's all hard for me. I often feel I lack the creative imagination to compose, but once written, it takes powerful forces to move me to revise and edit the ms. Sigh. Too bad we writers HAVE to write!
For me, I believe that time holds the key. If I take too long between writing and rewrites or edits, then I'm frustrated. I feel like the story has been let go of...but if it's still soon after, I'm happy and love to polish it.
M.J.! Welcome. I love that, putting things aside with a good heart. I tend to get frustrated too easily when life interrupts my writing. I'll have to adopt more of your good feeling attitude. Making up stories like we do isn't always pretty for sure. Maybe it's not supposed to be.
Susan. Take heart! I think we all struggle. It's still better than not writing at all.
Melissa. Some stories seem to take longer to polish. I can sure attest to that.
Love the comments on this topic. So much agony and not enough ecstasy :-) I am so happy to be rid of this latest manuscript which I've changed (with my editor) and polished for so long I have no idea what is there or not there. Margo, I live in fear of the thing that just happened to you. I wonder when my 'game' is over...how many good stories I have in me. I'm not like Vonnie, who seems to have a million stories bursting to come out. What juice I have...hope it doesn't dry out!
The blank page still holds out hope.
The blank page still holds out hope.
Post a Comment