I’m not a rewriter by nature. Whenever I started writing, I felt like it was a fait accompli—a done deal. And that nothing added or retracted could possibly make it better. After fifteen years of writing, I now understand, as my instructor told me again and again, “Writing is rewriting.”
It’s been hard for me to open my hand and let the words go that I have written. These are gems (at least in my mind) that I painstakingly mined that now must be culled from the manuscript.
The theory goes that the first draft is to spill your ideas and characters onto the blank page and breathe a story into existence. This can mean a quick jog to frame the story or a serious slog as you unravel the tale’s journey. Once that foundation is done--you have something on the page--the next step is revision. I find that my process starts even earlier, with each chapter getting a quick swipe of the pen before I leap forward to the next. During that process, the revisiting early chapters, I learn who my characters are and how each thinks and behaves.
Once I have a completed novel, then the hard work starts. Each character’s arc has to be scrutinized, each chapter arc gets a look. How are my secondary characters being treated? Are they strong enough or just taking up space? Maybe I should kill an extraneous character, add a plot line or rip out my very favorite line. What’s the theme, can I reinforce it by adding or taking away something?
Chapters expand and contract, move around or sometimes die during this process. If a chapter doesn’t lend itself to the telling of this particular story, it must go.
After the structure is completed, there are additional passes: repetitive words search, language that jars, phrases that can be strengthened.
What I’ve described is not the entirety of the process, only a small part. But revision is the heart of writing. And while there may never be a valentine-like love between me and rewriting, I’m attempting to, at the very least, embrace the sucker!
It’s been hard for me to open my hand and let the words go that I have written. These are gems (at least in my mind) that I painstakingly mined that now must be culled from the manuscript.
The theory goes that the first draft is to spill your ideas and characters onto the blank page and breathe a story into existence. This can mean a quick jog to frame the story or a serious slog as you unravel the tale’s journey. Once that foundation is done--you have something on the page--the next step is revision. I find that my process starts even earlier, with each chapter getting a quick swipe of the pen before I leap forward to the next. During that process, the revisiting early chapters, I learn who my characters are and how each thinks and behaves.
Once I have a completed novel, then the hard work starts. Each character’s arc has to be scrutinized, each chapter arc gets a look. How are my secondary characters being treated? Are they strong enough or just taking up space? Maybe I should kill an extraneous character, add a plot line or rip out my very favorite line. What’s the theme, can I reinforce it by adding or taking away something?
Chapters expand and contract, move around or sometimes die during this process. If a chapter doesn’t lend itself to the telling of this particular story, it must go.
After the structure is completed, there are additional passes: repetitive words search, language that jars, phrases that can be strengthened.
What I’ve described is not the entirety of the process, only a small part. But revision is the heart of writing. And while there may never be a valentine-like love between me and rewriting, I’m attempting to, at the very least, embrace the sucker!
RSS Feed
