wips and chains

[ksmith]

Almost 5000 words cut.

It hurts, but it doesn't. A week's labor lost, but what can I do?

There's the apocryphal story about the sculptor who is asked how he knows how to shape a figure. He replies, I just chip away everything that doesn't look like the figure. That's me now--I'm carving away everything in this first half of the book that isn't part of the story. Except I put it there to begin with, which is kinda like piecing together your own block of marble so you can go ahead and remove vast chunks of it instead of simply piecing together the right story bits to begin with.

My process is wasteful stinkage, filled with Fail at every turn.

Comments

[jemck.livejournal.com]

I was thereabouts a month or so ago. Sympathies. I have come through it now though, emerging with a far shinier story. As will you.

With one of those strange coincidences of timing, this is the bit of a handout I've just been writing up, for a creative writing course I'm teaching at the end of the month.

Why revise and rewrite?
Because your draft will be over-written. They all are.
Writing takes a lot longer than reading.
So cut out repetition and redundancies.

Because your draft will be under-written. They all are
As you write, you’ll realise there are things your readers need to know about people and places.
So fill in the gaps.

Because you’ll have changed your mind.
Themes and plots emerge and change through the writing process.
So go back and change what needs changing in the earlier sections.

Because characters will have changed or come and gone.
The part people play will have altered through the writing process.
Cut characters who no longer have a role, add those you need, amalgamate those you can.

But you already know all this. I know you do. I've read your books!

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I was thereabouts a month or so ago. Sympathies. I have come through it now though, emerging with a far shinier story. As will you.

Here's hoping.

Writing takes a lot longer than reading.
So cut out repetition and redundancies.

I deal with this constantly, especially with difficult scenes that take a long time to write.

But you already know all this. I know you do. I've read your books!

Oh, thank you! I hope you enjoyed them.