tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post526829958341579542..comments2024-03-17T11:17:53.826+00:00Comments on Authors Electric: Rewriting by Nicky BrowneKatherine Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17196712319655603442noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-19176035904757103352014-10-29T20:50:04.020+00:002014-10-29T20:50:04.020+00:00It's interesting that almost every writer I kn...It's interesting that almost every writer I know works differently. The only consensus is that there is no consensus. For me craft is graft and the most fun is riding the creative wave.Nickyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15442269757463713048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-50616394974666850552014-10-29T20:12:43.366+00:002014-10-29T20:12:43.366+00:00I love rewriting and polishing. Just LOVE it. I li...I love rewriting and polishing. Just LOVE it. I like it much better than getting the first draft onto the PC if the truth be told, although I don't dislike that part of the work either. But for me too it's a continuum - there's no sense that one is 'fixing' something. It's a single long process, interrogating the characters, finding out what makes them what they are. I write the first draft without stopping, even if it means leaving gaps, knowing that something isn't right, isn't working. It's a big splurge and I do it very quickly. I wouldn't show ANYONE that draft, ever. Then the real work starts, but I just love doing it so it's no hardship. Having something to work with, to PLAY with is wonderful, and it does seem to me like play. For me, a novel can go through ten or twelve or more drafts. (But even then I work quite quickly!) If you have a stage play in full development and you're working with actors and a director, you may stop rewriting only when actors say that they can't learn new lines. On the other hand, just occasionally you can find yourself writing something that hardly changes at all - and that's a bonus! I know some writers who work very very slowly, getting it more or less right the first time - Bernard MacLaverty for instance. I couldn't do it, but it works for him. I started my writing life as a poet, and wonder if that has something to do with the way I approach fiction. Poetry is so often a process of paring down, of removing whatever is not essential. Catherine Czerkawskahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14554969254207924049noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-27752250145077272652014-10-29T18:06:24.837+00:002014-10-29T18:06:24.837+00:00If it stops being fun and messy and unexpected - t...If it stops being fun and messy and unexpected - then there's no point. And I'm learning to enjoy the rewrites - thanks to a daughter who reads stuff for me, and writes pointed things in the margin such as, 'If you really want me to understand this you'll not write at midnight!'JOhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03127111575563904349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-74154891108054449902014-10-29T14:12:39.381+00:002014-10-29T14:12:39.381+00:00The second draft is the toughest for me--a job alm...The second draft is the toughest for me--a job almost brutal enough to lead me to say that I hate rewriting. But with each draft the process grows less exhausting. And it starts to seem less like digging a ditch than mimicking Swiss watchmakers. I enjoy this precision work more than the vomit phase of the first draft. But I'm with Nick in believing that the whole process is our job.glitter noirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11728649916344336118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-42286141347889102672014-10-29T11:53:18.875+00:002014-10-29T11:53:18.875+00:00I don't think you can be a professional writer...I don't think you can be a professional writer and not edit, rewrite and craft. However, not all of us enjoy it and some of us will procrastinate to avoid it. I would always prefer to write something new than fix old stuff, which is why I have a backlog of unsold work!Nickyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15442269757463713048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-52990735574269120322014-10-29T11:29:15.377+00:002014-10-29T11:29:15.377+00:00you might think so Lee and so would I, but someone...you might think so Lee and so would I, but someone who just enjoyed the sensation of writing might not bother. that's nobody's business but theirs. i'm only saying a reader deserves more care and crafting. Lydia Bennethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09328239009863878547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-52632730078250390672014-10-29T11:05:30.311+00:002014-10-29T11:05:30.311+00:00Lydia, it doesn't matter whether we write for ...Lydia, it doesn't matter whether we write for ourselves, other people, or aliens on the far side of the galaxy: crafting is always essential. In fact, if I don't think of myself as a worthy reader, why should I bother at all? I reserve 'good enough' for tasks like cleaning the loo or washing the car.Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13770069472552779217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-73446780827319409762014-10-29T10:16:49.400+00:002014-10-29T10:16:49.400+00:00Some writers love the editing and cutting process ...Some writers love the editing and cutting process as much as or more than the first draft rush. Clearly you enjoy that that the most. Although there is writing because you enjoy the process of writing, and there is working on the writing so readers enjoy the process of reading it. If we write for anyone but ourselves, the crafting is essential and so is achieving a certain distance from the first gallop of the work, or so it seems to me as writer and reader. Lydia Bennethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09328239009863878547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-43637208272319134722014-10-29T09:39:58.202+00:002014-10-29T09:39:58.202+00:00John Green needs to rewrite his aphorism. Not all ...John Green needs to rewrite his aphorism. Not all writing is rewriting. A first draft is not rewriting! What he obviously means is, 'Rewriting is a fundamental part of writing'. Or to put that better, 'To write, you must rewrite.'<br /><br />I think of it as being like the work of a sculptor. First the sculptor knocks great chunks off the block of rock with a hammer. Then they use hammer and chisel, and progress to smaller and smaller tools, until they are smoothing the marble curves with abrasives so fine that you could brush your teeth with them.<br /><br />But they don't call it 'sculpting and resculpting' or say, 'I've got to get the sandpaper out and do my revisions.' Their task is the whole task, made up of all the different stages. If they stop before they've completed every stage, then they simply haven't finished.Nick Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08191176209084540085noreply@blogger.com