rewriting | Darker Zeus

First off, this is most likely neither and both work avoidance, and dedication.

What do I mean?

Well, this is work avoidance in that although I am only presently commuting to work I should really be studying my ITIL V3 prep coursework.

This is also dedication because it is about writing (mine and in general).

While getting ready for the (lovely) commute to work this ‘brisk’ English morning (meaning quite cold, a bit windy, but dry), I found the time to read Jeanne Veillette Bowerman’s guest blog post on the Writer’s Digest website regarding the benefits to her as a writer of becoming a twitter addict Confessions of a Tweetaholic.

While finding the post insightful and illuminating, two words in particluar jumped out at from the page (or Blackberry screen, to be precise).

What were those two words? “Two Hours”.

Now, on their own these words do not hold much sway over my life. In any other context they may have had little or no impact.

However, as an aspiring self-published author they rang the “oh my god” bell deep in my chest.

Why is that? I hear you ask.

Well, simples, really.

The maximum time I have to write in any given day is about two hours (if I am lucky, am willing to forego sleeping a full night, and don’t mind looking rough the next day).

Jean spent two hours a day on twitter alone, working her way up to several hundred followers.

This is a successful playwright with accolades and shows under her belt, writing full time, tweeting with fellow writers intelligebly and articulately about her passion (two hours a day!).

On the other end of the tweet spectrum is our dear friend 50 cent, with umpty-thousand followers, tweeting requests for groupies to plunder in the local vicinity. (This presuming we have a clue where in the world he is – I see a new Facebook game – Where in the world is 50 cent? With points for how close you can guess he may be. More on that later.)

Where was I? Oh yes, ‘two hours’.

So, although I fully appreciate the need to ‘get yourself out there’ for us aspiring writers, if all I have to give is two hours of writing a day then I am not sure I will be able to invest the ‘right’ amount of time tweeting to build up a sizable twitter following.

Fingers crossed what takes one two hours a day can be done in 15 minutes instead!

Speaking of rewriting (we were, weren’t we?) I did manage to lose a good few hours’ sleep working on rewriting killer application last night.

Whilst tempted to right-off (or is that ‘write-off’?) several of the characters, fundamentally change the story arc and basically rewrite the whole story from a third of the way in, I recognised the exhaustion levels seeping into my writing decisions and held myself to less drastic changes, forcing my typing fingers to make notes where drastic changes may be required and enforcing the existing and new world rules and regulations within the story itself to drive the narrative.

Last night I either completely chickened out of a ‘proper’ rewrite, or I saved the heart and soul of the tale. Only time (and readers!) will tell.

As for twitter, I’ll do what I can and hope for a miracle. Slow burn media not-so-frenzy here we come! 😉

Back to the scintillating ITIL V3 world of study.

Til next time, this is mE

Some say that the first draft is the beginning of the story. That all we need to do is get the story down in the first draft, beginning to end. Then we can start rewriting it for the second draft. We can clean up the prose, cut down on the fluff, align the story, pull the threads closer and knit ourselves a mean novel.

From recent experience rewriting Killer Application I am not so sure that the first draft of a novel is, as I originally thought, actually a first draft. In my estimation the first draft is more like the clay a potter makes before making the pottery. Or even the dough the baker beats for hours or days before baking the bread.

The first draft, although lovely in its completeness, is just that, the lump of unmolded clay or unbaked bread. All of the ingredients for a good story are there in pretty much the right form and consistency, with all of the possibilities that a wide-open horizon can give.

Only now do I realise that the rewriting, that which defines an author (as I have been told / read many times over), is where we really begin to hone our craft, to shape the dough into something special, something unique, something extremely personal.

Here is where we get to put our own touches in. Like my grandmother baking the boiled egg smack dab in the middle of her meatloaf (oh for a slice of that meatloaf now, so succulent and crumbly all at the same time!), a good author can work in their sense of humour, personal preferences, world view, perspectives, thoughts and feelings into the story without letting it take over.

All the while this weaving is happening (apologies for the inter-changeable metaphors – rewriting really is like a cross between pottery, baking, knitting, weaving and eating egg-centred meatloaf all at the same time, seriously!) the story itself is given new life. Characters that were stretched too thin are removed or fleshed out, killed or fattened (only to be killed off later or even reborn, depending on the angle of the story and where the rewriting takes us).

In truth, I find the rewriting almost more exciting than the original writing. Okay, that is not entirely true. This is a different kind of excitement for I am watching the story mature and grow under my own hands. I get to watch the characters delve into themselves and pull out wonders of unique personality with which I can help them along, or change the story itself. Anything is possible right now.

I am excited by the process of writing. I can see why Philip K Dick used to get depressed after finishing a novel. (Not that I am comparing my writing to Philip K Dick, just the sense of accomplishment at each stage of the writing, and the subsequent emotional endorphins triggered by that feeling of ongoing success and creation.) It makes perfect sense.

I managed to keep myself away from my ebook publishing games this evening, mostly because I wanted to get some good writing time in before going to bed (not too late this time!).

That’s it from me, for now.

Til next time, enjoy life,

Em (mE)

Darker Zeus

Tag Archives: rewriting

work avoidance or dedication?

the rewrite thang

tales for adults, told by kids pretending to be adults, for adults pretending to be kids