08-23-2012, 11:47 PM | #1 |
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Overworking vs Getting it right
I recently re-read "On Writing" by Stephen King and this time better took in the advice he was given on one of his rejection slips: second draft = first draft - 10%.
I took this advice, along with my some of the comments from my appraisal (to the effect that I am too comprehensive and tell a lot that the reader doesn't need to read), and went over the manuscript for my first novel yet again. I was quite surprised to see that 10% dropped out of it almost without trying. Lots of lead-in and tail-off parts to scenes that didn't need to be there, and places where I effectively repeat myself. Some of this, I now see, is me having to learn to trust the reader more than I have been. So this much, at least, felt sort of reassuring. But... This latest reworking felt different to me somehow; I felt more disconnected from the work (despite the fact that other editing passes have also taken place with months between them). I'm really not sure whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, and it's hard to get a feel for whether the book is better for these latest changes or not. Thankfully a couple of my beta-readers are happy to re-read it, so I am hoping to get some feedback from them. This is a long-winded way of opening a discussion about how much reworking of your manuscripts you tend to do, and whether you think there is such a thing as overworking the manuscript - and, if so, how do you tell when you have reached that point? |
08-24-2012, 01:08 AM | #2 | |
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You have several options: Work on it until you're reasonably happy with it. Work on it until you're sick of it. Work on it until you decide that you should scrap it. Find someone you can trust to make the decision for you. |
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08-24-2012, 09:40 PM | #3 | |
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It's not too hard to come up with examples of novels that could have done with more work (curiously enough some of the examples I would give are some famous authors whose editors appear to let their later books get away with more than they should). There are also some examples of great books that were developed over very long periods (eg. "Lord of the Rings" was ostensibly written over 12 years but when you look at the background work involved you might say it was more like 40+ years). But I find it difficult to come up with examples of books that I can say were overworked (rather than just naturally boring or whatever). This isn't proof that they don't exist, or even that I haven't read them, only that I find them difficult to identify as specifically overworked. |
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08-25-2012, 05:03 AM | #4 |
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I have worked and reworked my memoir for over 15 years.
Is that excessive? Hell yeah. Is that obsessive? Hell yeah. Is that enough? Hell no. |
08-25-2012, 07:12 AM | #5 |
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GMW - it is an untestable, unprovable axiom. The closest you could come would by invoking the law of diminishing returns, but even that would only fit loosely.
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08-25-2012, 07:13 AM | #6 |
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08-25-2012, 04:35 PM | #7 | |
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08-25-2012, 04:50 PM | #8 | |
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08-25-2012, 07:57 PM | #9 | |
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Anyone who wants to be published must, at some point, publish. |
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08-25-2012, 09:06 PM | #10 |
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08-25-2012, 10:36 PM | #11 |
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08-25-2012, 11:06 PM | #12 |
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08-26-2012, 08:49 AM | #13 | |
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At the moment I'm very much treating each new manuscript separately. I was wondering if this changed for people as they gained more experience. Just curious. |
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08-26-2012, 02:21 PM | #14 |
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For me its a bit different because I write iteratively. By that I mean, I write some, I edit some, then write some more, then edit some more, then writes some more, then edit some more... and so on. And by edit I mean the full spectrum. For example, on my last pass through my current work I dropped an entire sub plot(along with some characters), added some material, and rearranged some chapters. A prior pass I removed 15k words worth of materiel (about 50%). So by the time I reach "the end" of my book, I have already accomplished around 90% of the editing I can do.
After that I pass it to my wife who will do 3-4 pass through the book (she does a pass, then I review, then she does a pass, etc). Once that is done, I pass it to my professional editor. Then I do what she tells me to do. After that I do one last pass to make sure nothing got lost in translation, and usually put a bow on it and call it done. Is it really done? Probably not, but at some point you say "time to write book five!" and move on. Someone once said "books are never completed, they are abandoned" and there is some truth in that I think. |
08-26-2012, 08:07 PM | #15 |
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This is how I work too. I have read lots of advice (blogs/columns etc. Dear Abby for writers ) that suggest a writer should barge forward and only come back later, but I don't seem to be able to work like that. Other advice suggests putting the first completed draft up for a number of months and coming back, which I have been doing and it does change the perspective a little: paragraphs and dialogue that seemed so important before but now seem to get in the way, and things like that.
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