When editors harp to writers about the necessity of rewriting (and rewriting) their stories, that doesn't necessarily mean scraping the entire piece and starting from the beginning each time.
Although it can mean that, too.
Usually, however, it means examining all the elements and rewriting to create prose as smooth as glass. (or as jarring as a bumpy road, depending on the reaction in the reader you wish to create).
It means analyzing the the structure as a whole and questioning if relevance of the information, along with its placement and whether or not too much or too little is provided.
It means pruning and rearranging dumpsters of information, filling plot holes, and tightening sagging middles.
It means weeding out unnecessary words or replacing weak words with strong words (or weeding out words that are too strong and replacing them with gentler versions).
It also means plucking out cliches (unless they occur in dialogue, see below) along with overused phrases (including yours).
It means refining each character's dialogue and actions so they are true to that character.
It means removing passages that are too long - and lengthening others that are too short.
It means adding and removing details from your setting until the reader lives in your story's environment, too.
Rewriting and self-editing is like building a house.
The frame is your outline.
You need a tight plot to keep readers from raining on your writing.
With subplots running through like electrical wires to make your story shine.
Words that flow are like good plumbing. Sometimes plots heat up, something they cool down. And sometimes you ramp up tension with well-calculated drips.
However, readers will spot weak writing like mustiness coming up from the basement through the vents.
Make sure real people live in your story. Don't cheapen it with stand-up cardboard paper dolls. Even great clothing with good tabs won't hide it.
Writing a genre story can be similar to an owner completion home. Even though the stories have basic similar elements, each owner/writer transforms those similarities with unique details.
Revision and editing is like picking out the curtains and deciding the best spot for artwork (or the comfy chair).
A good story is like a good home, a place readers will enjoying visiting.
Illustration by Matt Coundiff for "Memories in the Kitchen: Bites and Nibbles from "Bryony." Follow him at www.facebook.com/artbymattcoundiff
Although it can mean that, too.
Usually, however, it means examining all the elements and rewriting to create prose as smooth as glass. (or as jarring as a bumpy road, depending on the reaction in the reader you wish to create).
It means analyzing the the structure as a whole and questioning if relevance of the information, along with its placement and whether or not too much or too little is provided.
It means pruning and rearranging dumpsters of information, filling plot holes, and tightening sagging middles.
It means weeding out unnecessary words or replacing weak words with strong words (or weeding out words that are too strong and replacing them with gentler versions).
It also means plucking out cliches (unless they occur in dialogue, see below) along with overused phrases (including yours).
It means refining each character's dialogue and actions so they are true to that character.
It means removing passages that are too long - and lengthening others that are too short.
It means adding and removing details from your setting until the reader lives in your story's environment, too.
Rewriting and self-editing is like building a house.
The frame is your outline.
You need a tight plot to keep readers from raining on your writing.
With subplots running through like electrical wires to make your story shine.
Words that flow are like good plumbing. Sometimes plots heat up, something they cool down. And sometimes you ramp up tension with well-calculated drips.
However, readers will spot weak writing like mustiness coming up from the basement through the vents.
Make sure real people live in your story. Don't cheapen it with stand-up cardboard paper dolls. Even great clothing with good tabs won't hide it.
Writing a genre story can be similar to an owner completion home. Even though the stories have basic similar elements, each owner/writer transforms those similarities with unique details.
Revision and editing is like picking out the curtains and deciding the best spot for artwork (or the comfy chair).
A good story is like a good home, a place readers will enjoying visiting.
Illustration by Matt Coundiff for "Memories in the Kitchen: Bites and Nibbles from "Bryony." Follow him at www.facebook.com/artbymattcoundiff
2 comments:
Well said. i especially liked you comment on characters. "Make sure real people live in your story. Don't cheapen it with stand-up cardboard paper dolls. Even great clothing with good tabs won't hide it." Or, as another writer taught at a writers conference I attended, "Make you characters so real you want to add them to your Christmas card list." Otherwise, they are nothing more than caricatures.
And in some cases, character so real you want to make sure they NEVER wind up on your Christmas card list. ;) You did a fine job with Roland, so you apparently took that writer's words to heart. :)
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