Aug 19 2009
Writing, Rewriting, and Doing it All Over Again
Writing is tough. Writing a novel is easy. Writing a decent novel is difficult. Writing a good novel is a challenge. Rewriting is the hardest part.
Over the years, the past 12 or so, I’ve managed to write and destroy about eight works in progress. Each one at about 60-80,000 words. That’s about half a million plus words written, then, deleted, forgotten about, and destroyed. The thought is frustrating and I continue to ask myself whether I should really be doing this.
My current work in progress is on it’s third or fourth rewrite. I started last year, wrote about 85,000 words, edited them and realised something wasn’t working. A month later I decided to change the point of view and add some more characters and subplots, and again rewrote 80,000. During the editing stage something didn’t work. My new characters deserved stories of their own, they had become more complex than I had originally intended which meant they no longer fit as secondary characters.
I stopped and put the novel in progress aside for a few weeks, maybe a month. I was frustrated and ready to rip it all apart. Did all this writing and rewriting make sense? Was it worth it? Would I ever finish the story and be satisfied with the finished product? Would I finally be ready to use it to search for a literary agent?
Most of me wanted to scream ‘NO’ and be done with it but I couldn’t do that to myself. I couldn’t deny myself the dream of being a writer. Persistence was the only option.
After my short holiday and break from writing, the story came to me and how it should be told. I returned to my original first person point of view with just the main character. Now I’m writing every day. The words are flowing and the story is working much better than before, though I doubt I would have reached this point without the previous rewrites. A lot of the previous scenes will be recycled and used, so not everything I’ve written is wasted, which does put a smile on my face.
What has this all taught me? Self criticism comes naturally for me. Writing is the part that doesn’t involve much sweat. Rewriting is what helps the story work. A novel doesn’t happen overnight. Persistence, patience and determination goes a long way when it comes to writing a novel.
