Simply Write..and rewrite....

12/2/2013

I am finding editing much harder than writing. Twelve days into February and I only felt I was really getting to grips with the process yesterday. Then my printer played up!

So any editors reading - help! Advice most welcome.

I will try to pay attention to three bits of advice I have come across: Be Organised, Go Slowly, and Keep A Good Attitude. It seems to me very easy to lose confidence at this stage. Did I really write all this? 50,000 words? Unlike in a painting where I can view the whole at once and keep all the elements in balance and see clearly their relationship to one another, this creation seems unwieldy and huge to me, and I don't really feel I'm altogether in control..

Yesterday's first lines were by Colette and she is describing one of her best known characters Chéri. She is a wonderful writer and the way she starts her stories always makes me want to read on.

More from Colette tomorrow....

15 Comments

Liz B

12/2/2013 08:05:33 pm

I'm no edtor, but as a reader, I often find a list of characters and their relationships to each other very useful in complicated plots, or a kind of "Tree of relationships"
I wouldn't worry about not feeling entirely in control. I'm sure a book is just like a painting and has a life of it's own.
Good luck. PS I have your vase. Stop in next time you're passing.

Freda

13/2/2013 06:27:17 am

Thank you Liz - a 'tree of relationships' will be a useful note for me, (though the plot is not complicated).

Freda

13/2/2013 06:28:22 am

Oh, and I take your point about 'a life of it's own'. I am often aware of that in paintings..

julia

12/2/2013 11:11:17 pm

no editorial experience here, freda...but be kind in your thoughts about your work, and take all the time you need....don't be like me....i can manage to turn even chewing gum into an ordeal.... i just chew faster and faster...it makes me nervous!
best wishes with it...

Freda

13/2/2013 06:29:47 am

Being kind and going slowly - good ideas Julia and thank you.

cath

13/2/2013 01:54:35 am

Nor am I, an editor I mean. In writing columns and the occasional essay I always ask myself 'is this word, are these words, really necessary, do they add something'? If not it/they will have to go. When I think about the focus on simplicity here in your blog, that same focus and thus that question might apply to and be helpful for your book too.

Freda

13/2/2013 06:31:33 am

I shall use this advice Cath! Thank you.

liz gilbey

13/2/2013 04:22:04 am

Hello Freda - My piece of advice would be to look at the work as if you know nothing about it; as if you are seeing it for the first time; and to guard against any assumptions you are making as the writer being 'known' by the reader almost as if by osmosis. Show it (or bits of it you might not be comfortable with) to someone else - a spouse or relation is good, as they know your thought processes! My honorary Dad, the late and lamented writer Peter O'Donnell, always had one criterion - cut back and simplify. And then cut again. Hope this helps! Liz

Freda

13/2/2013 06:34:16 am

Liz, I value your advice as a writer of considerable experience - and there is that word 'simplify' again. I have just for the first time let someone read a bit - nervewracking, but a positive response...

Liz P link

13/2/2013 04:24:16 am

I am a writer, not an editor. One of the best bits of advice (and also the hardest to do) is to write a single sentence saying exactly what the book is about. You might already have the story down pat, but if you haven't it truly helps to shake out the loose bits and tighten the novel.

Freda

13/2/2013 06:37:50 am

Thank you Liz P, I have so enjoyed looking at your website. (I too married a Rhodiesian). Liz B challenged me to write a 'blurb' once - I need to look at it again!

Elizabeth Pulford

14/2/2013 05:01:22 am

Thank you for kind words re website and I have been popping into your lovely blog for a while now. Every time I do I feel as if I want to go 'ahhh' while basking in its peacefulness.

Liz B

13/2/2013 06:53:27 pm

You'll soon have a Liz for every letter of the alphbet!

freda

18/2/2013 04:57:34 pm

Any more Lizes out there - do join us!

Liz (Laura) McD

20/2/2013 03:15:55 pm

I'd love to read it mum, I have a red Biro and a dictionary of punctuation at the ready! X

Simply Write..and rewrite....

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