I’m slowly starting to get the hang of reworking. My lovely wife Jen is working through Impatience from the start using a red pen to highlight areas that reflect just how grammatically challenged I am :). I’m fine with it in fact I very much appreciate the help!
The process is completely different to writing. When I write I focus on simply getting the story out of my head and onto the page. In its raw state a scene definitely requires at least a second pass focusing on the character interactions and sometimes even a third. Pure reworking is where everything gets challenged. Does the story really need this paragraph, this page?
Oh yeah and of course the grammar yadda yadda.
It all makes for a tighter, faster moving story which of course is the point.
I caught up with some friends today who have read the first half of Impatience and they are dying to read the rest. It’s so cool to know others enjoy the story as much as I did when I wrote it… awesome!
I’m glad you think it is ok for me to take a red pen to your work. It is scary to have to ask you to seriously consider taking out whole sections though. It’s a great process to go through, and I am enjoying it immensely. I should get some more done in the next couple of days too, so that will be good for you!
J, I’ve been thinking about endings. A favourite author of mine is Andy McNab. Over a few nights I’ve stayed up into the early hours as I worked through another of his novels – once started I struggle to put them down. This particular book had me involved in incredible detail and wondering ‘what next’ – until the end. It was a let down. It seemed inconsistent with the rest of the detail and care in the rest of the story.
It made me wonder if an author starts out with an ending in mind, or does the story evolve? Do writers prepare a plot – perhaps a timeline – and then ‘flesh out’ the events and characters? How does an author write a story that meets the expectation of tens, hundreds, thousands or millions of readers?
How many movies or books have we all seen or read in which we’ve groaned at the ending – or the person we’re with has thought the opposite of yourself?
With this Andy McNab book it seemed to be ‘how do I finish it in the 10 pages I have left!’. Perhaps unfair of me?
I love McNab’s writing, and have another four on my shelf beckoning…. Maybe the next one will be different?
Hi Dave,
It’s funny you mention Andy McNab as only yesterday I was talking to a friend of mine from work who loves his books.
I usually have an ending in mind from very early on however as a story is fleshed out the ending seems to change somewhat. it’ll be the same theme although different. For instance when you apply the reasoning of characters to a sequence of events (the story) by the time you reach the end they usually will have done their own thing and effectively put a different spin on the original idea. the characters bring the story to life and usually lead me down a slightly different path to what I originally envisaged.
Personally i believe staying true to your characters makes a book memorable and if the story is interesting enough it becomes a ‘I can’t put this down’ novel
I have also noticed in plenty of books how the endings usually wrap up the entire story in less that say 15 pages. I’m not sure why this is, perhaps the editor / publisher wanted the novel to fit in a certain number of pages? Without giving anything away I know with Impatience I was rocketing along at a bazillion word count when I finally made it to the ending. In truth this was on my mind at the time.
btw, lots happening at your place today…
J.