One day to go to the "big meeting", which is really only a "chat", but it's hard not to get excited and think about the possibilities.
Very little has happened over the past two weeks, though that's not unexpected - it just falls into the category of "waiting".
Of course, waiting time can be productive too. It's a foolish writer who sits around and does nothing in these times. My daughter asked why I was writing another book when I hadn't sold/published the first one yet - but she's 10, so can be forgiven for not understanding the whole process.
Book 2 is progressing nicely, though a fairly significant plot change meant the scrapping of about 6000 words. It was surprisingly painless to do that - something which I think I found harder during the first book where every written word seemed to be precious, and deleting anything felt rather personal. You do get over that - you have to - and it's better to accept it now than find yourself in a battle with an editor because you refuse to believe his requested changes are going to improve on your masterpiece. But I'm getting ahead of myself, making assumptions, thinking about the possibilties...
More updates tomorrow, when I return. Fingers crossed.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I've heard of plenty of writers who cope with having to remove large sections of work that they've practically bled to create in the first place by carefully filtering it, and keeping the good ideas/lines for another time.
ReplyDeleteI'm only aware of one author who publically admitted effectively recycling his own material, Douglas Adams. Look up Shada/Dirk Gently to see it in action.
Of course, it's possible that just going "ah, stuffit, if it's not good enough for now, it's not good enough ever" is more productive in the long run....
I'm not sure if it helps with preparing to have someone else say your work needs changing. Self-editing is difficult, but you know your style and what you are trying to achieve, in the same way you know that after so many rewrites it'll be as good as it'll be.
I find anything that has gone through 5 rewrites means I've failed to beat it into shape, and whatever is left is simply not workable. You might be different. If you're lucky, it's no rewrites and mainly tidying up. If you're unlucky, it could be any number. Knowing when to stop fudging with it is possibly the hardest task for any writer.
But some random editor who thinks by changing your stuff it'll be more or less like something else he's seen...challenging. I think as long as you're one of life's individuals who is naturally good at doing what you are told, it'll be fine. This is, of course, exactly the trait that most writers are missing. If we could do what we were told, we'd be in the army, not holding a pen.
Enjoy the meeting, and good luck with the outcome.