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3.
AOTW:
3. Describe your editing process. Do you write and then go back
to edit later, or do you revise a page until it is right, then proceed
to the next page, and so on?
Michael
Leahey: My writing process is probably akin to someone whose
is sculpting in clay. At first, I am just trying to get the story
framed out, which means putting lots of words on paper. I find this
initial phase the most difficult and frustrating, because I can
never type as fast as I am thinking about the story. This forces
me to settle for something like 10-12 pages of raw material after
a six or seven hour day. Next, comes the honing and detailing, which
is the editing process. I actually love this part. Because the basic
shape is already on paper, this is the point at which I polish the
writing. It is also a time to focus on some of the more subtle elements
of the plot, which is fun. If I were left to my own devices, I would
fiddle with this part for a long, long time.
Cat
Bauer: I briefly revise just to get the motor running, then
I move forward immediately. I save the real revision for the next
draft, otherwise I'd be forever on the first page. But some days
I'll go over and over a particularly intense section to get the
feeling right --- that doesn't count in my word tally for the day.
Other sections I fly through to get it down. Then I start at the
beginning and go through it again. And again.
Sallie
Bissell: For first drafts, I just tell the story, a chapter
a day, doing a little editing as I go, plus a little more editing
at the end of the day. By the end of that draft, I've got something
that's at least respectable. The editing process gets more important
with each successive draft. I'm not comfortable sending anything
out that I haven't written at least three times.
Stephanie
Gertler: My personal editing process consisted of reading and
re-reading until I could no longer bear to read it anymore but I
just wrote (and write) "straight ahead." With Jimmy's Girl,
I did edits halfway through (went back to the beginning and brought
myself up to date and then plunging ahead to the end). Of course,
as I read, I made changes. I always make the changes by hand (print
out the hard copy and pink pen the paper, then transfer the changes
to the computer).
The
editing process with my editor at Dutton was quite different. She
has such a keen eye for detail --- she is amazing. She returned
the manuscript for Jimmy's Girl with the usual editor's marks
and margin notes, but we would talk over a scene or even just a
phrase or word. The change of merely a word can add so much. There
is nothing better than a great editor. The best editing advice I
can give any writer is not to fall in love with your own words.
NM
Kelby: I'm always revising and refining as I go. I start every
day refining what I wrote the day before. I need to get it right
before I move on.
Thisbe
Nissen: I'm not a perfectionist as I'm writing; the first time
around I'm just trying to get it all out and down on the paper.
After that initial gush, the editing feels like it happens continuously.
You sit down to write and you find yourself reading over what you've
got so far, and you wind up editing as you do that. That's how it
works for me, at least.
Suzanne
Chazin: In the beginning of a book, I tend to need to write
and rewrite the material until I've laid a solid foundation. Later
chapters I can write and go back to for later rewriting. If something
is way off the mark, it feels like a splinter to me. I can't make
headway until I yank it out.
John
Searles: With Boy Still Missing, I revised each chapter
as I went. I didn't move on to the next chapter until I felt the
current one was in good shape. Then at the end, I went through revisions
of the whole book with my agent and editor.
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