Revision and Editing.
They used to be vulgar words that violated all I held holy.
In high school I considered myself a One-Draft-Wonder. And compared to most of my classmates, I was.
Yeah – this sounds cocky, but honestly, it all comes down to
process. Some of us just use different
methods of getting from A to B. If I
know a cross-town route that has fewer traffic lights, I’ll take it – even if
it’s not quite as direct as your route.
I’ll probably get to my destination in the same amount of time as you. I had to drive a little further, but I didn’t
have to stop as many times along the way.
 |
| Can you say, "YUCK?" For me - the fewer of these, the better! |
In writing, it’s the same.
I’m a ‘revise as I go’ kind of girl.
I’m also an ‘over-writer.’ When
it’s time for me to clean up a first draft, it doesn’t typically require a massive
overhaul. It’s about punching up an
image, cleaning up superfluous language and making sure I have the right its, theirs
and twos.
My road from ‘envisioning’ to complete ‘first draft’ is one
in which I’m constantly smoothing transitions, rereading what I’ve written and
solving problems as I go instead of glossing over them.
I realize not everyone has the patience to write this
way. However, it was the process I
developed at a very early age, and it’s served me well. (Except for my 9th
grade English class, which I almost failed because our teacher graded us on ‘process’.)
So the other night, when my BFA Revisions and Editing teacher innocently asked if any of us had
experienced writing an initial draft that lived up to our original intent, I
raised my hand. And today, after a couple
of hours combing through work trying to find a scene that could use
‘considerable revision,’ I’m writing a blog instead of doing my homework. Are there things that I could improve upon? Of course!
But are they fully dysfunctional dead-end scenes with no purpose or
clear outcome in dire need of painstaking revision? Not really.
They are bits and pieces that could be decluttered, trimmed
or polished. Atoms within cells. Branches within forests. Planet within
galaxies – you get the picture.
I understand the value of the exercise. I just hope she understands the amount of
work it took to get it so close to right the first time…
No comments:
Post a Comment