Musings

Musings

DirtySciFiBuddha39 Comments

For me, drafting is about consistency–hitting a word count or set amount of time. Editing, however, is about quality and refinement–going over the manuscript again and again until the ideas and descriptions are as clear and crystalline as I can make them at that time. So I don’t really see it as being a “good” or “bad” writer. It’s about consistently drafting and editing ad nauseum.

It’s a lot of time to spend staring at a screen. The most important thing for me is to have fun while doing it. If there’s no fun in the process, it’s a soul-killing way to spend your time.

39 thoughts on “Musings”

  1. You’re preaching to the choir here. Do I hear an Amen?
    Writing is a craft that is only as great as your editing and rewrites allow. I can count on my hand how many rewrites I did for “A Man’s Passion” and “I Albert Peabody, and I still think I could do another rewrite to make it even better.

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  2. i think Google says you have written 12 books, is that right? So, what’s your writing schedule like to be able to accomplish that?

    People always say that editing is where the magic happens. And as you mentioned, I think editing can make a good writer great. But it’s difficult to see the woods for the trees with your own work and you need to take a hike to be able to come back with fresh eyes.

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      • Hey,
        Where might I find these critique groups? I write short stories and have been looking for such a group.
        Thanks

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      • The two I’m in are Scribophile and Critique Circle. Both require you to critique other works in order to acquire points to post your own work, but they are populated by other authors, so the crits are pretty good.

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      • Thanks for the info. I’ll check them out.
        What’s the standard of work like that’s being posted? Is it all different experience levels?

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    • I have a drafting schedule that’s 500 words a day (I’ve tried different word counts, up to 3500). I like to try and edit two chapters a day. If I’m done drafting, I just focus on editing. As I edit, I start becoming a scholar of my own work, picking out stuff that happens at the end that relates to the beginning, and tying it all smoothly together. I also start adding stuff I think might fit, along with taking out giant chunks of stuff that is repetitive or just doesn’t work. One time, I tried drafting without simultaneously editing (3500 words per day, no editing), so I could calculate how much I took out in a single percentage. It was 67% (Echo 4).

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      • Woah, 67%. Bye, Bye darlings, as they say.

        How do you plan a whole book in terms of making decisions and choosing what happens next when so many different things could happen?
        I’ve tried and I get stuck because of just that. I get loads of pathways that all seem interesting, which would obviously change the story into a different direction somewhat, but then I’m left thinking that maybe this direction is better, or maybe this one.

        How do you choose the direction out of a plethora?

        Thanks 😊

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      • Well my path is a bit weird. I couldn’t write anything more than a chapter or two in my twenties, gave it up and tried again in my thirties, at which point I could. I think part of it came from being interested in Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey idea (specifically from his 6-part tv special from the 80s or 90s), and thus Jungian philosophy. These gave me a logical basis to base development and behavior on.

        Usually, the ending of a book will drop into my head, then pivotal scenes will follow that. (I didn’t do that with Kor’Thank, I just had fun as I went along). I just let myself draft the word count, then, as I edit, I basically become a scholar of my own work and clarify what I’m really trying to say, what I want from the characters, and refine the story. I’d say editing while drafting is pretty important for me, because it clarifies the theme and narrows down the potential.

        Hope that helps!

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  5. It’s all about maintaining enthusiasm. If you’re not enthusiastic about your project, it’s time to get a new one. Fortunately for me, I love barfing words onto the screen. And I love editing even more. But that doesn’t mean some days I would rather do anything else in the world.

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    • There are people with their first book to authors who have many published works under their belts.

      There are both free and paid versions of each. I use the free one. In Scribophile you are limited to 2 posts at a time in the free version, but you can delete and re-post once you’ve absorbed the comments and acted on them.

      In Critique Circle, I like the way you can bring up all the comments on each paragraph together and compare them.

      I’ll look out for you there.

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      • Thanks so much for your answer. Very useful. It’ll give them a look.

        I wonder if you might know how best to approach the following . . .
        With regards to submitting a short story to a magazine competition, they ask that the work be previously unpublished, which of course would mean it shouldn’t be on the Internet. So if i wanted to get a short story critique then how would i go about this bearing in mind the above requirement? Any ideas? 🤔

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      • Oh right. I just looked it up online and it said the below . . . So i don’t think i can put it up anywhere public.

        “Yes, a lot of magazines will explicitly state this in their guidelines, but it’s true everywhere. Buying first rights means being the first place the text appears for public access. Emailing the manuscript to friends for critique or having a shared Google Drive folder with them would be fine, but putting it on a publicly accessible blog would preclude you from selling first rights in the future (and reprint markets tend to want work that originally appeared in actual magazines/markets too).”

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      • Hi, Nella. I just looked it up and someone had asked the same question on Reddit. The answer was basically, if it’s posted on a public site, such as Wattpad, where anyone can access it, then it counts as publication, but if it’s on a members only site behind a password, then it doesn’t. So you should be alright with Critique Circle and Scribophile as they are for members only, who are writers, and for the sole purpose of critique.

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      • Oh my god, you’re brilliant. I didn’t realise that. It’s something I’ve been worrying about. Thank you so much for looking into that. Appreciate it.

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  11. Yes, I’ve heard of Joseph Cambell’s hero journey. Just looked up the TV series, and it’s on YouTube, so I’ll give that a watch, thanks.

    I’ve read Save the Cat and was trying to write a screenplay based on the format, and I just got so many ideas of what could happen that I just didn’t know which ideas to chose. What excited me versus what would be good for others. I just got overwhelmed with choice, which is why I decided to try short stories instead. Force myself to be more streamlined.

    Sounds like you have a better idea of what you want from a story. More defined at the start.

    Thanks for that

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    • As corny and nebulous sounds, I would say it’s important to follow your heart and instincts. When someone asked Quentin Tarantino how to break into the movie industry, he said write and direct “Reservoir Dogs,” that’s what I did, and that’s all I know how to do. His point was that too much adherence to a formula defeats our inherent uniqueness and creativity, and there is much to be said about our individual hunches and proclivities.

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