Comments on: Happy Sisyphus

By: Lakesha

Lakesha — Mon, 18 Apr 2016 11:33:38 +0000

Keep on writing and chnguigg away!

By: Rick Bennette

Rick Bennette — Sat, 04 Jan 2014 19:41:03 +0000

Sometimes I find it so easy to re-write and re-edit a portion of my work that I become derelict in writing the chapters that follow. Other times, my focus is on completing the story before I forget the ideas that came into mind. For me, the workflow is an ebb and flow of intensity and where I focus my efforts. I know the process of writing is different for every author. The methods that work well for one might work against another. I can say this with confidence. Each of us is limited by the knowledge we have at the time, and can only reach our own plateau. It certainly helps to have a second pair of eyes with a fresh objective view take a look at one’s work. The combined input of two brains is far less limiting than one.

By: jeffo

jeffo — Sat, 21 Dec 2013 12:18:11 +0000

I mostly enjoy revision. For me, writing is a two part (well, a lot more than that, really) process: drafting, then crafting. Both are fun for me, in different ways. The crafting part is that fine tuning. I feel like I’m sanding or doing fine detail work on a carving or something, and it’s enjoyable, but in a different way from the rush of drafting.

Of course, I’ve not yet reached the stage where I’ve had an editor send me a thousand pages of notes on my 300 page manuscript. Maybe I’ll look at it differently when I get to that point.

By: Siri Kirpal Kaur Khalsa

Siri Kirpal Kaur Khalsa — Fri, 20 Dec 2013 04:16:17 +0000

I revise as I g. As I hear them/see them, the sudden ooh!-I-could-add-that-there, the slower hmm-that-really-doesn’t-belong-in-this-book get taken care of.

Revisions after that sometimes fill me with joy: oh, this is going to be so much better! Others, I wonder at the sanity of the person requesting the revisions. But…

I would a thousand times rather do my own dirty work than have someone take their creative frustrations out on my writing without getting my approval first. I’ve had it happen. And I don’t approve of it.

By: Kevin A. Lewis

Kevin A. Lewis — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 20:27:39 +0000

By the way, Boys Life paid a high 4 figure amount, not five! And I agree with D.C. in that I never throw anything away-the Black Swan that has had agents hiding on the fire escape all summer waiting for reinforcements to arrive started back in 1998 as a backdoor attempt to crash the Oprah book club; it was “good” but only so, because it kept trying to rewite itself as a YA book which I was trying to avoid because the YA market hadn’t rebounded from the implosion of a few years earlier. Several years into a new century, I impulsively decided to let it be what it wanted to be and watched while it tossed about 30% of itself aside to become what it is now. And Prince Charming is still cooling his heels in protective custody in his comfortable 12th Century monastery far beyond the reach of the Aunt Polly Brigade that wants to reeducate him for his own good… By the way, any thoughts on how revisions R. L. Stine went through?

By: Lynn

Lynn — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 18:10:44 +0000

Miriam, needless to say revisions are a necessary part of the process, but if I could only incorporate your idea of zen into it, the whole thing may become less painful!

When I first started my WIP, I had only the ending and a title in mind. Both were extremely important and I didn’t think I would change either one. As I wrote, however, I realized the title had to go. It wasn’t easy, but I’m happy to say the ending has stayed.

Last year around this time I thought I was on my final revision. Well, one year later after cutting, adding, mixing and baking (Sorry, my mind jumped to making Christmas cookies later on today!) it took an extra year of revisions to finally come to a point where I feel I can give it to several beta readers.

For me the hard part wasn’t the revisions, it was knowing when to stop. It’s never going to be perfect. As Hosseini said, “It’ll never be as good as you imagined.” I was taking out a comma, then putting it back in, putting a word in, then taking it back out…. I would rewrite a passage, let it sit for a week and then realize it was written better before I rewrote it. What can I say, revisions are important, but there comes a time to stop and let another pair of eyes read it.

Happy Holidays to you and yours!

By: Miriam

Miriam — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 14:26:54 +0000

We’re agents, not publishers, D.C., so we don’t buy, we sell. Most of the stuff we see is far from ready for publication and it’s our job to get it to a place where it’s simply ready to sell. Hopefully, a smart editor sees the potential in what we submit to them and is willing to work with the author to make it into a published book. So, there are many layers (and lots of revising) between the author’s “finished” manuscript and the book with a publisher’s imprimatur on it.

By: D. C. DaCosta

D. C. DaCosta — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 13:32:12 +0000

Question for Miriam:

Why do you buy a book if it’s not actually ready?

By: D. C. DaCosta

D. C. DaCosta — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 13:31:02 +0000

True. But NEVER THROW ANYTHING AWAY.

Nearly any discarded episode can be re-worked for a future project.

I had a 3,000 word event in one novel that was just too darned long. I cut and reworked it to 600 words, and the original version makes a great stand-alone short story.

I had another episode that was just too harsh for my protagonist to bear…so I put it into another book and had it happen to a guy who really deserved it. Much better!

By: Miriam

Miriam — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 13:16:05 +0000

Ha! Thanks for keeping it real, Anonymous. I agree with Kevin and Veronica in that you also need to know when a full-scale revision is worth it. To quote the great philosopher Kenny Rogers, “You gotta know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em, know when to walk away, know when to run…”