By Dennis Mellersh
In writing a book (and learning how to write a book) one of the processes on which writers have different working methods is the process of editing, rewriting, or revising their draft manuscripts.
Depending on their writing methodology for the first draft, some writers do very little revision during the initial creative process, while others revise or rewrite extensively as they progress.
Generally, writers who compose their initial drafts methodically, carefully choosing each word and phrase, and taking great care with their sentence structure, do not need to make extensive changes to their completed draft manuscripts.
Other writers, those who like to “get it all down” as quickly as possible, will be faced with the need for a lot of changes in the final revision process. Such writers often comment that taking the time to correct things as they write interferes with their train of thought and blocks the flow of their writing.
There are also writers who enjoy the entire creative writing process so much that they are in constant pursuit of perfection in their writing and will go on and on making detailed changes even in the final printing-proof stagers of the writing and publishing process.
The novelist George Simenon often commented in interviews that he revised very little when editing his final draft copy. Although he wrote quickly, his main concern in the revision process was in taking out any adjectives, adverbs, and descriptive details which he felt did not contribute to moving the story along. If for example he found “the perfect sentence” which was there only for literary effect, he would take it out. His aim was to avoid being “too literary.”
By contrast, the writer James Thurber would labor endlessly over his drafts in an effort to “make the finished version smooth, to make it seem effortless.”
In an interview with the Paris Review, Thurber commented, “A story I’ve been working on – “The Train on Track Six” – it’s called, was rewritten fifteen complete times. There must have been close to 240,000 thousand words in all the manuscripts put together, and I must have spent two thousand hours working at it. Yet the finished version can’t be more than twenty thousand words.”
So, there isn’t really a formula or a set of rules governing the process of revising, editing, and rewriting your work; it’s a matter of your preferred method of working on your initial draft.
It’s your choice of whether you want to write slowly and revise as you write, whether you want to write, for example, a thousand words and then revise, or whether you want to write the entire draft manuscript without pausing for revision, and then make your changes at the end, working with a completed manuscript.
Showing posts with label Writing techniques. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Writing techniques. Show all posts
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
How extensively should you rewrite?
By Dennis Mellersh
One of the questions or dilemmas faced by all writers, whether beginners, who are studying how to write a book, or experts, is: “How much should I rewrite or revise my first draft?”
Assuming that you write quickly and don’t revise along the way, your initial draft will have the liveliness and freshness of a first impression or the immediacy of “first thoughts” – it will have “life.”
It may also be overly loose, repetitive, redundant, ungrammatical, excessively wordy, or lacking in clarity.
Revising and rewriting should substantially reduce these negative attributes of your first draft.
But, some restraint is often needed in the revision and rewriting process.
With excessive revising and rewriting and “never being satisfied”, you run the risk of taking all the life and personality out of your writing.
A good piece of writing can be ruined by laboring over it endlessly.
It’s admirable to make your writing as good as possible, but remember that trying to make your writing “perfect” can also make it dead.
Tip: You should always keep each version of your drafts – you may want to “re-include” some material that you initially removed or changed in your zeal "to make it better."
I remember taking a long time to write a feature piece, laboring over it at length, and then showed it to a colleague, for his opinion.
His response, after taking some time to review it was, "I can see what you're getting at, but I think the words are getting in the way of what you are trying to say."
In other words, my struggles ended up in the article being "overwritten" and ineffective in conveying my message.
Sometimes you just need to go with your instincts an resist the temptation to overly fine-tune your work.
One of the questions or dilemmas faced by all writers, whether beginners, who are studying how to write a book, or experts, is: “How much should I rewrite or revise my first draft?”
Assuming that you write quickly and don’t revise along the way, your initial draft will have the liveliness and freshness of a first impression or the immediacy of “first thoughts” – it will have “life.”
It may also be overly loose, repetitive, redundant, ungrammatical, excessively wordy, or lacking in clarity.
Revising and rewriting should substantially reduce these negative attributes of your first draft.
But, some restraint is often needed in the revision and rewriting process.
With excessive revising and rewriting and “never being satisfied”, you run the risk of taking all the life and personality out of your writing.
A good piece of writing can be ruined by laboring over it endlessly.
It’s admirable to make your writing as good as possible, but remember that trying to make your writing “perfect” can also make it dead.
Tip: You should always keep each version of your drafts – you may want to “re-include” some material that you initially removed or changed in your zeal "to make it better."
I remember taking a long time to write a feature piece, laboring over it at length, and then showed it to a colleague, for his opinion.
His response, after taking some time to review it was, "I can see what you're getting at, but I think the words are getting in the way of what you are trying to say."
In other words, my struggles ended up in the article being "overwritten" and ineffective in conveying my message.
Sometimes you just need to go with your instincts an resist the temptation to overly fine-tune your work.
Friday, May 3, 2013
Is your writing brief, concise, or both?
By Dennis Mellersh
If the draft of your book manuscript is 300 pages when it could have been pared down to 200 pages without losing any meaning, it is probably not sufficiently concise. On the other hand, if it is 200 pages when at least 300 pages would be needed to convey its meaning and message, it is likely too brief.
In their book Effective Writing (1) authors Kellogg Smith and Jane Stapleford make the point that the terms conciseness and brevity have different meanings, and they advise writers, ”Be sure that you grasp the distinction between mere brevity – the use of few words – and conciseness – the use of the precise number of words needed.”
Of the two writing attributes, brevity and conciseness, the quality of being concise is the attribute you should be working towards in all of your writing. That is, not using more words than are necessary to adequately convey the information you want to your readers.
This does not mean that you should write in only short sentences, or that you should eliminate adjectives, adverbs and descriptive details from the writing in your book. Rather, it means you should be looking for ways to eliminate unnecessary words from your writing.
By contrast, the quality of brevity in writing is not always desirable, or necessary. It depends more on the purpose of the writing. If you are writing the foreword or introduction to your book for example, you don’t want the introduction to go on…and on…and on. You want it to be brief.
(1) Effective Writing, Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, NY, 1963
If the draft of your book manuscript is 300 pages when it could have been pared down to 200 pages without losing any meaning, it is probably not sufficiently concise. On the other hand, if it is 200 pages when at least 300 pages would be needed to convey its meaning and message, it is likely too brief.
In their book Effective Writing (1) authors Kellogg Smith and Jane Stapleford make the point that the terms conciseness and brevity have different meanings, and they advise writers, ”Be sure that you grasp the distinction between mere brevity – the use of few words – and conciseness – the use of the precise number of words needed.”
Of the two writing attributes, brevity and conciseness, the quality of being concise is the attribute you should be working towards in all of your writing. That is, not using more words than are necessary to adequately convey the information you want to your readers.
This does not mean that you should write in only short sentences, or that you should eliminate adjectives, adverbs and descriptive details from the writing in your book. Rather, it means you should be looking for ways to eliminate unnecessary words from your writing.
By contrast, the quality of brevity in writing is not always desirable, or necessary. It depends more on the purpose of the writing. If you are writing the foreword or introduction to your book for example, you don’t want the introduction to go on…and on…and on. You want it to be brief.
(1) Effective Writing, Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, NY, 1963
Write naturally or lose your readers
By Dennis Mellersh
In planning the content strategy for your book, and in writing it, it is vital for you to write naturally. Learning how to write in your own voice, or naturally, is an important part of knowing how to write a book that resonates with readers.
One of the outcomes of not writing naturally can be a book, such as a novel, being overloaded with symbolism, or filled with moral lessons. Other results of not writing naturally can include plotlines that are too contrived, unrealistic dialogue and use of vocabulary, and an overall aura of pretentiousness.
If you make a conscious effort in your writing to include symbolism and moral lessons for example, it will be very obvious to your readers, and in all probability will result in their losing interest in your work.
Readers do not like to be lectured or preached at. Aside from that, such devices make your work appear clumsy and amateurish in the best case, and boring in the worst case.
Extended analogy and metaphor can be effective literary devices that you can use in your fiction, but if your force it and try to hit people over the head with your “symbolic” or “moral” message they will rebel and probably put your book aside to “read sometime later” or abandon it altogether and not finish reading it.
One of the reasons that new writers are prone to overuse symbolism and moral lessons or “message” in their writing may be because of the way that many of us were taught in school (particularly high school) to “explain the “intent” of the author in terms of their use of symbols and other literary devices to convey their “message”
However, often as not with good fiction writers, there was not a deliberate, calculated intent on the part of the writer, unless you consider subconscious artistic creativity to be “intent.”
With this background emphasis in the teaching of literature, students then assume they must deliberately include a lot of literary devices in their writing, or it won’t be considered worthwhile, or “literary.”
In fact, a conscious effort on the part of a writer to be literary usually results in a book that is not enjoyable to read. The author is trying too hard to be “literary” and the result is overly obvious and writing that is dead-on-arrival.
In planning the content strategy for your book, and in writing it, it is vital for you to write naturally. Learning how to write in your own voice, or naturally, is an important part of knowing how to write a book that resonates with readers.
One of the outcomes of not writing naturally can be a book, such as a novel, being overloaded with symbolism, or filled with moral lessons. Other results of not writing naturally can include plotlines that are too contrived, unrealistic dialogue and use of vocabulary, and an overall aura of pretentiousness.
If you make a conscious effort in your writing to include symbolism and moral lessons for example, it will be very obvious to your readers, and in all probability will result in their losing interest in your work.
Readers do not like to be lectured or preached at. Aside from that, such devices make your work appear clumsy and amateurish in the best case, and boring in the worst case.
Extended analogy and metaphor can be effective literary devices that you can use in your fiction, but if your force it and try to hit people over the head with your “symbolic” or “moral” message they will rebel and probably put your book aside to “read sometime later” or abandon it altogether and not finish reading it.
One of the reasons that new writers are prone to overuse symbolism and moral lessons or “message” in their writing may be because of the way that many of us were taught in school (particularly high school) to “explain the “intent” of the author in terms of their use of symbols and other literary devices to convey their “message”
However, often as not with good fiction writers, there was not a deliberate, calculated intent on the part of the writer, unless you consider subconscious artistic creativity to be “intent.”
With this background emphasis in the teaching of literature, students then assume they must deliberately include a lot of literary devices in their writing, or it won’t be considered worthwhile, or “literary.”
In fact, a conscious effort on the part of a writer to be literary usually results in a book that is not enjoyable to read. The author is trying too hard to be “literary” and the result is overly obvious and writing that is dead-on-arrival.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
How to write with originality and creativity
By Dennis Mellersh
One of the surest ways to ensure that you write without originality and creativity is to imitate your favorite writer(s).
One of the surest ways to ensure that you write without originality and creativity is to imitate your favorite writer(s).
For the new writer, such imitation is usually not done consciously but happens because of admiration and fascination with another writer’s ideas and their way of handling language in their work.
In biographical material about famous and successful writers and authors such as novelists, short story writers, and poets, we will often find admissions by those writers that they went through a period in their work where they were imitating writers they admired.
Once they dropped imitation, or being derivative, they found their own voice, their writing ceased to be derivative, and it became more original and creative.
If you do not think you are particularly original or creative, remember this:
- You are a unique being
- You are an original
- You are creative (whether you realize it or not)
And no-one looks at the world and reacts to it exactly the same way you do.
So, do the rest of us a favor, and write in a way that allows us to hear your voice, your uniqueness, your creativity, and your originality.
Not somebody else’s.
Write non-fiction in your own voice
By Dennis Mellersh
In writing non-fiction, such as a book you may be planning, it can be a temptation to try to write in what you might perceive to be a scholarly, educated or academic voice or narrative style.
However, in writing this way, you will likely be writing your book in a manner that is unnatural, and perhaps worse, boring.
However, by writing in your own natural voice your writing will be more interesting, accessible, and have more appeal to most readers.
Writing in your natural voice (the way you talk) actually makes your writing more authentic, authoritative and credible than if you try to make it sound important or scholarly.
When you try to write in a way that is not natural to you your writing will sound forced, fake, and likely pretentious.
When you try to write in a voice that is not your own, you will essentially not be writing to please yourself.
The result is probably that no-one else will be pleased, or interested in what you have to say.
In writing non-fiction, such as a book you may be planning, it can be a temptation to try to write in what you might perceive to be a scholarly, educated or academic voice or narrative style.
However, in writing this way, you will likely be writing your book in a manner that is unnatural, and perhaps worse, boring.
However, by writing in your own natural voice your writing will be more interesting, accessible, and have more appeal to most readers.
Writing in your natural voice (the way you talk) actually makes your writing more authentic, authoritative and credible than if you try to make it sound important or scholarly.
When you try to write in a way that is not natural to you your writing will sound forced, fake, and likely pretentious.
When you try to write in a voice that is not your own, you will essentially not be writing to please yourself.
The result is probably that no-one else will be pleased, or interested in what you have to say.
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Writing fiction: Listen to your instincts and write in your own voice
By Dennis Mellersh
When taking the first steps towards writing fiction, one of the common mistakes of new writers is in not following their instincts and not writing what they really want to write in their books.
This tendency can manifest itself in a new writer’s novel, short stories, or poems (although poetry is strictly not necessarily part of the fiction category).
This can be the result from at least two factors:
(1) Trying to write fiction in an idealized “literary” style
(2) Being afraid to show your true self in your fiction writing
The effects of this show up in both fiction dialogue and in fictionalized description or expository passages.
With dialogue, trying to write in a supposed “literary” style will result in the characters in your novel not talking like normal people. Simply put, neither the dialogue, nor the character speaking the dialogue is believable.
In description, trying to write in what you might perceive as a “literary” style produces “flowery’, exaggerated overblown writing passages in which it appears you, as a writer, are trying to “show-off” your literary capabilities.
Both tendencies however are a sign of amateurism and will be a turn-off for your readers. Although it is important to follow general rules of grammar and style, it is equally vital to write naturally and instinctively, rather than trying to imitate some sort of writing style that you think you “should” be using.
To some extent, writing fiction has an autobiographical element which the reader associates with you as the writer. If you don't write in your own, true voice, your writing will not seem genuine to the reader. It will ring false.
When taking the first steps towards writing fiction, one of the common mistakes of new writers is in not following their instincts and not writing what they really want to write in their books.
This tendency can manifest itself in a new writer’s novel, short stories, or poems (although poetry is strictly not necessarily part of the fiction category).
This can be the result from at least two factors:
(1) Trying to write fiction in an idealized “literary” style
(2) Being afraid to show your true self in your fiction writing
The effects of this show up in both fiction dialogue and in fictionalized description or expository passages.
With dialogue, trying to write in a supposed “literary” style will result in the characters in your novel not talking like normal people. Simply put, neither the dialogue, nor the character speaking the dialogue is believable.
In description, trying to write in what you might perceive as a “literary” style produces “flowery’, exaggerated overblown writing passages in which it appears you, as a writer, are trying to “show-off” your literary capabilities.
Both tendencies however are a sign of amateurism and will be a turn-off for your readers. Although it is important to follow general rules of grammar and style, it is equally vital to write naturally and instinctively, rather than trying to imitate some sort of writing style that you think you “should” be using.
To some extent, writing fiction has an autobiographical element which the reader associates with you as the writer. If you don't write in your own, true voice, your writing will not seem genuine to the reader. It will ring false.
Writing your novel: Avoid being overly “serious”
By Dennis Mellersh
As you begin the actual work of writing your novel, one common tendency to avoid is that of trying to be deadly serious in getting your “message” across to your potential readers.
Although the readers of your novel will initially be interested in what you have to say in your novel, they will be turned off quickly if your book is preachy, overly obvious, moralistic in tone, and full of stereotyped one-dimensional characters whose actions always appear to embody a “moral lesson.”
It’s fine to have serious intellectual and moral purposes in your writing, but remember that people will not be buying your book to be lectured at.
You need to keep your readers entertained from the perspective of them enjoying reading your book. Otherwise you will lose your readers. So, keep the ethical and moral lessons as subtle and as unobtrusive as possible, if you must use them at all.
Remember, you are writing a novel, not a book on ethics, philosophy, or moral behaviour.
In the words of the writer Frank O’Connor, “A novel is about people, it’s written for people, and the moment it starts getting so intellectual that it gets beyond the range of people and reduces them to academic formulae, I’m not interested in it any longer…you read [a novel] because you enjoy it. You don’t read it because of the serious moral responsibility to read, and you don’t write it because it’s a serious moral responsibility.”(1)
(1) Source: Writers at Work: The Paris Review Interviews
As you begin the actual work of writing your novel, one common tendency to avoid is that of trying to be deadly serious in getting your “message” across to your potential readers.
Although the readers of your novel will initially be interested in what you have to say in your novel, they will be turned off quickly if your book is preachy, overly obvious, moralistic in tone, and full of stereotyped one-dimensional characters whose actions always appear to embody a “moral lesson.”
It’s fine to have serious intellectual and moral purposes in your writing, but remember that people will not be buying your book to be lectured at.
You need to keep your readers entertained from the perspective of them enjoying reading your book. Otherwise you will lose your readers. So, keep the ethical and moral lessons as subtle and as unobtrusive as possible, if you must use them at all.
Remember, you are writing a novel, not a book on ethics, philosophy, or moral behaviour.
In the words of the writer Frank O’Connor, “A novel is about people, it’s written for people, and the moment it starts getting so intellectual that it gets beyond the range of people and reduces them to academic formulae, I’m not interested in it any longer…you read [a novel] because you enjoy it. You don’t read it because of the serious moral responsibility to read, and you don’t write it because it’s a serious moral responsibility.”(1)
(1) Source: Writers at Work: The Paris Review Interviews
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
How Ray Bradbury created story ideas
By Dennis Mellersh
In the early stages of learning to write a book, and even when you have a good foundation in creative writing skills, you will sometimes need devices to kick-start your imagination and get your writing flowing.
One of the techniques used by the fantasy writer Ray Bradbury was to make a list of nouns and then creatively play with the nouns to stimulate his thinking as a writer and to generate ideas that he could use in developing a story.
In an interview with the Paris Review,* Bradbury noted that, although he eventually would be able to generate story ideas easily, at first, in his early writing career, he needed devices to stimulate his imagination, and for this, he chose nouns.
“…in the old days I knew I had to dredge my subconscious, and the nouns did this…I did it by making lists of nouns and then asking, What does each noun mean?. .. Then, when you get the list down, you begin to word-associate around it. You ask, Why did I put this word down? What does it mean to me? Why did I put this noun down and not some other word? Do this and you’re on your way to being a good writer…”
“…I begin to write little pensées about the nouns. It’s prose poetry …I started to write short, descriptive paragraphs, two hundred words each, and in them I began to examine my nouns. Then I’d bring some characters on to talk about that noun and that place, and all of a sudden I had a story going.”
As a first effort in trying out Bradbury’s idea we could modify the process. As a start, you could try writing down a list of six nouns and then writing just a sentence or two about the noun that could be the lead-in or central idea for developing a story.
Here’s a list of four nouns I chose arbitrarily, followed by a written thought that might lead to a story idea.
Bubble-gum
“My addiction to constantly chewing bubble gum has caused problems for me, but if it were not for bubble gum, I would not have…”
Typewriter
“I wanted my typewriter to be one of those old-fashioned heavy ones like you used to see in movies about newspapers. I had a uniquely personal reason for this preference…”
Book
“If I had never read that book, my life would have been entirely different…”
Ink
“Just a few years ago, I could not write anything even slightly creative without having a specific color and brand of ink for my fountain pen, but now, things are quite different…”
You get the idea.
Why not make up your own list of perhaps six nouns and see if you can develop a micro-story or a poem based on the associations in your mind with each noun on your list.
You may be pleasantly surprised at the results you achieve.
* Interview by Sam Weller, The Paris Review, The Art of Fiction No. 203
You can read the entire interview at the following url:
http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/6012/the-art-of-fiction-no-203-ray-bradbury
In the early stages of learning to write a book, and even when you have a good foundation in creative writing skills, you will sometimes need devices to kick-start your imagination and get your writing flowing.
One of the techniques used by the fantasy writer Ray Bradbury was to make a list of nouns and then creatively play with the nouns to stimulate his thinking as a writer and to generate ideas that he could use in developing a story.
In an interview with the Paris Review,* Bradbury noted that, although he eventually would be able to generate story ideas easily, at first, in his early writing career, he needed devices to stimulate his imagination, and for this, he chose nouns.
“…in the old days I knew I had to dredge my subconscious, and the nouns did this…I did it by making lists of nouns and then asking, What does each noun mean?. .. Then, when you get the list down, you begin to word-associate around it. You ask, Why did I put this word down? What does it mean to me? Why did I put this noun down and not some other word? Do this and you’re on your way to being a good writer…”
“…I begin to write little pensées about the nouns. It’s prose poetry …I started to write short, descriptive paragraphs, two hundred words each, and in them I began to examine my nouns. Then I’d bring some characters on to talk about that noun and that place, and all of a sudden I had a story going.”
As a first effort in trying out Bradbury’s idea we could modify the process. As a start, you could try writing down a list of six nouns and then writing just a sentence or two about the noun that could be the lead-in or central idea for developing a story.
Here’s a list of four nouns I chose arbitrarily, followed by a written thought that might lead to a story idea.
Bubble-gum
“My addiction to constantly chewing bubble gum has caused problems for me, but if it were not for bubble gum, I would not have…”
Typewriter
“I wanted my typewriter to be one of those old-fashioned heavy ones like you used to see in movies about newspapers. I had a uniquely personal reason for this preference…”
Book
“If I had never read that book, my life would have been entirely different…”
Ink
“Just a few years ago, I could not write anything even slightly creative without having a specific color and brand of ink for my fountain pen, but now, things are quite different…”
You get the idea.
Why not make up your own list of perhaps six nouns and see if you can develop a micro-story or a poem based on the associations in your mind with each noun on your list.
You may be pleasantly surprised at the results you achieve.
* Interview by Sam Weller, The Paris Review, The Art of Fiction No. 203
You can read the entire interview at the following url:
http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/6012/the-art-of-fiction-no-203-ray-bradbury
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