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[ROOT]/includes/bbcode.php on line 112: preg_replace(): The /e modifier is no longer supported, use preg_replace_callback instead [phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/includes/functions.php on line 4668: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at [ROOT]/includes/functions.php:3815) [phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/includes/functions.php on line 4670: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at [ROOT]/includes/functions.php:3815) [phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/includes/functions.php on line 4671: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at [ROOT]/includes/functions.php:3815) [phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/includes/functions.php on line 4672: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at [ROOT]/includes/functions.php:3815) Horror World • View topic - Editing
Markus, I couldn't agree more with you. I'm nearly finished the first draft of my novella and let me tell you I'm far from happy with it. I know that when I finish the draft and come back to it in a month's time, I will not hesitate to get out my trusty red pen.
Rough drafts are exactly that - rough. If any author tells you 'I got my story perfected in one draft' (although this is rare) then they're lying. It is next to impossible to get it right the first time. You unleash the raw contents of your subconicious, then go back and re-work, flesh out your characters, strengthen and tighten up the prose.
I for one love editing - probably because I find that I can distance myself emotionally from my work and treat it like an editor would. If something isn't right, I don't hesitate - it gets cut.
Joined: Fri Oct 20, 2006 8:29 pm Posts: 20 Location: NY
That's an excellent tack, Chris, and you'll well-benefit from that ability to separate yourself after the ms is complete.
And you know what? You're never going to be happy with it. That's an artist's curse, especially a writer's. In my opinion? You don't even have a right to have a perspective on it -- leave that to fans and critics. I know when I've "nailed it," so to speak, but it's never perfect. I never look at a thing and say, "Man, this one's really great." I weigh it up against my original objective, and if I've hit somewhere close to that then that right there is a rousing success.
Good luck with the novella, I just completed one of my own that was a massive headache and still didn't cross the "legal" word count of 15k, but I'm not going to stuff it full of blather just to cross some artificial definition. I may still find what I need to get that word count, but for now I am content with where it's gotten.
I will say this, though. I just submitted something to the HOLY HORRORS anthology, and I felt like my prose matured a little on that one. There's a sincerity or something in that piece that I've never felt from my other stuff, even though this is just as raw and depraved as anything I've done before. If they reject it, I'll still know I did a fine piece of work there because of how I moved myself.
Joined: Wed Nov 22, 2006 3:24 pm Posts: 883 Location: New Jersey
I write without an outline, venturing forth into the dark, most times. It's a comfort once to having something with a beginning middle and end. I've found, however, that I like the end product of editting, knowing I've made something possible suck less. However, I like editting poems more, because the process is a bit quicker. Editting a novel seems to take FOREVER.
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For me editing is definitly the least fun part of writing, as I image it is with most people. The best I think is coming up with an idea to get excited about and around the midway point to the end of writing the first draft. The one thing that I do like to do when I edit my short stories is see how many words I can chop off of my word count and still keep the same story intact but have it flow much more smoothly.
Joined: Sun Aug 19, 2007 11:32 pm Posts: 171 Location: Boulder, Co
It definitely doesn't hold the pizzazz like a fresh write, but I get kind of excited about getting the words and the picture exactly the way I want. I'm kind of obsessive in a dark, twisted way, though. Hope you guys don't want to kill me. Maybe there's a story there.
My advice would be to not edit in isolation. Get as many people as you can to read through your draft and take their suggestions seriously. Editing is an enormous job and it can be difficult to massage your story into a final draft ready for publication. Just make sure you take your time with it and utilise any fresh eyes willing to help out.
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