posted
OK I'll admit it. I finished writing a story and it felt good, it felt really good. And in my mind it's a great story.
But I'ms cared to go back and read it, for fear that my immortal story will have glaring weaknesses and imperfections. I know I need to edit it, etc. but I'm just intimidated by the whole thing.
posted
Rule of thumb: the writing that's been lost, in cyberspace or in the mail, is the best you'll ever do, and you'll never be able to do them again as well even if you can bring yourself to make the attempt.
*****
On finishing a story and going back to it...well, once it's done, all you want to be is "done with it." (That's why writing the end usually goes so fast compared to the rest of it.) Going in for another look is too much for your exhausted mind to take right now.
But now is the time when you've got to force yourself to look at it, to assess its strengths and weaknesses, and go back and fix them. If you don't want to wait for a while to let it cool off---get to it.
[edited to add a single left-out word---hopefully the only one]
[This message has been edited by Robert Nowall (edited August 12, 2008).]
posted
Well I dodn't do it yesterday. But I have to do it today. Or, at least, I have to convince myself to do it--today.
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posted
The good news is that sometimes it's not as bad as you think it is. The bad news is that sometimes it's not as good as you think it is.
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Is there anyone with a complete work who can't think of at least one thing they would go back to change?
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Or in my case, since I have nothing published and there for nothing irreversible, I can think of things I'm not completely satisfied with - but not better ways to do them.
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Here's what you do: The optimal place would your favorite thrift store because those shelves are stocked with the books people threw out, but you can chose any place that has lots of books, pick up a few and read like a page or two of each, (Depending on how fast of a reader you are...) and you will find that just like in every aspect of our lives, there are people out there that are better -- but man, there are a lot of really bad books in print! That's the whole reason I wrote my first full length novel, because I saw the crap that got published. These people have to know someone. I think that OSC said something along those same lines in his commentary on Audible.com's edition of Ender's Game.
Don't be scared. You won't ever get it exactly the way you want it. I've had to say that to myself over and over again. Never stop striving for perfection, but never fear of not reaching it stop you. I garuntee the author's of some of your favorite books opened their first copy, got into it, and at some point, said 'awww crap.' when they came across something else. (At least that is what I tell myself to make me feel better -- and it works)
quote:Well I dodn't do it yesterday. But I have to do it today. Or, at least, I have to convince myself to do it--today.
So... did you do it?
When I did this, the first time I finished my book, I was scared too. But the truth is that there's good and bad in there. I bet you'll find stuff, as I did, that simply amazes you. "I wrote that??" you'll think. "That's brilliant!" And then, of course, there's the cringe-inducing bad stuff. So it's both, just don't forget to recognize the stuff that's good just as much as you mark the stuff that's bad.
quote: I can think of things I'm not completely satisfied with - but not better ways to do them.
Yeah, I feel you. But that's good. It means you're learning as a writer, and you will improve if you keep striving for better ways. Maybe try something new. Experiment.
posted
Yes I did return to revise and I liked what I read. Either it is good, or else I'm deluded into thinking it's good, either way I feel satisfied. Thanks!
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posted
I don't find submitting scary. What gives me the roller coaster feeling is opening the email/envelope that I get in reply. You guys?
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posted
No, responses don't scare me. I simply assume they're rejections until and unless they prove otherwise.
Frankly, pessimistic though that may seem, it is also wise. You will receive far far more rejections than acceptances, no matter how good a writer you are. I know of someone who has several novels published/under contract and has had over 200 short stories published. Last time I checked with him, he sold on about one in four submissions overall, rising to about one in seven when you take out subs where he's been asked to contribute to an anthology. So if you take the 1 in 7 figure, that still means he is getting 85% rejection responses, for things he's sending out on spec.
posted
No, it's not dismal. It's simple fact. And if you're serious about writing, you have to learn to accept that and be prepared towork through it.
I'm not pretending it's easy, but you have to do it. I was lucky; I sold my first ever submission (which was to something called "Orson Scott card's Intergalactic Medicine Show", as it happens...), and that was a huge help when later on I went for nine or ten months without a sale. I suspect if my first twenty or thirty subs had been rejected, I might have given up completely - but in fact I sold three of my first six (and the numbers have, of course, been dropping ever since, because statistics will always catch you up).
The point is that even the big names get rejections. No-one sells everything they write on the first attempt (you CAN sell everything you write, if you're lucky and persistent and good enough, but you CAN'T do it first time out).
posted
Well the truest thing about life is that it's always harder than it looks. And that sucks. I'm not saying it's unworkable, or beyond redemption. Sometimes the suckiness makes the rare sweet bite taste even sweeter. But there is plenty of garbage to plough through along the way. And that sucks.
[This message has been edited by Zero (edited August 21, 2008).]
posted
I spend ages editing out my bad habits, then pick up a book by a certain writer, and behold! He's doing every one of the things that make me wince in my own writing, and getting away with it.
Never mind, it's as much to do with getting over said habits (like putting semicolons in every other sentence) as getting this manuscript 'right'.
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