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| Who is it that speaks through your characters? We call this a muse at times or wonder where that creative spark is if we are stumped by the page. A well seasoned fiction writer knows how much life to give a character and how much to talk through. We are never truly far from ourselves whenever we write. We may study a character for hours and jot notes about them. At times they may represent lives we know little of ourselves but they never truly reach that escape velocity that propels them away from us. They are parts of us. |
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I have been editing my novel and finding that I truly dislike what I see. Not genius enough. I find myself judging it to be too complicated in sentence structure and wordy and nothing like what I like to read. I usually read non-fiction. I’m a historian and I love reading what someone else has researched and penned for me to soak up the facts and the scenes and understand something else of our world’s history. But the characters are there and they are part of me having spent the last five years with them. They are frail at times, mean at others, cold and unfeeling or at least stubborn when faced with their own faults. They are not super human or heroic in the traditional sense. They are soldiers who live with their decisions and their commitments and face the stress of service as best they can. They lack the modern equivalent of the brave captain or the action hero of the 1980’s. They are normal and faced with abnormal circumstances. In a sense they are very like me. I was a normal soldier in my time in the Army. I didn’t stand out and I didn’t want to stand out. I had no particular genius in what I did but I did it and at times wondered what I might do if faced with the call of combat. Luckily I did not have to answer that question.
But in the editing of this story I find I cannot see anything in my characters that does not reflect upon me. I suspect I wanted something more revealing to come out or to be faced with something that was going to enthrall like I hope to with my audience. I know too much about them, these flawed likenesses of me. I wanted something to get lost in or to at least be able to say that what I have created will speak volumes about humanity. Instead I see only those things that are all too familiar. It is a cruel trick to play upon the self to not be able to step out of the role of writer and see again through the eyes of the characters as they were written. The creator can never take on the guise of the audience when his or her own work is involved. Never to be the entertained and always the fretful parent on school play night is the lot for us. We shall never enjoy what we do but always want to do something more.
I have renewed respect for those who make their living editing. My wife is adding a first read edit to my work before I ship it all off to a professional editor for a tiered approach to editing. To sift through odd sentences, run on sentences, incomplete sentences, and sentences that should be three or four instead of one is not a job for the weak of heart or soft of spirit. I know we all have done it on this site to help out our fellow writers and to some degree or another we do it with some skill or at least with a good college try. But to do this day in and day out from the cash cow authors who do not even bother to re-read their work before shipping it off to the publisher paying a handsome price for editing services or to the rank amateurs shipping off pages to free lance editors is truly a thankless job (though I suppose the money earned does have some motivation). I’m a run-on man myself followed by the overly complicated sentences with clause after dangling clause swinging about the page muddying up the prose. Where and were used interchangeably along with to and too and a host of other mistakes that slip off the typing fingers with little or no recognition of their misuse to speak of. In the end however it is up to those characters and the thoughts I wanted to be on the page. An editor can clean up the prose and perhaps at a handsome price but they cannot fix what cannot be fixed. The story rises and falls on plot and character. No formula or outline can guarantee me a good read. For that alone I wonder why I even attempted it. Are these thoughts worthy of the effort? Are these thoughts worthy of this news letter? 
The egalitarian in me says that any effort to write is worthy of the authors attempt. An idea fleshed out and written is an achievement. It may be a small one but one nonetheless. I’m learning to strike that balance between the needs of the moment in editing and the needs of the ego in outcome. I’m learning to decide what words need to stay and what need to go. I’m learning that it is just a story and a first one at that and despite what I do not like myself it is something I worked long on. I see other writers wondering aloud if their work is worth the start. How does one respond to that? Yes or no? I know we want to say yes but is there ever an answer that is no? Again, the egalitarian says no. But is there really a yes to a question that is not the right one to begin with? I suppose to the asker of the question there is a seeking for assurance that the effort won’t be in vain. I’m sure there are those who would love to say “no” and feel they have done the literary world a service. But to say “yes” is equally fruitless when the effort is all on the writer who is looking for a bucking up in the wrong direction. A storyline does not tell itself. A character can be remolded and turned around or killed off and a story finally find its meaning in the larger context of life. Those characters can only do what we have in ourselves to have them do and they live to the amount we have lived.
In the end I suppose my editing and worry over my characters is a reflection of my disaffection with myself. They can only do and be so much. If they lack the genius I was expecting then I am trying to live vicariously through them like the obsequious lost glory seeking parent living and pushing through their progeny. I gave them birth and now they are what they are. I need to let them live the life I gave them.
What editing strategies do you employ?
phil1861
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A few links on editing, editors, and rejection I found.
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Questions from the 12/20/06 NL.
If you have published something what did you discover about yourself in the process?
What where the lessons learned from the mistakes?
georgesm
Submitted Comment:
Pookie, you rock, I love your commentary especially when it comes to defending your own works, you solidly and almost spiritually believe that your story comes first, and with this I totally agree..
I hope to read your works and I will keep a sharp eye out for them, and I just wanted to thank you for giving this writer that so called Nuts, to keep on plugging on because I know that my stories are my own great works of art, and no matter what comes out, as long as it is truly from inside of you, it is a masterpiece... georgesM
Brook 
Submitted Comment:
Thanks for the advice. I know it's hard to get out there, even though I usally get enthusiastic praise from my family. Brook
billwilcox
Submitted Comment:
"A work of art or creativity is never completed; it just ends in interesting places." I love that. Write On!
writeone
Submitted Comment:
Thanks for the newsletter. I just omitted an entire cast of characters from my novel in progress. It was difficult mostly because it took away about 20,000 words, but it was also easy because I really didn't care for the way one character was turning out. It was becoming a subplot that didn't move the story along and when I came to his part, I dreaded getting inside his head.
As far as editing goes, I have an old English Prof who edited his work over 20 times (I think that was the right number), but I read an interview with Nora Roberts and she said she only eidts three times or so and then sends things out. I think you have to get to the point of where you think you'll be sick to death if you have to look at it one more time, and then that might be when you are finished. As far as putting it out there, I haven't come to that point yet, well, with shorts, I have, but not my novel. Perhaps one day ...
windac
wrote an e-mail to me that I thought I'd include along with these other comments.
Dear thePookie,
After reading your issue of the For Authors NL today, several thoughts
came to mind that I'm compelled to share with you.
First, I can relate to the subject matter, especially when it comes to my
poetry. Once it's written, and I feel it portrays my feelings correctly, there
will be no more revisions - no matter the critique given. The same goes for my
own monthly issue of the Spiritual NL. Of course, when under a
deadline, one can only make so many revisions.
Secondly, I found the beginning of your issue rather rocky at best. Not
wanting to hurt your feelings, speak out of turn, or give advice without being
asked, the urge to send an e-mail was just too great. And so, here I am,
probably doing exactly what I just said I didn't want to do. For this I ask
your forgiveness!
Take a look at the entire first paragraph, and the first sentence of the second
paragraph below as it was written. The words 'complete' or 'completed' appear
six times (highlighted in bold). I'm no professional, but redundancy runs
rampant here.
As I mentioned several months ago I finally completed a work that
took me almost twenty years to complete. True, the completed work
had gone through a complete revision at least once during this time but
the story remained basically the same. Complete but not over by far as
the many decisions and steps have now to be employed as any work that comes out
of draft must. How much work to put into it? How many times to read and re-read
it? How many times to re-write each and every sentence for clarity and
storyline? Editors and publishers and agents and book bindings and … well, you
get the picture.
A work of art or creativity is never completed; it just ends in
interesting places.
Thirdly, and lastly, it would seem that you are not prone to the overuse of
punctuation. To my eye (as non-professional as it may be), there are places
where the use of commas would greatly enhance your writing style.
You convey your message really well, but with a bit of spit and polish, this
would be an astounding piece of work.
Again, please forgive me if I've stepped on any toes. This was certainly not
my intent.
May you and yours have a joyous and blessed holiday season!
~wind~
I replied back to Wind thanking her for her comments on the writing and noting the rough spots.
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For Authors: January 24, 2007 Issue [#1510]
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