When you feel the text is just right. Yes, but how do you know that? Is it not possible to spoil a perfectly good text by editing too much? Can we really judge our own works fairly?
When you feel the text is just right. Yes, but how do you know that? Is it not possible to spoil a perfectly good text by editing too much? Can we really judge our own works fairly?
Constantin,
Like Jennifer says I think you are a natural writer. I love reading your work. Every time I see your name I get myself a cup of coffee, one cigarette, and sit down and start to read. Never been disappointed.
Damien
One thing to remember is that just because you have put something aside that does not mean to say you have left it unfinished.
Sometimes things need to be left alone for a while.
So don't worry or panic about this, and try to allow the time to pass. A week, a month, a year. Some stories simply need some time.
What I like to try to do, is return to a story several times.
The first edit is purely grammar and spelling. The basics. I don't look at anything else - plot or characterization etc.
Then after this edit (again the timescale differs from story to story) I come back and ask myself a few questions.
What was the theme of this story?
Did I express/explain/describe that theme satisfactorily?
Did the central character exist within that theme in a way that I can believe?
When I answer no to one of these questions then I take time to think about how I can remedy this. What it is about the story that has made me answer "no".
Often, if you deal with one of these questions, the others resolve themselves accordingly as you edit.
It's extremely difficult to do this however, and I am not going to pretend that the discipline required to be so clinical about your own work is something that comes naturally. It has to be learned simply by allowing it to become a habit.
Remember also that perfection is your enemy.
Nothing will ever be perfect. It can always be changed/improved/tinkered with.
But that leads to a cycle of frustration because everything you write is then incomplete.
When a work reaches a stage that you can answer the above questions (or others of your choosing) in the affirmative then try to let it go.
Give t to a careful and trusted reader. Explain to them what it was you were trying to achieve with the story and ask them to read it with this in mind. Get them to analyse it for you.
If you like, get another reader to read it. This time one that you ask simply to read it for pleasure and not with a critical eye. Is the story enjoyable, that's all you want to know.
If they have any useful feedback you can decide what to take on board.
Then leave it. And go write something else ;-)
P.S. Constantin, from what I have read of your work so far, I'd say you are a very natural and very talented writer, so please keep going!
Thank you all for such prompt replies.
Victoria, I have tried to listen to my mother’s advice and stay away from writing, but it kept coming back to me. Even if I wasn’t writing things on paper, there were always stories writing themselves in my head. So I do hope you are only kidding when you say that about your children.
Damien, your last paragraph says it all. I feel the same: I alternate between love and hate for my text, and sometimes, which is even more disturbing, the two feelings are simultaneous. It’s hard to keep them in check.
Jean, you are blessed with many friends then. I live a rather solitary life and the few friends I have refuse to say anything bad about my work, unless it’s about grammar or punctuation. It happens sometimes that I dream about the story that I’m writing and on these occasions I prefer to start working immediately after I wake up.
David, no, nothing goes to the bin. I have snippets of text that don’t say anything to me anymore, but I hope they might be useful one day. You have a good memory, but my ideas tend to disappear if I don’t write them down. I try to carry a little notebook with me and write down at least some words that might trigger the memory.
Katherine, I admire your perseverance. Many times, I find it very difficult to return to my texts.