You know what's actually getting more fun?
Editing.
I used to hate it. Getting a manuscript back with notes -- especially the big structural and conceptual suggestions and recommendations -- always had a huge gut-punch factor for me. Let's be honest, every writer starts out wanting to send in something perfect and pristine the first time around, to get it back with nothing but a big red lollipop taped the front and a note: BRILLIANT, YOU GENIUS -- DON'T YOU DARE CHANGE A WORD!
Of course this almost never happens. I mean, ideally you don't turn in some crippled, whimpering thing that requires what Hollywood calls a page-one rewrite (I've almost done that on occasion, most recently with No Doors, No Windows, and it can be taxing) but at the same time, you have to anticipate that wiser and more objective eyes than yours are going to find opportunities to improve your work.
A huge part of this has to do with how good your editors are. Right now I'm fortunate enough to be working with one of the best in the business, Shelly Shapiro, editor at large for Del Rey Books. Not only does Shelly have an amazing eye for story and character, but she's an expert in the Star Wars universe. As a writer, I feel for her the same sort of reverence and affection that a SWAT team member feels for his or her Kevlar vest. She's the bulletproof shield that protects me from my own ignorance, and on more than one occasion, she's saved my creative life.
Hyperbole, you scoff. How can anyone save anyone's creative life?
Well, I will tell you. Obviously a lot of it has to do with making the book the best it can be -- but I think the other aspect of the process is helping me remember what got me excited about the project in the first place. By asking the right questions about the choices that I've made throughout the first draft, an editor can re-ignite that essential spark that makes the difference between a dynamic, engaging story, and a mere string of words along the page.
And that's why editors rock.
5 comments:
I just want to note that the subtitle for your blog is untrue. Nobody died last month in a terrible car accident, so he's no longer reading this blog or any blogs.
vw: torionim
I agree with everything you said. But I must admit, I'm still striving for that lollipop. :)
xoxo
Sommer
オナニー
逆援助
SEX
フェラチオ
ソープ
逆援助
出張ホスト
手コキ
おっぱい
フェラチオ
中出し
セックス
デリヘル
包茎
逆援
性欲
Remember the first meeting I had with a professional editor and I was outraged OUTRAGED that anybody could think anything needed changing in it. Then, with the second one, you know, I was a little older, mid-twenties, and a little less precious and a little less of the opinion that I was a genius of GODLIKE proportions, so I played the game a little bit. Think the worst experience I had was with a small press who edited a novel I had written and took it upon themselves to add various cuss words, so that I couldn't show it to me gran :( so it goes both ways.
Dude, you're one of the luckiest authors out there to have Shelly on your side (but you know this), she's an absolute legend! :-)
Post a Comment