Student: “Hmmm, hot water, Ms. Grace! For your coffee fix?”
Me: You know me so well.
Student: Hahaha. I’ve always meant to ask you—how many times do you rewrite a story?
Me: Before or after I send it to my publisher?
Student: Before.
Me: Countless times. Back and forth, forth and back. There’s always a better word, a better turn of phrase, a better paragraph.
Student: (Shocked) What?! Me, after writing a story, I don’t want to go back to it anymore.
Me. Why not?
Student: Because that’s the best I could do. I already gave my all. Besides, if I rewrote the story, it might change and go off tangent from my original intent.
Me. You have absolute control over how your story would go. You could stay put, or stray, or totally turn around.
Student: If I rewrite, what happens to my original story?
Me: Like I said, you could do either one of three ways: 1) stay—just tweak it here and there to improve the language or syntax, making it more interesting; 2) stray—adding new facts, new voices, new sounds here and there, giving the original storyline added dimensions; 3) spin—write the story in a totally different style or format, but retaining the essence.
Student: See, I was right, rewriting is tricky!
Me. It is in the rewriting, or revising, that you win or lose your reader. When you finish a story, that’s called the first draft, where you use your heart. Then when you look at it again, that’s when you use your head—how to make it worth the readers’ while. And that requires rewriting and rewriting and rewriting until it sings!
Student: I guess I need to look at my story again.
Me: Yes, please. You’ll be surprised at how much rewriting you want to do.
3 comments:
This is very helpful. Thank you!
Rewriting is the essence of writing, right?
Why didn't I think of that before. You're right!
Post a Comment