Writing, again

[ellenkushner]

And I finished the first draft of the story on Tuesday night (around 1:30 am), after we got back from seeing Oroonoko (and interesting collaboration between 17c novelist Aphra Behn & contemporary Nigerian playwright Biyi Bandele, which deliasherman has already written up). I don't always have that kind of energy after a long day & evening out, but I'd been working so steadily on it I didn't want to lose the momentum - and besides, I knew I wouldn't really have any writing time for the next 5 days, and it was so close I could taste it.

Since these entries are partly to document my Process - one of them, anyway; I'm not all that consistent, and am interested in getting down a record of this one - here goes. What made it "finished" is that I got the whole piece typed into my computer. A few days previously, I had finished my longhand draft (remember those inks?) in my notebook. The final scene - well, the climactic scene; the actual final scene I had written on the back of a piece of scrap paper pretty early in the process - The critical penultimate scene was drafted, twice, and I knew that neither one was quite right, but at least I'd gotten something down and saw ways it worked and didn't work. And, yeah, I'd been hoping for it to come as another one-shot Gift from my hardworking subconscious; but I wasn't surprised that it didn't, since it's pretty subtle and needs to play off of every single scene that's come before. Undismayed, then, I knew it was time to move on to Part Two of the process: where I type it all up, revising as I go.

I love what happens when I type a new draft. Engaging my whole body in a draft is very different from running my eyes over it to scribble in corrections, and always produces good results - because I do revise as I go, almost as if I were writing it fresh. I call it "running it through my body again." Synapses fire, as I go through the thing in realtime (typing) sequence again. [And that, my young friends, is how we Used to Write, before computers made it unnecessary. And something has been gained, and something has been lost.]

Sure enough, when I got to that scene on Tuesday night, it was very clear to me where I'd gone wrong the other 2 times, how I had to simplify, simplify, and get to the meat of it without indulging in complicated fun & games. (And since I'd written scenes out of order, I also had to write into the final scene convincingly, eliminating any unsightly seams.) I did it, and typed in (tweaking only slightly) my original ending, and it all felt OK to me then, so I was done.

I'm not sure it's all perfect yet - in fact, I'm sure it's not. I need to do some fact-checking (horses and fly-fishing, if you must know). And I need to print it out - possibly in a fresh type face so my eyes can see if fresh - and read it over critically. And show it to my nearest and dearest who happens to be a genius editor, and probably a few trusted colleagues not quite as familiar with the workings of my fevered brain, to see if they go "Huh?" at any point. And then I'll squint at it again, and type in the fixes, and send it off.

And when it's sold, I'll let you know the contents. But it would be bad luck, before that.

Hope your own creative efforts are flourishing - and if they're not, that you're goofing off in exactly the right ways to prime the pump.

Comments

[jaycine.livejournal.com]

congratulations on it all coming
in together. it's magic every time.
and thanks for sharing your writing
process with us.

i always find it fascinating to
see how we all work a little differently.

can't wait till the story is
done done and you can share details. =)

[tasiha.livejournal.com]

amazing and awesome. Isn't that "clicking" process wonderful? I wish it could be marketed... it'd be like CRACK, I swear...

[ninstorage.livejournal.com]

Contemporary Nigerian Playwright? *perk*

Oh, and I adore Aphra Behn.

Good luck and congrats w/ the writing!

[epithalamium]

I've just been revising the stories that I'm going to pass for my thesis, and just last night I was going over the printed material for perhaps the third time and wondering if anyone in his right mind would actually do what I have done (and would still be doing)... well, question answered. ::smile:: I kindo of expected myself to get tired of the stories before I'm done, but I just realized that I was in fact enjoying rewriting stuff. It's sort of like visiting a room you really really love and getting to decide what stuff you could take with you and stuff you can throw away.

Anyway, good luck! Thanks for sharing... and making me feel like I'm doing things the right way, if there is one.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I've never read any Behn, and wondered how many "liberties" were taken with her original text . . . .

[ninstorage.livejournal.com]

I skimmed past "Oroonooko" one semester when I was teaching "The Rover" - I'm pretty intrigued now too. I guess you would know because you watched it.

Here's an e-text version of Oroonooko, should you wish to check ;)

http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/b/behn/aphra/b42o/

Also, if you get a chance, read/watch "The Rover"...it's pretty interesting to compare against the other Restoration comedies of the time, especially the disturbing parts. My students (mostly all-female groups) had a field day with it.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

" It's sort of like visiting a room you really really love and getting to decide what stuff you could take with you and stuff you can throw away. "

A lovely metaphor! I'm glad you're enjoying it. I don't really understand people who say, "Ah, writing is such torture!" Sometimes it is, sure, but the rest . . . . I mean, come on. No one forces us to make this choice. It's not like you can make a living at it.

[epithalamium]

My professor tells students to learn to "take in other people's laundry" and learn to write critical essays if we wanted to earn money by writing. It's kind of funny when people ask me what I'm studying in college and I tell them I'm a creative writing major... most of the look blank before talking about something else, or ask me what I expect to do after graduating. I say 'advertising' to shut them up, but I'm really not sure how I'm going to end up.
Still, it's not like we can run away from the characters running amok in our heads.