As anyone knows who’s been reading this blog, my current project is a first for me. I’m taking a manuscript I wrote a while ago and revising it – hopefully not only to reflect an older and wiser me, but to include more of the facets of writing that I’ve learned over the years.
I’m trying to decide if revising an entire book will be easier than starting over with basically the same plot and writing a whole new book. As I’ve discovered with past books, I go through a sort of ritual with each new project. You can take a peek at that by scrolling back on this very blog, to see how each new story begins with nothing less than massive insecurity, a struggle to get readable words on a page until things finally start to gel somewhere on or after the first 100 pages.
At the very least, all that should be avoided by rewriting something, right?
Not so.
I might encounter a laugh or two, and marvel at the confidence I’ve gained since writing this manuscript years ago.
Or maybe… maybe I’ll fall back into old habits, be unable to cut a single word until my editor swoops in to help. Talk about insecurities!
So far, having read a few chapters of this old manuscript, I’m relieved to find I wasn’t mistaken about the project having a solid plot and workable characters. But I find myself cringing when I add even a single word, hoping soon I’ll come to a chapter I can cut. Or two. Or three. Because it really is too long.
Cutting is easier when you have a deadline and an editor in your mind. An editor whom you know will say “Do we really need this?” Or “Is this advancing the story?” Or “Since this was brought out previously, can we cut it here?”
And so that’s where my thoughts will be as I continue with this project. Perhaps I’ll print out some questions like these and tape them to my screen.
I’ve always said I’m a better rewriter than writer, so I hope that will still be true by the time I type “The End” on this manuscript.
Join Me!