[stylist] How could I improve this story?

Tue May 1 17:21:59 UTC 2012

Okay, taking on this daunting task of changing my "shitty-first-draft" into 
a working document begs I ask one more question.  I've already broken the 
book into chapters, putting each one in a separate file.  Now I'm working on 
writing out character descriptions--as it stands now.  When I rewrite the 
chapters, should I ditch most of them and just keep the parts I really like?

Yes, I had writing classes in school, but I was the perfectionist who only 
wrote down the final draft of things after much thinking about it.  My 
college composition class, I always had to do the brainstorming ideas after 
I wrote the paper to satisfy the teacher's requirement.  She didn't know 
what to do with my habit either.  I don't know how to sit down and just 
write for writing's sake.
Barbara

Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance. -- Carl Sandburg
-----Original Message----- 
From: Barbara Hammel
Sent: Monday, April 30, 2012 8:46 PM
To: Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] How could I improve this story?

I downloaded both of the books you suggested.
Barbara

Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance. -- Carl Sandburg
-----Original Message----- 
From: Chris Kuell
Sent: Monday, April 30, 2012 5:51 PM
To: Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] How could I improve this story?

Barbara,

My first suggestion is that you download/request a book called 'Bird by
Bird' by Anne Lamott. It's an absolutely wonderful book on writing and life.
The title derives from a story she tells about her brother. One time in
school he had to write a report on the birds of North America. He puts it
off because he's overwhelmed by the topic. Finally he asks his father--how
can I possibly write a report about the birds of North America? "Bird by
bird," his father answers him. "Just take it bird by bird."

My second suggestion is that you try to adopt a new attitude. Writing isn't
easy. Sure, penning your thoughts or sketching a few rhymes can be fun and
enjoyable and you don't have to break a sweat. But to be what I'd call a
'great writer' takes hard work, no matter what type of writing you do.
Anybody can throw words down on a page, but only a writer can make them come
to life.

The work of writing comes in creation, editing, revising, rewriting, and
polishing. There isn't a book or essay out there that you thought was great
that wasn't slaved and sweated over by the writer who crafted it.

We are actually fortunate these days because writing on a computer is so
easy. A hundred or more years ago, writers wrote draft after draft by hand.
They didn't have spell checking or google to double check their work and
facts. They couldn't get feedback from half-a-dozen friends across the
country within a few hours. I remind you of this to help give you
perspective.

My third recommendation is that you read over your first chapter, then think
about how you would like to change it. Think about what would make the
chapter better, the characters more realistic, what details will bring the
setting to life for the reader. Then sit down with a blank document open and
rewrite it. Don't be afraid of the work. Writing is hard work, but it's not
the coal mines. J.D. Salinger spent 10 years writing and rewriting 'Catcher
in the Rye' over and over again until he got it right.

Several years ago I drafted a longish short story, about nine thousand
words, which I was pretty proud of. It took me about two weeks of writing
every day to finish it. On the first day of the third week I opened the
document--and it was gone. To this day I don't know what happened to it. All
I can figure is that I did a select all to adjust formatting, then did
something to delete the text (easier to do years ago) then saved the blank
document. Doesn't matter, my story was gone. So I cried, I swore, I broke a
few things. Once I'd accepted that the story was truly gone, I sat down and
wrote it again. This time it turned out to be about six thousand words, and
you know what? It was even better. Firstly, I cut out a lot of the boring
stuff, but remembered all the lines I'd written that were really strong.
Secondly, in the first writing of the story, I grew to truly know the
characters. In the second writing, I did a much better job at bringing them
to life. Now, it still wasn't publishable, and in fact I think I revised it
5 more times until I had it just right. It was published in 'Bewildering
Stories', and later republished in the anthology, 'The Best of Bewildering
Stories'. In all honesty, I probably put more than 150 hours of work into
that single story. That's why I say good writing is hard work.

Now, the good news is that the more you put work into the craft, the better
you get at it. It still takes a lot of work, rewriting and revising and
editing, but you do get better and better at it. You can also see how your
stories or essays improve, which makes the process a little easier.

Yes, the tone of your story may change. But honestly, it will probably
change for the better. If you want to be a good writer and not just a
hobbyist, don't shy away from the work. Reading books on the craft can be
very helpful. BARD doesn't have it, but I think web braille or bookshare
does, but I highly recommend a book called 'Self Editing for Fiction
Writers' by King and Brown. It's an excellent resource that walks you
through the entire process of turning that mediocre first draft into
something you can feel really good about.

Are you up to the challenge?

chris

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