First of all, check this out – my new Amy Green website – isn’t it cute? And I’ve landed myself a second daily blog too – am I nuts or what? But this one is nearly over – phew!

http://www.askamygreen.com/home.htm

Right, back to work – for you that is!

Re-writing – I tend to break it down into 3 stages:

1/ The 1st or structural rewrite
At this stage I print out the whole manuscript and read through my work carefully, pen or pencil in hand.
I make a lot of notes on the pages ? I hand write new scenes, add other shorter scenes to make the story flow properly, take out scenes.
I sometimes cut out whole subplots and unnecessary characters.
I re-arrange chapters.
I work on making the opening more dramatic and the ending better
Sometimes, I add more drama ? more life events maybe, a death, a marriage.
I cut out any scene/section of dialogue that slows down the action.

In other words, I do everything I can possibly think of to make the book better. I type in all the changes.

Then I print it out again and start over – tweaking, rewriting etc.

Then I type all those notes in, print out again and move on to stage 2:
2/ Rewriting for meaning

I make sure the book runs logically ? especially if the time shifts around. And I make sure what I’m trying to say in book comes across as I want it to. That the whole book’s theme hangs together and makes sense. That all my characters act ‘in character’ and speak ‘in character’ through their dialogue.

Then, yes, I type all the changes in and then move on to stage 3:

3/ Rewriting for style
I tighten up my dialogue, tighten up all the prose. Cut out anything, ANYTHING unnecessary. Tweak works, tweak sentences. And yes, correct spelling mistakes, change lazy things – like ‘as hot as Texas’, ‘as cool as a cucumber’ – v, v bad and lazy!

Then, and only then, do I let me editor near my work. And once she has seen it – I start all over again – this time working off her notes!

And yes, it takes ages – but it’s worth it. Sometimes I don’t think people realise how much work goes into the writing, rewriting, and rewriting of a book . . .

Finally, more great quotes – well, a story and a quote.

When Hemingway was asked if he revised much, he answered by handing across a story and telling his interviewer to take it home and read it carefully and tell him the next day if there was a single word in it that could be cut. The interviewer decided that this was Hemingway?s way of telling him that the story had already undergone many revisions.

[i]At one time I thought the most important thing was talent. I think now that the young man or young woman must possess or teach himself, training himself, in infinite patience, which is to try and to try until it comes right. He must train himself in ruthless intolerance ? that is to throw away anything that is false no matter how much he might love that page or that paragraph. That most important thing is insight, that is ? curiosity ? to wonder, to mull, and to consider why is it that man does what he does, and if you have that, then I don?t think talent makes much difference.[/i]
William Faulkner, Paris Review interview

Tomorrow, preparing your manuscript for submission (after many, many rewrites of course!)

All the best,

Sarah X…