Tuesday 8 February 2011

I am ready to begin the redraft but, oh...

its like I am sitting my finals again ...if I bit my nails there'd be none left by now...its just that initial picking up the pen and going back from the beginning again..I really want to do it, it just seems hugely daunting.
BG

2 comments:

  1. Have you finished the first draft then?

    Oddly enough, doing various courses has affected my way of writing so once I've written a chapter I feel like I need to go back and make it into a state that I wouldn't feel too uncomfortable presenting to a workshop -- makes for slow going.

    Incidentally, I don't know if I mentioned but there's no reading aloud in an Emily workshop -- makes for a very different interpretation of the writing. It's a relief to me to not having to read the extract but I feel that on Saturday I may end up getting a more thorough examination on deeper aspects of the novel.

    How are you going to do the redraft? I remember Rick saying that writers should throw everything they've written in the waste bin and start completely fresh again.

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  2. Hi Mike
    Ive decided to wait a bit longer. Interesting what you say about advice on re drafting and also your own experiences with writing and re writing as you go. I suppose my approach is somewhere in between what you are doing and what Rick advises. Ive got most of my material now and the plot is clear. Ive workshopped most of this material with Emma and so alot of this doesnt need much further work. But there is some material that needs a complete re write and some gaps too. I - like you - tend to go over what I have written as I am writing so my first draft of something when Emma sees it is actually more like a third draft. Some times I seem to get it right at this point; at others times not. I am writing my novel a bit like a jigsaw puzzle.. .writing scenes and sections not necessarily in order but what ever I fancy or just comes. But as I say I now have most of the material done.
    I am feeling a little low emotionally right at this moment- tango not going well and disappointed with Buenos Aires scene...also just am feeling low - as one does from time . So I may keep writing what ever comes until I feel able to start the redraft from the beginning. Emma says not to put myself under pressure about it but I want to complete it within the next few months. Its do-able definately but I just need the right frame of mind - that isnt something which is always do-able!
    BG

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