Ran across this tonight. Michael Bracken has touched on this topic on his blog and for the more experienced writers it makes a lot of sense. For us beginners - maybe not quite so much.
"Revising Short Fiction is for Suckers" by Jeremiah Tolbert. Here's the link http://www.jeremiahtolbert.com/revising-short-fiction-is-for-suckers/
So, where do you stand on short story revisions? Are they worth it or just a waste of time? The floor is open. I'll catch up with you in the morning.
7 comments:
Revise until you think your story is publishable. Then stop. Submit it. Write another story.
The more you write, the better you'll get, and the fewer revisions you'll need to make a story publishable.
Someday you might even be able to sell a first draft.
I have.
But that was back when I wrote on a typewriter.
Now that I use a computer and word processing software, there's no clear way to know how many drafts a story (or parts of a story) has gone through.
I can kind of see the point. Assuming of course that one can put out very good early drafts. I've written first drafts that needed only minor tweaking, but these were very short stories (some of my Muzzle Flash pieces, for example, came out whole and ready to go.)
But I tend to pour the words out first, then clean them up later. I guess that makes me a sucker... but I also give a lot of my work away to non-paying markets, too.
To each their own.
You're right about revising on the computer, Michael. I write in bits and pieces through the day so every time I open the file I start at the beginning and change things as I go through to pick up the story again.
I still need to go through a story several times to make sure every thing makes sense, that I've put enough clues into the mystery, and that the names haven't changed from beginning to end ( that I have done! )
I'm looking forward to the day when I type END on the first draft and know I've got it right enough to send out.
Yeah, I tend to submit to non-paying markets, too, Clair. But I probably spend more time revising my flash pieces than I do the longer ones.
With the flash, staying in the word count and getting that perfect word is more important than with a longer piece.
There's not many paying markets, but I like the challenge of flash stories and keeping the writing concise and to the point. I think by writing so many flash pieces that its made my longer stories stronger.
I guess I am writing for myself more than anyone and rewriting is my favorite part of writing. If I had to make a living from it, my attitude might be different. Or if my skills were more polished.
I edited this comment three times to get it right, for instance. I don't pour words out---I fuss over each one as if the "word" was the thing. Maybe I should have stayed with poetry.
I'm just the opposite, Patti. Words pour out of me at an alarming rate when I'm writing a first draft and they're usually crap. I have to revise to actually find the story.
And I know what you mean about editing comments, I do the same things. Even the blog posts tend to get edited all day long as I find missing words, wrong words and commas that have gone missing. :-)
I revise whatever it is I write: fiction or non-fiction. There is always something to do to make the piece shine for the reader.
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