W is for Writing and Re-writing

Imagine that you have just finished your very first short story - a veritable mini-masterpiece of wit and erotic tension leading to a very fine description of a spanking that will echo in the butt of every reader.   Guess what every managing editor will now recommend you do with it?   Go back and rewrite it.   As if from scratch.

The hardest chore the beginning author is tasked with is rewriting what has already been written.   Particularly if the said author is bursting with pride at the wonderfulness of the literary gem awaiting to be released upon a grateful public.

But it is a discipline that has so much to commend it that I would suggest that if you do not already do it, you should start doing it as soon as possible.

Some ideas of how to go about doing a rewrite:

• Read the whole tale aloud to see how well it really hangs together, and if the plot develops in a natural and unforced manner.
• Take each paragraph in turn and ask what the paragraph is supposed to achieve, and whether it actually achieves it.
• Then look at each sentence to see if it can be crafted better:  perhaps by breaking it up into several sentences, perhaps by using different words that are more effective.
• And repeat the entire sequence you come up with, at least twice.

All the time you are looking for possible changes to the plot, plot flow, point of view and the actual minutia of word-craft itself.   For example look just how much the following opening paragraphs changed through the process of the rewrite.

The original opening paragraph was:

“Ladies, Gentlemen, let me present you with the XBot 2505!” announced Doctor James Gayhaus with the wild over-enthusiasm often adopted by academics that have been given the task of acting as a pitch-man for a new product launch.

Which turned into:

The doorbell rang, and a few seconds later I opened it to find a very attractive female standing on my door step.   She was without doubt the most beguiling and enchanting young minx I had ever encountered.   She wore smart and sassy attire that was both business casual and seductress at large.   My mouth dropped slightly.

I am not suggesting that your final version will be so dramatically different from the first draft - just pointing out that you might be surprised just how big a change takes place during the process.

In doing the due diligence of pre-publication review, you may unearth many little literary gems with which to enhance your work and the reading pleasure of your audience.   So - I would opine - you really ought to take on the task of doing the re-write phase with positive enthusiasm for what it might bring.

Stream of consciousness may be a fine method of creating that first draft:  but it is extremely rare that it is a fine method of producing the finished work.   If you get my drift...