Not a bad mantra by any means. But what about when it comes to writing?
I spent several years penning a magnum opus that went
nowhere, despite, ironically, being a travel novel. Although I know Heinlein
says not to rewrite except on editorial order, I’ve abandoned the book; this
thing wasn’t even good enough to get an editor to order anything at all about
it.
After all that work, however, I was reluctant to ditch
completely what I had written. So, I did a copy and paste job to about 20K
words into my WIP Nyasaland. As long
as I know I won’t use the scenes again, why not put that previous hard work to
good use?
Nyasaland is more
or less done, it just needs some ironing out. It struck me in the rereads,
however, that I like the new parts much more than the parts salvaged from the
old book. In fact, the older scenes are the most difficult to get through and
to edit. But why?
Possibility 1. I
have improved as a writer. This is my favorite option, since I get to be a smarty pants, and I’m sure it’s true
to some degree. Maybe there is a reason not even my girlfriends couldn't finish
reading it (yes, the writing and rewriting outlived several relationships). But
if this possibility were true, I would be able to fix the problems and be
happier with the result. But I’m not. I’m just as unhappy with the edited
scenes as I was when I pasted them in.
Possibility 2. I have “Golden Word Syndrome.” I thought the
old book was perfect when it clocked in at 230K words. Okay, maybe it was still
as perfect at the 200K words I pared it down to. I am meticulous, and every
word was exactly the word it needed to be and was where it needed to be. The problem
with that assessment is nobody agreed. Nobody said they loved the book. Fewer
than five people (out of about twenty who attempted) were even able to finish
it. But this possibility doesn’t seem right either. I accept rewriting
as part of writing, and expect improvement when I do.
Possibility 3. The transplanted scenes are metaphysically different
from the rest of the book. Ever tell a joke that had people rolling at one
party only to have it fall flat at the next? “Guess you just had to be there.” Perhaps
moving a scene from one book to another is kind of like that; each book has its
own indescribable essence and simply changing tenses, names, subtle points of
style, etc., isn’t enough. The new scenes in Nyasaland worked because they were created for that book; the old
scenes worked in the old book for the same reason.
Possibility 4. The book was completely perfect in every way,
I’m overthinking this, and I gave up too early. Yeah, right. See #2.
Possibility 5. I have improved enough to know what’s wrong,
but not enough to know how to fix it. Well, this post pretty much proves that,
huh?
