Friday, February 6, 2009

Rewriting

I just read a posting from a writer who was afraid to rewrite a chapter. They couldn’t muster the courage to do it and wanted to know if it was okay to just redevelop the plot around a chapter that didn’t work so they could avoid rewriting. I’ve never heard such a lazy sentiment. Writing is rewriting. If you’re afraid of rewriting, you’re not really even writing yet! Sometimes I’ll rewrite a chapter 12 times. You do what the story tells you needs to be done. Great writing is not produced, its arrived at. If you’re not sweating your story…your logline…your marketing copy…your bio…then you’re not really writing. You’re just putting some words together and hoping they have the intended effect. That’s like diving into a pool and hoping you can win a medal. Who does that? Writing is rewriting, so get in the pool and start swimming laps with your words.

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