Rewrites
I've already discussed how being a visual writer is fun for assembling and living story, but not so hot when it comes to how I get it dashed down.
I see rewrites this way: I just got an invitation to Prince Charming's ball, but it's tonight! So I whizz through the closet, slap together a sash from there and lace from up on that shelf and whirl into three layers of skirts and oh, that bodice will do over the silk shirt, and a couple flowers for my hair, my heart full of joy, my eyes just able to take in the flash of complementary colors as I choose and discard at top speed. I run out the door...and when I arrive, panting, and stop in at the palace bathroom to make sure there aren't any bird-splats in my hair, I glance in the mirror and am appalled--I see my hem hanging every which way, the bodice has a big hole in the middle, the silk shirt has a ripped seam, the lace doesn't match the sash after all, and the sash somehow got tied under my armpits and not around my waist but I didn't notice at the time, I was just too jazzed.
Many writers caution one another about not going back and fixing things, but going straight ahead to the ball even with the jagged hem and the hole in the bodice. I am quick to enter the usual caveat--everyone's process is different--but I really believe that most of the time, those who tinker forever with a beginning to get it just right don't really know what's coming next.
Usually Fred the Subconscious has gnashed and floodled the next scene down in Fred's workshop, and when I need it, it comes golloping up the conveyer belt to the front brain. But nothing was coming up, even with the deadline pressing hard, and though I scroinched out two more scenes, everything was feeling more and more strained.
So in the middle of the night I realized what I'd done wrong, and today I will begin ripping apart the bodice and restitching it, finding new lace, and seaming that sleeve, to make sure the outfit matches up. And I can vaguely hear foodling noises down there in Fred's workshop, meaning the climax has to have a certain shape that I amhoping the new material will snap into place, finishing the outfit.
Maybe next week I'll catch the last waltz!
I see rewrites this way: I just got an invitation to Prince Charming's ball, but it's tonight! So I whizz through the closet, slap together a sash from there and lace from up on that shelf and whirl into three layers of skirts and oh, that bodice will do over the silk shirt, and a couple flowers for my hair, my heart full of joy, my eyes just able to take in the flash of complementary colors as I choose and discard at top speed. I run out the door...and when I arrive, panting, and stop in at the palace bathroom to make sure there aren't any bird-splats in my hair, I glance in the mirror and am appalled--I see my hem hanging every which way, the bodice has a big hole in the middle, the silk shirt has a ripped seam, the lace doesn't match the sash after all, and the sash somehow got tied under my armpits and not around my waist but I didn't notice at the time, I was just too jazzed.
Many writers caution one another about not going back and fixing things, but going straight ahead to the ball even with the jagged hem and the hole in the bodice. I am quick to enter the usual caveat--everyone's process is different--but I really believe that most of the time, those who tinker forever with a beginning to get it just right don't really know what's coming next.
Usually Fred the Subconscious has gnashed and floodled the next scene down in Fred's workshop, and when I need it, it comes golloping up the conveyer belt to the front brain. But nothing was coming up, even with the deadline pressing hard, and though I scroinched out two more scenes, everything was feeling more and more strained.
So in the middle of the night I realized what I'd done wrong, and today I will begin ripping apart the bodice and restitching it, finding new lace, and seaming that sleeve, to make sure the outfit matches up. And I can vaguely hear foodling noises down there in Fred's workshop, meaning the climax has to have a certain shape that I amhoping the new material will snap into place, finishing the outfit.
Maybe next week I'll catch the last waltz!