nearly done

I have anticipated today for a while. Not because it was Monday, March 19, 2012. But because it was the day I would email the latest draft of my novel to several readers and - what relief - have a break from it for a while.

I wrote the first draft of Water's Edge during our last year in France. The initial words haemorrhaged out, the edited version took longer. At the advice of tutors when I began my masters in creative writing, I put it aside - reluctantly. Then I had a writing dip for six months or so and only returned to it a year ago. So, today has been long awaited.

The rewriting of Water's Edge has coincided with a year of mentoring. Over the last few weeks I have been thinking about what's happened to my writing during this period. A lot, I hope. At least much learning, some of which I hope has been deployed in the rewrite.

The biggest changes have been structural. What was a novel told by six points of view, is now told by four. One of the POVs was eliminated (more painful for me than him), the other remained as a character, but one whose story was related by other characters. Gone are the flashbacks, which I think, deep down, I knew served the story little. Gone too are the frequent changes of point of view. Now I stick with one character for much longer, therefore allowing more continuity, and, I hope, less confusion. Another big lesson has been about not having too much going on at the one time.





Other learning has largely been about pace and balance. Not moving from one scene to another too quickly. At the same time, avoiding overwriting - often by deleting the last sentence of something, checking I haven't explained something twice. It's easier to do than you might imagine.

I've known for a while about showing not telling (except when exposition was called for). What I wasn't aware of was my tendency to show and then tell. Or tell and then show. Other things I've had to work on concern writing which takes the reader out of the story - dipping into the past too much, for example. Overuse of names in dialogue.

I now know about avoiding melodrama, about not having too much reflection. I understand the need for a range of narrative closeness/distance. Similarly I'm more conscious of the importance of having smooth transitions between scenes, of allowing the reader to know when something is happening. And always the necessity to avoid 'slab' writing: a chunk of dialogue, followed by a chunk of action, followed by one of reflection. Weaving these, results in a better story.

And as for the basic sentence I've realised how clunky I can be. So I've been checking sentence constructions for clarity and impact.

At its worst, my revision checklist included forty nine aspects. These included the structural, for example scenes having a beginning, middle and end, and a purpose - developing plot or revealing character. They also included the line-by-line aspects, for example liposuctioning unnecessary words, checking for overuse of emotion, choosing strong verbs in the active voice.

A tedious, tiring and often daunting process but unavoidable. I've been so keen to finish that whilst undertaking the final small checklist, I hardly dared think past the immediate task, lest I realise there were fifty other things I should be checking. A bit like getting dressed but being fearful of looking in the mirror - actually, I can identify with that, too - oops....














I recognise the stage I'm at - my novel may well not be publishable. But it's as good as I can make it - for the moment. And for the moment, that feels enough. Doubtless I will continue to read far more beautiful prose than I'll ever write, about characters with a depth or individuality I have yet to attain, of plot lines that take me to the far reaches of my imagination. And I'll wonder if I'll ever be that good. I don't feel even slightly smug. I do, however, feel a sense of achievement to have got this far.



Candidly yours


Jane