Where Sime and Gen Meet, Creativity Happens
Workshop:Rewriting
for Fun
by
M. Kathleen Crouch
I think that beginning writers have the idea that a successful writer
needs only to organize his or her thoughts, begin to write and continue
to the end. Unfortunately, even successful writers often run into
problems, such as writer's block; dull, flat characters; plots that break
don't seem to work; pacing that goes out the window; themes that don't
make sense; too much description; too much dialogue; or the wrong point
of view.
Having been a non-fiction writer for most of my life; I know the
frustrations of all of the above since I began writing fiction. But I
figure that if the successful writers still have problems, and they can
overcome the problems through diligence, hard work and lots of rewriting
and editing, then I can too.
When I was writing non-fiction, I ran into writer's block; pacing that
just didn't work; too much description; and organizational problems that
stopped me in my tracks until I could figure out what wasn't right; and
lots and lots of rewriting. I envy the writer who can sit down at the
typewriter or computer or even with pencil/pen and paper and create their
masterpiece with out running into a couple of problems along the way.
As a artist, there were many times that I threw away a design, a drawing
or a painting because it just didn't work. The colors may have been
wrong; the perspective was off; the size and placement of objects on the
page or canvas just didn't draw the viewer's eyes to a central point or
the entire work just wasn't good enough.
The advice that I have for beginning writers is to remember when you
were learning to do something beginning with the basics. Remember how
long it took you to nail them right every time. Remember the amount of
frustration you had, particularly when the teacher said, "No, that's not
quite right.". But most of all, remember the joy and delight when you
were able to do it right time after time.
Rather than saying, "I think I can; I think I can." I've adopted, "I
know I can; I know I can."
Does it help? Actually it does help. Having been successful in other
endeavors, I know I can succeed as a writer; creating stories that
readers will enjoy and want to read again. It will take practice; but
I'm not going to be giving up. I will see my work in print one day.
In the meantime, I write a bit every day. It may not be on my work in
progress, but I do write for at least five minutes every day. Sometimes,
that five minutes develops into two and three hour sessions. Sometimes,
it's just hard to write for five minutes.
I also read. I read nearly every genre, seeking out my favorite
authors; often rereading my favorite stories. I watch TV - movies,
documentaries, news and special events. I find that many times, a
program on the Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, The History
Channel, The Travel Channel, Animal Planet, A and E, or programs on PBS
often appear just when I'm bogged down at a point in my writing where
I've got that dreaded writer's block.
I take notes; I may not be able to use the information in my current
work in progress, but there may be a story where that information is
necessary. Often the program I'm watching will cause me to rethink my
work in progress and necessitate a complete or sometimes a partial
rewrite; which is what happened last night after watching a program on
PBS, "The Secrets of the Dead: The Dark Ages"; an investigation on what
really caused the Dark Ages. I suddenly realized that the background of
my novel wasn't as exciting as a real event - a volcano that erupts,
sending ash, soot, minerals and lava into the atmosphere causing a
mini-ice age.
The program talked about the effects of a mini-ice age on the people;
their ability to grow crops and maintain horse and cattle herds; the
increasing cold and decreasing sunlight; the shift of populations from
the north to the south; the wars that broke out as populations shifted;
the sickness and plagues; the loss of technology as people tried to stay
alive; and the eventual readjusting of cultures/traditions as things got
back to normal. Finally, after centuries, the new reality gave way to
increasing new technologies as people had more time for exploring new
frontiers and no longer had to spend much of their time in staying alive.
So now, I need to sit down at my computer and work out the logistics of
the new information and how the characters in my work in progress are
going to be affected by a catastrophic event. Of course, there will be
massive rewrites; but I have learned three things:
1. material already written can be saved - there may be another story
where I can use what I've already written
2. my story will be better because now the characters will be faced with
real losses/real situations
3. I'm focusing more on the physiological effects of dealing with the
struggle to survive the: initial catastrophic event; effects of the
catastrophic event; and return to a normal life; followed by the joy and
frustrations of regaining old technological innovations and lost learning
I'm looking forward to this rewrite, because I know that my story, my
characters and the events will be more exciting than the previous
version.
Kathleen Crouch
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