Tag: perspective

Re-writing New Paths

For the past few evenings, just before bed, I’ve been easily filling handwritten pages of my novel in my spiral notebook.

For the past few evenings, just before bed, I’ve been easily filling handwritten pages of my novel in my spiral notebook. I’m finding that when I come to a point where a scene or a chapter isn’t quite to my liking, rather than tweak it here or there, I start from scratch. So I’ve been doing lately and discovering there is more momentum and focus than prior drafts. I am making a point not refer to what I’ve written already. 

I write as if for the first time. This frees me to go down different paths and find better phrasing or dialogue.

In this recent case, I begin the rewritten chapter from a different point in time. I’m writing a few minutes earlier, still beginning with action, but with more details that will pay off later. The perspective remains the same, but it’s close-up now, perhaps claustrophobic for a time. I think it’s working well so far.

What are some techniques you use to overcome re-write fatigue?

How Fiction Works

Writers know that an essential part of honing our craft is reading the works of others. Not simply reading one word and sentence after another through the end, but pausing over passages, re-reading, picking apart, unpacking to understand what makes the work good, great or bad.

Writers know that an essential part of honing our craft is reading the works of others. Not simply reading one word and sentence after another through the end, but pausing over passages, re-reading, picking apart, unpacking to understand what makes the work good, great or bad.  (I don’t do this often enough myself. I’ll use this post as a reminder.)

So consider this as a recommendation, passed from a friend in my writing group to you.

Literary critic James Wood wrote a book called, How Fiction Works (Farrar, Straus and Giroux). Wood applies his skill at helping his audience understand the fundamentals of great writing by going through concrete examples of literature’s estimable works.

Wood writes in an engaging, almost conversational style. At times I had felt as though I were a guest in his private library. There he plucked books off shelves and tapped his finger at passages that exemplify his points on narration, dialogue, characterization and so on.

The 288 pages are a quick read and worth your time.