Redheaded Neanderlady

Redheaded Neanderlady
This is a photoshopped version of something I found in National Geographic about the time I started researching

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Writer's schizophrenia

I don't know whether I've mentioned this in another post, but today I was forcibly reminded that writing(and rewriting) can be a "schizophrenic" experience. I'm rewriting Chapter 2 of The Invaders, the first book in my Great Medieval Science Fiction Masterpiece With Neandertals. The second chapter flows from the first, as it should. But there is so much of it! I simply cannot believe how much I wrote, that didn't need to be there. So, in revising --- for critiquem and, I hope, eventual publication --- I cut out about 1/3 of the beginning of the original first chapter. I also added a character that comes in later in the book, but wasn't there before, and dropped another one, that was there, but never really "jelled". This character, though minor, makes more sense, in the context. As usual, this is an interesting experience, to say the least. And I am taking quite seriously, the advice I'm hearing from other writers. If you're by yourself, and no one else is looking at your work, editing and re-editing, and smoothing out, is a daunting chore. I don't know how some writers do it. My worst faults are a tendency toward "passive voice" and a pace that's a little slow. I'm working on that, though.
Anne G

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Anne,

Did you catch the show on the history channel last night about Neandertals? I think it was called Cavemen or something like that.

Anne Gilbert said...

Stevent:

Nope. I'm afraid I didn't, although a couple of years ago, I saw another show called "Cavemen" or something like it, also about Nenadertals. But last night, I was just too busy fininshing one chapter and revising the first chapters of my Great Medieval Science Fiction Masterpiece With Neandertals, to watch anything. The same is going to happen tonight.
Anne G

Nick said...

Love the blog. It's always fun to read about the writing experiences of fellow writers. And I totally know your feelings on the experience of changing beginnings, adding characters that are there later but not earlier, removing things, etc. I also like the way you describe your book (Great Medieval Science Fiction Masterpiece With Neanderthals). It kinda reminds me of the movie Doomsday that came out earlier this year.

Anywho, that's about it. If you wanna check out my writing blog, you can (I know it looks like I have about 4 blogs... the writing one is 'The Missing Page', though).

Anne Gilbert said...

Nick:

I will be more than happy to take a look at your writing blog! Or any other of your blogs! I'm really glad you can relate. I get the feeling avery writer has this experience, sooner or later, and I'll probably be writing more about this. And I may even link your blog(s) to mine!

Thanks for dropping in,
Anne G