I mentioned last week that I was preparing two books to e-publish. I wrote one of the books three years ago. The other is a book I wrote five years ago.
The book that I wrote three years ago was definitely easier for me to edit. I did remove some ‘telling’ references and created a deeper POV for the story.
The book that I wrote five years ago? It’s taking me forever to edit it.
The problem with the book I wrote five years ago isn’t a mechanical problem or grammatical problem.
It’s definitely that it’s just not a very mature book. I’ll read along a little bit and think, “Why would this character do that?” or “Why did I spell out that this character was getting into their car and driving across town? Why not just start the scene across town?”
There’s something on every page that I’m deleting, adding, or completely rewording. The only thing that seems really solid is my voice. I’m thankful that’s intact or else I’d have to write the book over from scratch.
I’m lucky that I’ve got a few weeks where I’m not really under any pressing deadlines (except to read my pass pages for the next Memphis book…coming out in November.) So I think I’ll just spend some time updating this book and hopefully raising the writing bar to at least my current level of ability.
Sometimes I wonder if showing up every day to write is doing anything for me. Am I actually getting better?
But then, looking back over stuff I’ve written 3-5 years ago, there’s no question of the improvement. Every day you open up that laptop or notebook…..no matter what your goal is—a weekly goal, a monthly goal, whatever…you’re improving your craft.
Have you got any old manuscripts? Can you see a difference in your writing from long ago?
I think what is great in this is that you’ve grown as a writer. The more editing, the more you’ve grown, in my opinion. You had great writing ideas then too. That’s exciting!.
PS I don’t tell you enough, I’m still a huge fan of yours. I enjoy your blog very much and hope to meet you someday–maybe at a signing.
Much luck on the ebooks. That’s exciting too.
Elizabeth – I know exactly what you mean! I look at some of the stuff I wrote a few years ago and am ever more thankful that it was never published. I firmly believe that if we work at it, we do mature as writers. We learn to write better. The same thing happens even to the most famous and best-loved authors. I’ve read more than one author whose first book doesn’t show nearly the maturity of later books.
That’s awesome! I’ve buried some of my older stuff because I’ve learned so much since writing it. Maybe I should dig it out and have a look :)
I have picked up so much over the last couple of years from being online and learning from other writers/bloggers. But I know I’ll keep learning and this is not one of those crafts I’d ever ‘master’. I’m happy to be a perpetual student.
Good to know writers I respect are also learning and improving :)
Wagging Tales – Blog for Writers
Charmaine–I think learning and growing is definitely the fun part. :) And the practice really helps, too.
While waiting for rights to revert to me, I’m going over the two books. One was the first I’d ever had published, the other the 4th. It’s amazing how much more editing the 1st one is taking than the other.
But for the book I self-published that hadn’t been published before, I hired an editor. There’s just too much we can’t see because we wrote it. And even working on copy edits right now for my next Five Star book, I’m seeing the copy editor has picked up on things that the first editor missed (as did I)
Terry
Terry’s Place
Romance with a Twist–of Mystery
Hello, haven’t visited here in a long time.
I do notice a difference in things written ten years ago and things I write today. Practice may not make perfect, but it does improve.
I wonder about writers who make it big in their 30s – in their 40s and 50s do they look back and wonder how they ever wrote that stuff?
At least the storyline is good enough you can still work with it. I had to completely rewrite my old manuscript. Wow, was it awful.
In January, I read through my accumulated drafts (6 novels), one of which was written almost 20 years ago (!). While I would agree that I can see lots of progress in my writing skill over the years, I was astonished to find that the ancient novel told a story. I wasn’t very good at it, but a lot of key elements were there. “Immature” is probably the biggest problem that story had, especially the ending, and there were definitely lots of amateur mistakes in the writing. But it was nice to learn that, beginner that I was, I still had some sense of character and story and was trying to get it to work.
SO for those of you afraid to look back, I recommend it, not only to see how far you’ve come, but to also learn what it is you have known all along.
Oh, I’ve got old manuscripts. I’m just not looking at them. Yikes. The thought scares me.
This is one of the things I love most about writing. Just by continuing to write, we get better. Add to that, studying the craft and potential for growth is limitless!
Teresa–I’m a fan of yours, too! Maybe some day I’ll travel a little farther afield than NC! And…it was nice to find out that hard work does really pay off with better writing (hard to see that some days.)
Margot–So true. Luckily I have a little time right now for rewrites!
Jemi–Excavate it!
Terry –Isn’t it? That was what was most amazing to me…that those 2 years had made such a difference.
Warren–Thanks so much for coming by! And…I’d imagine those writers would *have* to look back and be amazed at the changes in their writing.
Alex–I had the basics of the story structure there. Yes, that would have been even more of a disaster.
Kit–I think you’re making a good point. Even with the mistakes that we can now recognize, the *talent* is still there and the enthusiasm is there, too. It’s raw, but it’s there underneath.
Helen–I should have been scared! I think I thought they’d just be hunky-dory, but they’re definitely not. :)
[groan] I resemble these remarks. I have nine unpublished manuscripts before Paper Woman. The progression of craft is painfully obvious.
Suzanne Adair
Elizabeth, I know your pain. I’m just getting to the end of editing a novel I finished a few years ago and am now going to put out on Kindle. I thought I’d just zip through it and tidy one or two snags, but blimey it has been tough. Even though when I revised it years ago I was having my hand held by agents! Now, though, I see so many places where I’ve matured. It was a difficult book for me to write then, but I can now see what it should be. Anyway, I’m just finishing and I never thought I’d battle through the problems, so power to your pen and you’ll get through!
I have to say, from the perspective from someone in the process of her first manuscript–it’s comforting to know that the effort to write daily is going to pay off…and terrifying to think that in a few short years I might be tearing apart all this hard work and love I’m putting into my current story!
Suzanne–At least we know we’re getting better!
dirtywhitecandy–Isn’t it such a shock how long it’s taking to fix! At least we know our books will be great when we’re done with all this tedium! And…thanks, Roz! I need that power to my pen!
Emily–But you know, the *story* was good still. I laughed at the parts I was supposed to laugh at, I was worried about the outcome of the tense scenes. The bones were still there. But…yeah, I’ve torn it apart. :) But it’s good to know that all this work I’ve been doing is paying off!