Microsoft Word 2010 and I have not been getting along, unfortunately. I’ve been very good to back up, as well as to save work as I go…but I’ve still experienced data loss.
Yesterday I was writing, carefully hitting ‘save’ at the end of each paragraph—and Word froze right before the end of a long paragraph. So I lost the sentences.
It wasn’t a lot of text lost, but it was enough to make me take a 30 minute break in irritation. :)
When I sat down again to rewrite the paragraph, I tried to capture the feeling and gist of the previous paragraph. I’d written quickly and I couldn’t remember my exact word choice.
I used different phrasing and I think the order of the sentences was different—and I know it reads a lot better than what I’d originally written.
I’d kept only my vague impression of the old paragraph. I had the gist of the scene but rewrote it in a fresh way.
This was accidental editing (that I sure wasn’t planning on doing yesterday), but I’ve used the technique on purpose when editing manuscripts before.
Each draft of every manuscript I’ve worked on has had a mixture of strong and weak scenes.
When reading the first draft, I’ll mark scenes that stand out as weak with a comment to myself in the margin, using Word’s commenting feature.
After I’ve finished my read-through, I’ll rewrite the weak scenes without looking at them. Well, I’ll do a really fast read-through, to get the gist of the weak scene, but not a close-enough reading to be able to remember specific word choice.
The end product is nearly always much better than the old version.
I’ve found that if I’m looking right at the sentences that need to be edited, I tend to use the same phrasing…phrasing which obviously didn’t work and which resulted in the weak scene to begin with.
Have you tried doing blind rewrites of a scene, page, or paragraph? How did it work for you?
Elizabeth – I know what you mean about losing something. I once lost all of my dissertation data summaries, and had to beg a computer-whiz friend of mine to help. Fortunately he was able to, but it was bad.
As far as blind rewriting? I have tried and if I can avoid it, I do. On one hand, the end product really is better. On the other the end product sometimes loses some of the raw fire of the original. Of course, when I write a bad scene or paragraph, maybe that’s a good thing… ;-)
Oh, I hate it when I spend forever thinking on a paragraph or scene and something causes a glitch that loses it (usually my own fault). Sometimes it is better with the re-write . . Urrgh.
It is really hard to see the editing needs of my own writing. I have to take it in phases, viewing scenes as if someone else wrote them. Cutting and pasting to a blank document and lettingit sit for a while usually helps.
You have an excellent technique :)
…….dhole
How funny! I gave this exact advice today! So true!
I think that’s great advice. I usually keep nothing from a first draft except the scenes I like. Unless there’s a particular sentence that I love, everything else is new. I think it’s statistical that most of the writing in a first draft is not going to be salvageable.
My first writing mentor said, “Put the book aside and rewrite it. No copy and paste. If you know the story, you can do it.”
Of course that was with shorter works, and at the time, she wasn’t on deadline. I could never do that.
Terry
Terry’s Place
Romance with a Twist–of Mystery
Yes, I have done blind re-writes and almost always, the writing is better afterwards.
Karen
Yes, I have done blind re-writes and almost always, the writing is better afterwards.
Karen
I’ve always saved often, but a few times the computer has gacked on me and I lost part of a scene. I always hand-write first, so what goes into the computer IS the first round of editing, but often I completely change a scene – and that perfect new wording goes bye-bye when the computer gacks.
I have recently started doing this myself. I take sentences I know are weak (passive or filled with bad verbs) and just re-write from scratch.
I hate that! In 2007 I have the auto save set for two minutes. So far I haven’t had a problem.
I do best if I let things sit and go back later. Marking what I know is weak breaks my thoughts.
I’m still using old reliable Word 2003. I’ll have to upgrade eventually, I know, but right now I rarely lose anything.
Which is not always a good thing. Rewrites are usually much better if I’m not looking at the original.
I think I need to do this, too. The manuscript I am working on has a fair few tell instead of show (because I wrote it so fast) and I KNOW I can do better on those… I just need to make myself do it…
Ah yes, I’ve come across the accidental editing approach before! As to the other – I think that is brilliant. I’ve used it where I’ve been stuck – it is like our mind will NOT see a different way to go once one way has been attempted. I think this is a great idea. thanks Elizabeth.
I actually rewrote the entire opening scene of my current novel, since what I had wasn’t working at all. It’s all kinds of better, now. It’s awesome to see how something develops after it rolls around in your brain for a while.
Donna–It can be tough to keep some distance from the draft, can’t it? Time can help, or printing it instead of reading ti on the computer–even putting the text in a different font can sometimes help.
Mallory–It’s a good tip! :)
Elena–There’s always a bunch of stuff that I end up cutting or rewriting in the first draft…it’s just a mess!
Margot–Usually if I’ve got a lot of energy in a scene, it’s one I think I’d leave alone…for exactly the reason you mentioned :)
Diane–I’d forgotten that you drafted on paper. At times like these, it sounds like a good idea!
Clarissa–Sounds like a good plan!
Mary–Coming back to something later is always a really good idea, too! I’m short on time or else that’s definitely an approach I’d use.
Linda–Losing text is awful! At least it wasn’t much, but it’s so irritating.
Terry–I like the *idea* of doing that, but you’re right–impossible with deadlines.
Karen–I just can’t think of a time when I’ve rewritten something and it’s been worse than before.
Hart–It’s easy to get so sick of editing, isn’t it?
Jan–That’s exactly what happens with my mind! It’s like there’s a mental block or like my brain just seizes on only one possibility and can’t move past it.
Simon–I think our subconscious is smarter than we sometimes give it credit for. :)
Ugh, losing words is the WORST. You’re completely right about not being able to capture the same feeling. The gist is the same but the placement of the words differs, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.
I’ve never tried a blind rewrite, but that sounds like a good idea. It’s kind of in the same family as a crash rewrite, where things are close but not the same. Combining the best parts of the two scenes might make for one super scene!
I’m actually throwing around the idea of doing this for a rewrite that’s waiting for me. I need to fix some major plot issues and I’m wondering if it might be easier to put away the old draft and start again.
I’ve rewritten shorter works from scratch. Each time I rework it seems to make it clearer and tighter.
I gave you an award today on my blog. Thanks for all your writerly advice and being so genuine and real as a writer.
JEFritz–I like the idea of your crash rewrite, where you sort of cannibalize the best parts and make a new paragraph/scene. Great idea!
Mary–Thanks so much to you for your support and encouragement as a commenter! I really appreciate it…and the award. :) Thank you.
Jemi–Hope it helps! Good luck with it. :)
Brilliant tip! I’m going to put it to use this weekend. Thanks so much for sharing it.
-Chris at flashmemoirs.com