Revision City: A chance to kill the babies

Following my intuition and feeling my way in the dark

The latest on my book is that nearly all of my test-readers have checked in, and the response (so far) is that everyone likes the story. There are MANY bits of feedback — some of which are contradictory — and I’m sorting through them in my head as I plow through the next draft, which I’m calling number five.

For testing, I picked readers who I felt sure would be honest with me about the work. If they don’t like something — anything — I want to know about it.

Important characteristics of my test-readers:

• one is a bird photographer (and amateur expert on bird behavior)

• one is a legal expert with knowledge of financial crime

• one is a clinical psychologist

• 2 are professional writers

• 2 are people who read a lot

Writing a novel isn’t like anything else I’ve written in my 40+ years as a professional. I’ve learned a lot from my previous work that’s applicable, but there’s nothing in the world of commercial writing or short story/comedy/blog/dramatic writing that prepared me for the endurance test of novel-writing. Here are some observations, for what they’re worth:

1. Word choice is almost the whole ballgame. Every single word contains nuance and colloquial meaning. Readers can tell, at least subconsciously, when I didn’t quite ‘nail it,’ and the combined effect of many bad word choices is a weakening of trust between writer and reader. When I select the right word, they likely won’t notice, but they’ll keep reading. It’s the difference between a clear path and one that’s choked with obstacles.

2. Surprise has to happen on nearly every page, even if it’s only a little, teeny one.

3. Having extraneous, self-indulgent words, ideas, characters, chapters, is a bad thing. Readers want everything to be related to the theme and the story and the characters. Shit that doesn’t matter only slows down and frustrates the reader.

4. Bread crumbs are good, but they have to be the right bread crumbs. Each one is a tiny statement of theme.

5. Rewriting is a cleansing act of soul purification. Early drafts reveal all the bad choices and sour things that ever happened in life. Rewriting is a way to sharpen, energize, purify. I used to hate it, but now I realize that good writers are the ones who know how to make the most of rewriting. That said, I’m feeling strongly that if my motives/intention aren’t really clear for me, I can’t make good choices.

6. A painter I love once told me that he knows a work is completed once it looks like “god” created it and the hand of the artist is invisible. This idea resonates strongly with me because when experiencing good writing, the reader (or viewer, or listener) recalls what they read/heard/saw, NOT the actions of the writer. Good writing doesn’t call attention to itself and away from the point of the story — it makes the audience feel that something ‘happened’ and forget that anyone created it.

7. Intuition is a critical tool. It can take me places to which neither imagination nor logic will ever lead.

8. Every writer knows that there’re going to be moments when they have to highlight something they love so much, and hit the ‘delete’ button. Because (see #5). It does feel a little as though I’m killing one of my kids.