After writing two complete versions of my full length play "Enter the Pigman," I have started a third version. From page one. I don't expect more than five pages of version 2 to make it into version three. Which, I guess, is why I'm calling these versions not drafts.
Over the years I've met so many people who have handed me a new draft of of play, so excited about the rewrites, and with the exception of a few word changes, it's the same.
That's not rewriting! That's copy editing (this isn't a knock on copy editing, I love copy editors. It's just a different process)!
I bet most folks find rewrites painful. I know I do. Like sacrificing your children to the literature gods. I'm embarking on the third draft of a novel, reading what I last completed after almost a year away. I can see what needs doing. The perfectionist in me looks forward to the challenge of getting it closer to "right." The sentimentalist in me weeps over sacrificing another baby. Rewriting is one of the hardest jobs I take on, and I say that having once worked as an emergency room chaplain.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment. And, yes, I'm sure you're correct about the pain of rewriting. Your comment has made me realize something. I've gotten to the point where I don't view rewriting as sacrificing my child. To me writing has been a way to lovingly discipline the child, improve her focus, and make her the best she can be. I am the parent. I have that responsibility.
ReplyDeleteI like the discipline idea. This current rewrite is actually shaping up to be more like an aptitude test for me, putting all the pieces together in the proper configuration.
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