Here In This Vortex

The process of writing is more than just putting your fingers on the keys and typing away until you think you’re done with the story. It takes a lot of revisions, especially at my level (which we’ll go into in a bit), and even when you’re traditionally published, you go through a bunch of revisions looking for everything from typos to problems of timing and clarity.

Hi. I’m Jason and I write stuff for myself first.

Down the stairs…

So I sent out one of my works in progress a while back to trusted first readers, asking for all-important feedback. I was confident enough in the revisions I’d done to that point to ask for that feedback and that’s always nerve-wracking because I’m so close to the story I can’t see the flaws. I know what I’m thinking about, I know what I mean to have on the page so I need to know if that comes across.

Big, overall notes like “I was confused in this section, it needs clarity” can confirm for me that I didn’t tell the story well enough. That means more revision.

But wait. I’ve already revised this thing half a dozen times. Why aren’t I done? There’s this thread by Delilah S. Dawson on Twitter which offers some insight into the process at a traditionally published level. While there are many more people involved at that level so part of the training of being a writer is to be open to criticizing one’s writing in an objective way. Am I repeating words? What about the relationships, do they seem real? What about time? Is it Wednesday in the first part of the chapter and Monday at the end and only an hour has passed? And how do all these things fit with the rest of the work?

Writing is hard work, friends. Writing well is harder and writing well enough for others to want to read you is the goal. Everyone may have a novel in them, but can they get it out? And will someone else want to read it?

All this to say, and I will continue to say it over and over because it will always be true, that the process of writing is different for each of us who pursue the craft. Some take fewer revisions than others but all of us have someone who gives us notes on how we tell our stories so the idea of being in a vacuum is a romantic notion that needs to stay in Hollywood. No one is so talented that they can turn in a draft that doesn’t require revisions.

A Dream is Just a Shadow

Speaking of Hollywood, the Writers Guild of America strike continues and I understand why, though I don’t agree with it. Most everyone with money doesn’t want to ever let go over it, especially when they contract with someone to produce something they will use to make money. When animated films are being remade into live action ones (which I will never understand) from basically the same scripts and the writers aren’t being compensated? Bullshit. When stories are being reduced to the notion of “content” that studios will use AI to enhance for consumption? Also bullshit.

I support the striking writers. They are not asking for much but what they are asking for will transform their lives and allow them to have careers like many, many others across all the other sectors of American society. Without writing, there aren’t many things that can reach us as people. (And before you say music, that’s writing, too. Also, painting is writing, though much, much for subtly.) If you think about it, not much in our world isn’t writing. If you don’t believe me, the warnings and instructions that come with your prescriptions are all written by someone.

At Capacity

And that’s all for this time. Take care of yourself. Eat your veggies, get some exercise, take time away from screens. Enjoy nature. Read a book. Listen to music with your eyes closed. Let the world slip away for a little while so that when you come back, you’ll feel like it makes slightly more sense. Write down your thoughts and look back on what you thought yesterday. That’s how you can track growth.