Rewriting & Critiquing

We’ve probably all heard the phrase “Writing is rewriting.” But what, exactly, is rewriting?

Most writers loathe the word. I actually look forward to rewriting. It’s during the rewriting process when things start to come together; it’s where things really begin to shine.

But here’s a secret: rewriting is not going through your current writing and changing bits and pieces of it. At least it shouldn’t be. Not unless you’re doing a very light rewrite for a near-final revision.

Rewrites should be just that, complete rewrites. From the top down. Sure, you can draw from what you wrote in the previous draft, but if you try to use that as a basis for the rewrite, your new draft will sit there, lifeless on the page. Trust me, I’ve tried. I’ve tried many times, because, for some reason, it seems like it should be easier to just apply a bit of touch up to the work I’ve already done than to start over. And the simple fact is that it really isn’t.

What I do now is usually write my redraft overtop of my old drafts. If I’m redrafting a chapter, I start at the top of the chapter and just start writing, pushing the old writing off the bottom of the screen. This way, I can see what I had while I come up with a brand sparkling new work that is going to jump off the page because it’s not relying on the previous draft as a foundation to support it.

This is the professional way to write fiction. It’s the only way to ensure that your work retains that sparkle of life that only comes from original words being put down on paper (or typed onto computer screens).

And don’t think you can get away without rewriting. Don’t disparage when you go into your writing group with what you consider one of the best pieces of writing you’ve ever done and someone points out some obvious problem that you should have seen from a mile away (first, don’t ever kick yourself for missing problems in your own work–this is why we have critique groups. We see issues in other people’s work far more easily than we do in our own. It’s because we’re too close to our own writing and have too much of an emotional investment. With others’ work, we have the joy of apathy. We have no emotional investment. We can easily point out the problems).

The point is: you should expect to have to rewrite. Writing IS rewriting.

And maybe you have problems so insurmountable, you have to completely destroy your current vision and start from scratch. Or maybe it just sounds that way. Don’t be afraid to try. You always have the last draft to fall back on, and who knows? Doing a completely fresh rewrite from a completely new perspective may give you new ideas you just would never have gleaned any other way. In other words, don’t be afraid of work. The work is what it’s all about. You’re a writer. So write.

According to its author, Michael Arndt, the shooting script for Little Miss Sunshine was rewrite number one hundred. One hundred. Think about that next time you’re grumbling about your writing group telling you that your protagonist is coming off as unlikeable in chapter six and you should rewrite things to make her a little more engaging.

Critiquing is an art in itself. There are many different critique styles and methods. Many writing groups use the Clarion method, and it’s one I prefer (actually, the one I am most used to is a modified version of the Clarion method, but that is out of the scope of this article), but whatever the critique method your group uses, remember you should always take notes while being critiqued.

There is also a common problem of weighing comments differently by different people in your group. It’s very easy to write off things said by one person because, you think, Well, he’s not that great of a writer. And, so, you concentrate more on the problems presented by the more experienced members.

This is bad, because it doesn’t take a good writer to point out story problems, it takes a good reader. And sometimes, your best writers aren’t necessarily your best readers. Take all comments equally seriously. Also, even if you disagree with a comment, consider that, for the person giving the comment, it was issue enough to bring it up. It will probably be an issue for other people.

You may also not understand the comment. It may make no sense to you. In cases such as these, sometimes it is valuable to look back a few paragraphs or even a few pages and see if maybe the problem the person is critiquing occurred earlier on than when it is being pointed out. This can happen quite often, especially when being critiqued by inexperienced writers. They feel something is wrong, but they don’t have the experience to describe exactly what it is. But don’t discount their feelings. Their description is just off slightly. Maybe you tripped up two pages earlier making it look as though the problem occurred where they think it does.

Good writers are open-minded and do not get attached to their work. The moment you get emotionally attached to your writing, you’re doomed. Your progress will stymie and you’ll end up going nowhere.

Learn to look forward to critique. And especially learn to look forward to the rewrite process. It will only make your writing better and better!

Michael out.