tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post4890166453320315696..comments2024-03-25T09:56:16.164+00:00Comments on An Awfully Big Blog Adventure: SUSAN PRICE: RewritingUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-61365909104052500732009-02-09T17:18:00.000+00:002009-02-09T17:18:00.000+00:00I can reccommend Michael J. Kaplan's 'Rewriting' w...I can reccommend Michael J. Kaplan's 'Rewriting' which basically states that all prose is shaped in the rewriting, and gives examples of when, how, and for which reasons one would rewrite. (Sometimes advice is easier to take when it comes in printed form.)<BR/><BR/>I guess that people with very detailed outlines need to rewrite less - they've already worked out a lot before they 'start writing' - but I find the idea of getting everything - particularly a novel - right first time around somewhat strange. There's just so much of it, and by the end I'll know the setting and the characters much better than in the beginning, so *of course* it will need to be rewritten.green_knighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16499896006012152260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-54553101184441394712009-02-09T13:27:00.000+00:002009-02-09T13:27:00.000+00:00Ah, I have the opposite problem. I don't rewrite m...Ah, I have the opposite problem. I don't rewrite much - like your students it didn't occur to me for ages that it was necessary or even possible: stuff either worked or it didn't. I've been doing some MA teaching and everyone is obsessed with rewriting and I don't know what to say...<BR/>(I would still prefer to ditch 20k and start something new than to rewrite)Nickyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15442269757463713048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-37364153868264494812009-02-09T09:52:00.000+00:002009-02-09T09:52:00.000+00:00Perhaps students blanche at the word used: 'Rewrit...Perhaps students blanche at the word used: 'Rewriting'. It smacks of the teacher telling you to 'Do it again!'. Like a punishment for being rubbish.<BR/><BR/>Instead, writers need to foster the idea that writing is a multi-stage process. At some point in the process, you make words on the page/screen, but THAT IS NOT THE END of the process. It is, ooh, a third to half of the way through, at best. The later stages of the writing process are working with those words, sometimes using them merely as the scaffolding upon which you build the true version.<BR/><BR/>So perhaps 'rewriting' isn't the word we should use. It's not rewriting because we haven't yet WRITTEN. We've simply made the first attempt at words on a page. And that is not writing, any more than sketching is painting.Nick Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11307045090887391553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-62178856426102899802009-02-09T09:17:00.000+00:002009-02-09T09:17:00.000+00:00Wise post! Unfortunately, ths reminds me that duri...Wise post! Unfortunately, ths reminds me that during talks about the writing process on school visits - admittedly to primary schools - I don't give enough public emphasis to rewriting myself. Partly it's the look of horror in children's eyes at the thought of even more writing, partly because there's no school time for rewriting, and also, as you suggest, it's such a huge misunderstood area. Just putting ideas into "book words"? Can't take long, can it?Penny Dolanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16386668303428008498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-58085408481414014582009-02-07T22:59:00.000+00:002009-02-07T22:59:00.000+00:00Very interesting. I look forward to the second par...Very interesting. I look forward to the second part. I too am amazed that rewriting was not even a blip on your students' radar screens. Personally, I find rewriting easier than doing the initial draft. But I certainly couldn't tell anyone how I know "which words I should change." I just go to the parts that don't seem right and work on them until they do.Catholic Bibliophagisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10697706672495544901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-86838723862858512972009-02-07T22:01:00.000+00:002009-02-07T22:01:00.000+00:00I once (note "once") taught a creative writing cla...I once (note "once") taught a creative writing class and hit exactly the same wall.<BR/>Most of the group felt that the teacher was over-critical! Three of them asked me for private critiques and further help. One is now self-published.<BR/>My own work? Constant re-writes, a sort of second nature. <BR/><BR/>I'm looking forward to finding out about the hurting brain!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-12748227452450825892009-02-07T18:38:00.000+00:002009-02-07T18:38:00.000+00:00Yes, you're so right, it doesn't occur to them! If...Yes, you're so right, it doesn't occur to them! If I tell students (or my daughter) to rewrite anything they throw up their hands in horror and declare that I think it's no good. Not at all - good enough to be worth working on. But it cuts no ice. Though I must admit I'm putting off at least three re-writing tasks at the moment... it seems so much more of a challenge than writing in the first place, as the first draft is only there to be fixed. Fixing, then you have to start getting it right :-)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-50768107054217198932009-02-07T11:04:00.000+00:002009-02-07T11:04:00.000+00:00Thank you, Susan. A painful but necessary lesson ...Thank you, Susan. A painful but necessary lesson which we all must learn. And I can't explain how I know how to do it and which bits to do it to. Maybe it's the inbuilt editor?Lucy Coatshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16774389681477698245noreply@blogger.com