In Which I Drop the Façade of Not Being a Whiny Cliché

[snurri]

You know, I used to love revising.

The shit of it is that there is no guarantee that all this work will make a better story.

Plus, in what universe is adding 4,000 words to a 12,000 word story a good idea?

Comments

[readingthedark.livejournal.com]

Can't speak for you, so I'll prattle for me:

I am unable to know how long a story should be or when it will be done. I know that there are people who can, but I'm not there. Relentless experimentation and continuing to push what I do is still more important than tidying things up into perfect lengths or pretty bows.

Sometimes, I need to add 4,000 words and then take them out. I spend a long ass time on this writing stuff and I'm more labor-intensive than anyone should be.

But there's a time when I know it's ready to send out.

So, to recap:

I have faith that I can't hurt my stories by overworking them. I respect that some people can overwork and should avoid what I do, but I have enough weird tricks up my sleeves (and mismatched socks!) that I can always improve a story, ad infinitum.

A bell will go off inside my head when I can send it out. (Or I'll spend an hour going through it, two days in a row in two different mindsets, where I'm putting in and taking out the same comma.)

I'm never done. Seamus Heaney worked on a short poem about his dead brother for decades. The mini coffin probably deserved the sweating of the technique. I, technically, am still working on a poem I started in 1992. Lorrie Moore, supposedly, has snuck into bookstores and started reworking her stories in her published collections. Plenty of poets correct lines that they've changed when you ask them to sign their older work.

So, what have I got? The whole idea of writing fiction, especially short fiction which isn't really where the average reader is looking, is kind of loopy. But, if it's what I've gotsta gotsta do, I'm morally obligated to try and make it rock, use my chops in their most special ways and add a bazillion words if that's what it takes to make the story super-duper. Which, sadly, may be even more the shit of it. This battle between me and the words, it's not a fair fight. I'm going to lose by a few inches most of the time, but I'm always attempting to be my own guarantee that my effort will make a better story.

(wanders into corner, bumps head against wall: yessy yessirree, I am the guarantee!)

Which almost certainly means that, from my skewed perspective, you're not a cliche or a whiner. You're a fave writer for a reason! And then, just to undercut everything, no, 16,000 isn't a word count that most people are loooking for...

[snurri.livejournal.com]

I think part of my frustration with this particular story is that I thought it was pretty much done 4,000 words ago, and then I got some very smart critiques that made me think about opening it up and deepening it, and I decided to try doing that. But of course doing that has an effect on every part of the story, so that even the parts that I'm not changing directly have to be reassessed in light of the changes. And it's taking forever.

I am hopeful that it will be worth it. There's a lot of work yet to do, though. And yeah, placing it is going to be quite a pain . . .

[justinhowe.livejournal.com]

Maybe you're not actually a writer, but the Bizarro-World version of a writer.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Me am not resenting you not saying that.

[justinhowe.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

And for some reason I think a Bizarro-World version of LOLcats or I Can Haz Cheezburger would be hysterical.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

It would be. Get on that!

[jamiam.livejournal.com]

Perhaps those 4000 words turned it from a forgettable-but-marketable story into a stronger, better, but completely unmarketable story?

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Your words are so comforting that I am typing this from a fetal position.

[jamiam.livejournal.com]

Where're your priorities, man? It's almost like you're trying to make a living at this or something.

[bondgwendabond.livejournal.com]

As _they_ say, If it feels good do it.

Only, ewwww...

My revisions are always longer, even though I cut tons -- that's how I know I'm getting somewhere.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

I am still in the adding stage. I think there will be cutting, later, but we shall see.

[haddayr.livejournal.com]

Well, at least you're a _cute_ whiny cliché.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Really? That's all you've got?

Hey, are we meeting at Dunn's on Friday? 7:30? The usual?

[haddayr.livejournal.com]

Oh, bite me.

And yes.

[hecubot.livejournal.com]

In the universe of truly great 16,000 word stories.

I bet you've got one in you.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Maybe so. I'm not 100% sure this is the one, though.