Write Lightning is a blog from writer Deb Thompson.
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Mon, May 17 2010
Deleting and starting over
Some days we writers end up erasing or deleting almost everything we write. I started a blog post and decided to delete it. I began a second post, which I also deleted. Most of the time, though not always, I delete a series of words reluctantly. It's a little like putting down a row of tomato plants and then deciding to yank them all out and start over with brand new plants. Most people would see that sort of thing as irrational or unnecessary. But writers know that words, once arranged in some sort of artistic or useful sequence, are powerful in ways that can change the universe. If we find that we've placed them in wrong places we can usually yank them out with no remorse. It's those other times that become difficult, when the writing is really good, but words are in danger of leading a reader down the wrong path. The writing is good, the ego says, but the writing will lead to trouble, the conscience says. Those are the times when deleting what we've written seems ugly and cowardly, even when what we've written is fiction. And maybe especially when what we've written is fiction.
posted at: 14:46 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry
Some days we writers end up erasing or deleting almost everything we write. I started a blog post and decided to delete it. I began a second post, which I also deleted. Most of the time, though not always, I delete a series of words reluctantly. It's a little like putting down a row of tomato plants and then deciding to yank them all out and start over with brand new plants. Most people would see that sort of thing as irrational or unnecessary. But writers know that words, once arranged in some sort of artistic or useful sequence, are powerful in ways that can change the universe. If we find that we've placed them in wrong places we can usually yank them out with no remorse. It's those other times that become difficult, when the writing is really good, but words are in danger of leading a reader down the wrong path. The writing is good, the ego says, but the writing will lead to trouble, the conscience says. Those are the times when deleting what we've written seems ugly and cowardly, even when what we've written is fiction. And maybe especially when what we've written is fiction.
posted at: 14:46 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry
