The Power of the Red Pen
As much as I love drafting new material, I enjoy revision just as much. Nothing can beat the feeling of creating something new, but I get a deep sense of satisfaction from taking a piece and honing it until I’m certain it’s ready. It’s a chance to take my time and apply every erg of craft I can bring to bear on a story, both in figuring out what needs to be done and what should not be done.
I think I’m even developing a sense when a piece has been revised as far as it needs to go, but that’s another post. I also suspect I’ll look back on that statement in ten years and pull a muscle laughing too hard.
Anyway, I’m thinking about revision this week because I want to submit a fantasy piece to a magazine whose editor encouraged me to submit again while explaining why he didn’t want one of my stories. (Point of clarity – he was not asking me to revise that story, he was asking to see future pieces.)
Since my major project right now is a fantasy novel, I didn’t want to brainstorm another fantasy story and risk finding a novel that would distract me. So, instead, I dug out a short story I wrote a decade ago and read it over.
Terrible. Really. Voice problems, point of view confusion, passive construction: I could go on, but you get the idea. I was tempted to discard it, but I finished reading and realized something: the core story is solid. Right now, no one would be able to see that but me: it’s my story, and in reading it I see it exactly the way it originally looked in my mind, despite the obfuscation of imprecision that stands between the story I wanted to tell and the story I told. With revision and refinement, though, this story could shine.
I have a friend, an excellent writer in his own right, who hates looking backward. Once he’s written a story, he’ll tweak it a couple of times, but then he’s ready to move on to the next project. As I understand it, at that point he feels that the story is told and he wants to tell another one.
I can sympathize with that point of view, but not quite share it. I want my stories to be as good as I can possibly make them, without falling prey to the perfectionism that would keep them from ever feeling finished. I see a world of difference between a draft that tells its story with clarity and power, and a draft that gets in the way of its story.
The latter is carved into the former with a sharp red pen.
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Submissions Update: Since my last post, I have submitted a piece to The Pedestal. (One? One submission? Maybe I better set that old story aside for a day or two and finish something closer to submission-ready. I mean during off-time from my major project, of course.)
