Back in college, I mastered the art of writing a 15 page paper in a matter of hours. For the duration of my undergrad education, I did what most kids do and waited until the absolute last possible minute to sit down and bang out every essay, no matter how complicated the topic or how much research it required. While this approach has its obvious drawbacks, it did make it easy to maintain a consistent voice throughout each project.
Now the game is different. Without answering to deadlines or teachers or formal writing groups, I can labor over a project for months at a time, and by the end (or halfway through) I notice that the voice is completely different from what I started with.
Yesterday, I opened up a story that’s been sitting on the shelf since last summer because I didn’t know how to end it. I finally had an idea of how to wrap things up, and when I tried to tack the ending on, I realized that it, and the bulk of the story didn’t fit with the opening paragraph at all. The easy solution seems to be scrapping the first paragraph and replacing it with something that fits better. But there’s a certain sorrow in letting something like that go. I remember vividly a time when that paragraph was all I had, and I was proud of the phrasing, the imagery, the life it was setting up for the reader. Now it feels strange to hack it off like a gangrenous toe.
I wonder how other writers work this out. Do they bite down on a leather strap between their teeth and hack, hack, hack? Or do they find more graceful ways of blending the diseased limb into the fabric of the story? I’d like to hear what works for others. If you have ideas or suggestions, or if you want to open a discussion of your own writing challenges (or victories!), post a comment here, or drop me a line. I’d love to hear from you!
x to the o to the i
A long time ago my friend Hans, who produced electronic music, explained to me the technique of 'ghosting': laying down a sound, then building a whole track around that one sound, and then, ultimately, removing that one sound. This results in a song which echoes a sound that no longer exists within the song (I guess this sound would be the 'ghost').
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What we talked about last night....I know this one. I know it because it's rare that I write a whole story in one sitting or at least sittings that are close together like over the course of a few consecutive days when you can sustain that voice. But when I do, what you describe is less of an issue. The story is there and I'm situated to handle the rest - revision and that's good, hard but good. I think it's about getting a whole story down as the primary goal of that early draft, more so than the right images, good sentences, POV and elements of craft because all of that can be worked in revision. Story first.
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