The Alchemy of the Rewrite
There are rewards to rewriting: the first draft was so embarrassing I couldn’t bear to let anyone look at it. The second draft is still not great, but the core of the story is there. I’m working on the third draft now, and it’s starting to feel alive. And it’s getting easier, just like he wrote: throughout the day I have thoughts about paragr... See more
ava.substack.com • On Redoing Things
this hurdle I have to jump over each time I write: How can I say this more crisply? When I write (which is really just to say: when I think) it all boils down to one simple, but utterly excruciating question: What am I really trying to say here?
Isabel Hazan • distillation
“When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story. When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story.” — Stephen King
Claudia Dawson • Books in Bullet Points/Things That Don’t Work/ Phone Camera
Prioritize the whole rather than the parts : when it comes to writing, often we want to share more than would benefit the piece. In my final edits, I often delete factoids and quotations that interest me but detract from my overall message. As I tell my students, good writing is good editing. Take out all the bits that don’t benefit the whole.