By Anna David
My greatest asset as a writer is that I feel fairly confident that what I’m putting on the page isn’t going to be very good.
Coming up as a magazine writer, not to mention being the daughter of a former English professor, has meant that “writing is rewriting” is so ingrained in me, it may as well be tattooed on my arm. I know that I’m probably going to be horrified tomorrow by what I wrote today and that I’ll attack it then by obsessing over improving the descriptions or dialogue—before doing the same thing the following day and the day after.
Despite being an egomaniac in so many aspects of my life, I don’t seem to have an ego when it comes to what I pound out onto the keyboard. I may be absolutely jinxing myself by thinking this, let alone writing it down, but this lack of perfectionism is I think what staves off writers’ block. When other writers tell me they’re staring at blank white pages that are taunting them with words they can’t think of, I can’t help but think that they’re holding themselves to impossible-to-meet standards. If I know it’s not going to be anything I’m proud of, what’s to stop me from typing?
That being said, I can definitely get bogged down in the rewriting process. When I’m in heavy-duty writing mode, the goal I set for myself is three pages a day. On a good day—when I’m fully obsessed, know exactly where the book is going and am at the point where I’m spending most of my conversations with people watching the way they’re tucking their hair behind their ears or ordering their salad so I can steal what they’re doing and give it to a character I know would tuck their hair behind their ears or order their salad that exact same way— I’ll produce a lot more. On a bad day—when I’m distracted or just can’t focus—I may not make it to three.
But the real problem with the three-page deal is that what I really mean is three pages in addition to the rewriting I have to do on whatever comes before it. Which can mean that my brain is ravaged and wants nothing more to do with me before I’ve even started on the new writing.
And then, when the book is “done,” that’s when the real work starts. I probably print and mark up the entire thing at least 10 times before calling it a draft (but—environmentalists, I swear!—I switch to single spacing, print on both sides of the page and recycle). Which is why I never know how to respond to questions about how many drafts I do. What counts as a draft? That I’ve printed it out? That I’ve shown it to someone? That I’ve forced myself to stop and let the material breathe before attacking it again? I’m not sure there is an answer to that question.
HarperCollins released Anna David’s novel, Party Girl, in 2007. Party Girl has been translated into Russian and Italian and Sony Television has purchased the film rights. Harper Perennial will release Anna’s second novel, Bought,
May 19. Harper will also release an anthology Anna is editing on reality shows in 2010. A former magazine staffer, Anna writes for Details and Maxim. She’s written for The New York Times, The LA Times, Vanity Fair, Cosmo and Playboy among others.
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I believe in the concept of the random draft. Also, if anyone wants to know what draft you’re on, respond with the following, “I’ve completed seven so far….” It would seem that seven being the number of completion, would satisfy those that need to assign a number to your progress, without being too many.
We can get into rewrites versus polishes here as well. Does a polish count as a draft? Depends who’s doing the numbering, I would think. I might number the first draft I see as #1, whereas, you may have done three before I see it.
As with all writing, your post goes to screenplays as well, so, thanks for retweeting yourself :)
that’s so true. every word of it.
i admit that i’m guilty of trying to perfect things the first time around. it’s not healthy. it really can drive you crazy. you’ll find yourself sitting there — mind wandering — in front of your keyboard working with nothing to show for it. just having something that you can use to demonstrate your effort (especially if only to yourself) is so important; it doesn’t matter if it’s “right” or perfect or not.
baby-steps are still steps.
Without a positive degree of accuracy I will not articulate upon the subject.
:)
Great article by this Anna David.. Where can we see more of her work?
Enjoyed the interview and the insight. Thanks, Anna and Maria.
–John
i know exactly what you mean. i made a comment on my school blog (ada) that no matter what i write, a thesis for a class, or an assignment for a class i tutor, i never think it’s good enough or makes any sense, and end up rewriting everything about 20 times. then, it takes god knows how many more times reading it before i bring myself to hit the print key.
i will say this, whatever you are doing, keep it up. it worked really well for #party girl and the awesomeness continues with #bought.
mike
ps: for those of you that twitter:
#buyboughtmay19
Anna,
What always amazes me is the effect time has on my writing. I’ll set aside the first draft (that I was pretty happy with, overall) and when I have a peek a week or two later I’m scratching my head going, “huh?”
Time puts the polish on the rewrite, if the project timing allows.
Nice article. Thanks!
George
Thanks so much for this peak into the process
I used to listen to this talk show and when authors would be interviewed the most interesting part was hearing about their process for writing their books. This could mean that while I was posting journal entries or working on the 2007 financial statments, somewhere, Anna David was writing “Bought” . Very cool thought
(darn for website I should have wrote http://www.annadavid.com)
Anthony Mark
NYC
The best writing advice I’ve ever gotten is to give myself permission to write a crappy first draft. Nora Roberts said something like, “I can’t fix a blank page, but I can fix a bad page,” which is excellent advice for anyone stuck. Learning to get past the perfection in your head and getting right to the crap, which can be perfected – now that’s the thing to strive for.
Unless checking spelling counts, I almost never rewrite anything. What I write reflects what I’m thinking or feeling at the time and since no one pays me to do it I’m not too concerned with anyone being able to follow my thought processes or somewhat unusual sentence structures.
Reading this article and the comments it’s pretty clear I’ve been writing it wrong, a phrase that somehow is interesting to me but probably to no one else, and writing it wrong could be one of the reasons people can’t understand much of what I’m trying to say.
Rewrites, I should look into them.
I agree that it is best to write and worry about fixing it later. But striving for perfection the first time through, or striving for perfection on the umpteeth rewrite both lead to the same thing – lack of production. There comes a point when the writer needs to say, “I’m done with this.” For it will never be perfect. I recently read I Am Scout, and am convinced that is why Harper Lee never produced a second book. I think she was always striving for perfection and therefore was never “done with this.”
I’m curious, at what stage in the rewrite process do you decide that enough is enough?
~jon
I operate more on time than pages. For new writing, my limit would be 3 to 4 hours. Any more than that and the words begin to lose their focus, as does my brain. It’s very much the same though in that during that time, some days I can get pages done, and other days it’s a struggle just to get a coherent paragraph.
Since people know you’re a writer, do they catch you watching them, observing their expressions, actions, motives? Do they come to you later and say, “Hey, that’s me in that character”?
Yes, rewriting is pretty much a constant, and hell sometimes rewriting turns into new writing so the time spent on each gets blurred.
Good article. Looking forward to the release of Bought.
I never print my drafts anymore, but that doesn’t mean I don’t play hack ‘n’ chop time and time again. It’s tough to know when to stop, considering I can manage to find things in my already published work that make me think “I could have done that better!”
That was a really interesting interview, and a great insight into the process. I have similar issues when recording music, which with today’s computer programs, allows for constant editing. The only thing that I would add, particularly in my case, is not to get too far ahead before doing rewrites, or retakes. The problem can become overwhelming if too much is left in an unfinished state.
Anna you are the greatest writer on the planet….maybe the even the Milky Way Galaxy….I haven’t confirmed this yet (because of the whole speed of light – time travel issue)….but it’s a great possibility that you are!
I’m a total revisionist writer…it has taken me 42 edits to finish this post! Anyhoo….Everybody buy “Bought!”…that book will change your life! I’m now a successful male prostitute thanks to Anna! XOXOXOXOXO
This is a great quick post Anna & Maria (Sorry for just reading – I’ve been MIA for a couple of weeks). I’m exactly the person you’re referring to staring @ the blank screen.
Tomorrow, I put the ego aside & attack the story with reckless abandon. Wednesday, I’ll accept the text in all it’s badness & dance the rewrite dance.
Thanks for the tip Anna! (Oh, and…um…at the risk of sounding awkward, Wow – what a great picture!)
Sid.