I've been in a few musicals, and from them I've learned one or two things about singing. One thing I remember is that you are supposed to time your breathing, so that you know where you are planning on stealing a gulp of air. I was never very good at that. I would see the long note coming, panic, and end up breathing early. Then, when the long note arrived, it showed up just as I was about half-way through my lungful, and I would wimp out about half way through.
Writing can be like that sometimes. It's important in a busy, busy schedule, to plan when you come up for air. If you breath too early, you might not have enough time to do what you need to get done.
The 29th of March is my twenty second birthday, and this week was all about holding my note. Staying on task, keeping my eyes on the prize so that I can go home over Easter. And it wasn't easy.
When we work on our capstone projects, sometimes we have to push. To force our minds to wax creative at the absolute worst and hardest possible times. To meet deadlines and expectations, we just keep squeezing, hoping to find the proverbial golden egg amongst our many thoughts. This week was like that for me.
But! It gets better. Pushing has it's rewards. First and foremost, when you finish pushing... you have something. It might not be good, (or have a beginning, middle, and end), but it is edittable. Some of my best work has come out of edits. I read what I wrote, sometimes weeks ago, and I just know what I wanted to say. Editing prose is hard, but the trick is remembering the goal. Visualize what the finished product will look like, try to keep the emotional journey in you mind, and just push.
Does anyone have any other tips for editing prose? Editing poems is great because I can see everything I want to do, and work with; but prose is too big for that. It's easy to get discoraged as I try to write within the box I've created for my self. Any ideas?
I can really relate to your imagery of taking breaths at the correct times. That's something I've struggled with this semester--sometimes I stop to take a breath/break from writing and realize I shouldn't have. Or I'll keep pushing and run out of air. Balance is hard, and something I'm still working on.
ReplyDeleteAs far as editing with prose goes, I resonate with your analogy of it as a box you've created with yourself. This isn't really anything new, but one thing that helps me is to remember that there's nothing sacred about my first draft. I can and should tear it apart ruthlessly if needed. That helps me feel less boxed in. I sometimes have a hard time deleting/altering things I've slaved over, so I end up saving a new draft each time I make a more significant revision.
It’s intriguing that you would use a musical metaphor, because my roommate and I just finished watching the 2012 Les Mis, so it’s very vivid image for me. I may be ahead on my hours, but it’s still something I have to plan for, something I need to schedule very carefully.
ReplyDeleteAs for editing drafts, I stand by my earlier statement. First drafts are blowing up a toolshed and the rest of the work is trying to build a Victorian mansion from the remnants. But sometimes we get lucky and there’s a firm foundation in the first draft. It’s frustrating, even infuriating at times, but I never expect to stop with my first draft of anything, unless I have a fairly complete draft of the story in my head.
I also second Elizabeth’s comments about drafts. I have a “scraps” file that I use for all the phrases and lines that that don’t make it into the next draft. It’s especially useful for poems, which tend to need more tweeking.
Nice music metaphor. I. Love. Breathing. It's kind of hard (my lungs hate me), but it's something God has also used as a metaphor for college life for me. He teaches me constantly that I have to stop and take a deep breath and be still and know He is God and that He has things in control. But then I also have to move on again. It's that way with writing as well.
ReplyDeleteEditing prose is hard :( I've experienced this lots (Well basically with everything I write, but still) with my Italy pieces, and what I realized is that it's okay to completely scratch a draft and start anew. Maybe you needed that draft just to get going, or maybe that's what it took for you to realize how you want to shape the goal and what you are actually trying to say. I guess I would try to envision or imagine it in other ways. That helps me to see which parts will fit my goals and which parts won't. But then again, I'm still learning right along with you!
I agree with the others - your breathing metaphor is very apt! Sometimes I think of capstone as a journey of sorts - a race to the finish line - but our writerly "breathing" is not so much a matter of even pacing throughout as it is about balance - holding the note, as you say, as long as we can, and then resting in the off-beat, gathering new breath to start afresh. I'm glad you (and all of us!) get to experience this little break. It's important for our writing (and just our general sanity) to have some time off.
ReplyDeleteI can totally relate to your anxiety about editing! It's so intimidating. Personally, I think editing prose is actually easier than editing poetry - I know essays and stories are longer, but that also makes them more easily structurable for me (you can't very well outline a poem!). I like what Elizabeth said about remembering that there's nothing sacred about your first draft. Personally, I tend to be really meticulous in my first drafts - it's the old perfectionist in me - so revisions can be difficult because I hate deleting things that I worked so hard on the first time around. But, like Sarah said, sometimes it helps to try tearing yourself away from the stubbornness of your first goal and envisioning the draft in a completely new way. Free yourself up to trying new things.