Re-writes

gigi

Thank you Dorothyd for suggesting I start a new thread on this topic.
I am such a perfectionist that before I send anything out, I rewrite, edit, rewrite again.
The problem with that is you can end up with work that has lost all its spontaneity so I'm very aware of the importance of 'keeping it fresh'.
We all have our own style and method of writing but when I have spent so long getting something 'just right' it's difficult when you get something back from an editor asking for more work on it.
I suppose that is better than a flat refusal, at least you know someone can see the potential in the piece.
I welcome others thoughts on this...

Jenny

"You've been fiddling around with that for about twenty minutes," my husband said. "Leave it alone and just put it in an envelope."

What was I writing? A short note to our daughters' school - but it had to be phrased just right!!

So I'm not the best person to give advice!

Sagesse

I've had a yes and a handful of no thanks, but not yet a re-write/re-work. I guess it would depend on how many articles/stories I had sold, as to how I'd feel about it. Personally, since I want to have more "published notches" I would swallow it and go with the changes. If I was more established I think I would feel more differently about it.

heather

If the editor likes it enough to ask for a rewrite, then rewrite it.
Established or not, they know what they want for their market and they wouldn't ask if it wasn't close.

flyingtart

Are you talking about short or long pieces, gigi? For novels, I think feedback is essential because you become enmeshed in the process and having an objective view is very helpful in guiding you to shape the story.

Red

I suffer from perfectionism to a certain degree. It's got better over the years, but that's with everything, not just writing.

There will come a point where you have written something to your best ability, and you have to send it out. The feedback you get, hopefully, will enable you to either expand on your work where needed, or give it a few tweaks, or if you are lucky you might get en editor's juices running and they want to see the whole story/novel/article.

When I first started out I found it difficult to change my work, under the belief that it didn't need changing, but of course it invariably did. 25 years later I'm fairly clued up. Every now and then an editor will ask me to change something they feel isn't right for them or their market, and I work with them and make those changes. A few words or sentences here or there won't hurt. I've been fortunate that they don't need huge swathes of text changing, so I can't speak from that angle, but on the whole a willingness to work with an editor, rather than against, brings its own rewards in the end.

dorothyd

I channel life stories from spirit authors. I worked long and hard with Guy Fawkes, went from first person to third, the whole thing, put it aside, went back to it, battled all the way and produced 80,000 words of what I thought of as good work. It immediately prompted a rash of 'can I have more on this' (his time at Cowdray House) 'what about this journey' (Yorkshire to London) can he tell us more about his training as a soldier' (when he went to the Continent) and so on... We added quite a lot of words, another 3-4000 I think overall and finally got back the comment that we have a rich and full book. With Guy wondering what we wanted to know all that for ... but sometimes editors see what we don't.