Monday, May 4, 2009

On Revising a Manuscript I Wasn't Expecting Still to be Revising by Now

There's a quote about how at first, when you're writing a novel, it feels like you're crawling, then later it feels like you're walking, then finally it feels like you're flying. Anyone have the correct attribution for this line? (If I find out, I'll add the attribution in a comment.)

With the last few drafts of this particular novel, for a while I felt like I was trapped in concrete, far underground... but now it feels like I'm a comet shooting through space. I don't know if that's a sign that I shouldn't be working on this project any more, or a sign that I should...
Posted by James Warner at 5/04/2009 02:08:00 PM

3 comments:

  1. And sometimes you're running and then trip, fall, bleed all over the concrete and... there it is, outlined in blood on slate, the crucial plot twist.
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  2. Joyce Carol Oates compares the early drafts to hacking through a jungle with a butter knife and the later ones to soaring overhead in a plane.
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  3. And here's a 1934 Edith Wharton quote I just stumbled on:

    "What is writing a novel like?
    1. The beginning: A ride through a spring wood.
    2. The middle: The Gobi Desert.
    3. The End: A night with a lover."
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