Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Writing Magic

Ever since reading Tracy's post yesterday, I've been walking around singing, "It's a DARKLIGHT party/Who could ask for more?" to the tune of Dead Man's Party by Oingo Boingo.

Folks, I think the holidays have finally gotten to me...

As Tracy mentioned, one lucky commenter will receive a signed hardcover of DARKLIGHT by our own Lesley Livingston. So comment early and often to be entered to win! The book is at the very top of my Christmas list, and I can't wait to devour it!

Lesley picked "magic" as the topic this week. For me, this has a particularly relevant and special meaning this week, in regards to writing magic. I'm in the middle of doing some agent revisions on my new manuscript, and, as always, the task seems daunting and unmanageable at first glance.

The writing process for me is very organic--just start writing, figure out the snags later. Of course, this often leads to lots of teeth-gnashing during revisions, but at least I have something on paper already. And yes, the jaw clenching and fist-balling has thoroughly commenced.

But as I'm going through my manuscript, deleting awkward sentences and throwing out subplots, I'm also discovering a bit of magic. It's the kind of moment when you read something you don't remember writing. When you stop, furrow your brow and eye the computer suspiciously as in: "I wrote that? But...but...it's so...GOOD."

It really is a case of channeling my muse, or possibly reaching some new emotional depth in writing that I wasn't sure if I could achieve. Whatever the cause or the outcome, I know I have a few key, perfect sentences buried in this poor little draft.

And that, for me, is magic and makes all of the work worthwhile.

Happy Holidays, everyone! Don't forget to comment!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hate revising anything, there are lines that you think are golden and then revising it it's like how did I ever write that.

theoriginalspy said...

Here's a question -- when revising, people always comment on the stuff they left out and how much they miss it. Does anyone ever look at the final product and have a moment of regret about not cutting something?

Crissi said...

Hmmm... sometimes we use more words than necessary to describe something. Maybe leaving the manuscript for a day or so and then coming back to it will help get the meat and potatoes out of it.

:)
Darklight- YEAY!

Jo said...

I really like hearing about the revision process, too. It's good to know that even successful writers have to go through it! (That's probably why they're so successful :))

Anonymous said...

"The writing process for me is very organic--just start writing, figure out the snags later. Of course, this often leads to lots of teeth-gnashing during revisions, but at least I have something on paper already."

Yep yep this is how I do it also.

donnas said...

I always hated doing revisions to papers when in school. I think that might be part of the reason I waited until the last minute to write them, then I didnt have time to revise.

Good luck with your revisions and Happy Holidays!!