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The Writerly Life

Read Episode 2 | Read Episode 3

Episode 1

I’ve always tried to use my Web site as a sort of window into what has been called “the writerly life.” It’s a fun and intriguing task, trying to be transparent for those of you curious about what goes into writing, editing and publishing a novel. I lack the blogger’s urge, being a private person by nature, but lots of folks wonder about being a writer, as do I.

So, I’m going to catalog this latest episode in my career as a novelist: the completion of my newest book, Broken Jewel. I will accompany my entries, when possible, with photographic evidence along the way. In other words, if something happens at my desk, and much of my life does, I’ll snap a shot and you can see and read along with the drama of getting a book through the process, from computer screen to book shelf.

Phase 1: I finished the first draft of the book on January 23. You will note in the picture of me hitting SAVE that I have a beard. This happened almost of its own accord. Honestly, I spent so many hours in front of my work that I went nowhere public except the gym and the grocery store for about three weeks. I wrote furiously every morning (Christmas and New Year’s Eve and Day included), then edited with the same desperate verve every evening. When I was done, I had a beard. Really.

My completion cycle of every book is the same. During the majority of the writing process, I do not visit the earlier pages. I toil exclusively in the real-time of the events and plots where the characters exist, never looking back. In this way, I can better replicate the point-of-view of my characters who are living out their lives with a forward momentum. If they need to remember something from the book’s past, then so do I. But if they don’t look backward, if their individual jeopardy keeps them focused on their own here and now, then I stay with them, in their shoes as best I can be. I hold to this discipline throughout the writing. But as soon as I sense that the wheels are coming down and I can see the runway lights (typically, about a month out from the end of the book), I begin my first round of editing.

Here’s how my first stage of editing works: in the evenings, after a morning and afternoon writing session, a meal, a nap, and a trip to the gym, I sit again at my desk. I begin reading from the opening of the book. I read only on the computer screen. This is my line-editing phase. I do not read closely for plot, character, or pace, simply for draftsmanship. I examine all my language. I seek out and destroy my over-the-top metaphors, my redundancies, boring and obvious narrations, obtuse dialog, confusing flights of moralizing, rhetorical fireworks, every word - and trust me, I do mean every word - that does not amplify plot, expand character, reveal setting or accomplish something important and immediate for the story. I prune mercilessly.

Here’s a startling fact (startling to me, at least, because it displays either how poor my first draft was or how good my editing eye is): I removed over 10,000 words from a manuscript that, in its submitted form, is 129,800. That’s 40 double-spaced pages, one word or sentence at a time. Ugh.

My evening editing self began to chase my daylight writing self. It seemed a game: would the editing me catch up with the writing me before I finished? The answer was no; I completed the book with two days of editing left. They were pleasant days.

I walked away from the work for one day, Super Bowl Sunday. Then, I printed the pages front and back, bound them in a hard-spine spring binder (to replicate the feel of an actual book) and sat with reading glasses, green tea and a blue pencil. Here, I read, for the first time, Broken Jewel as a novel.

This process went much more painstakingly than the line-editing. I worried over and analyzed the book’s rhythms, my character’s believability, my facts’ accuracy, every detail of the story, not the writing. The book unfurled for me and I was able to judge it not as a series of connected paragraphs that I had written that day, but as entire chapters, full scenes, the passage of days and weeks of the characters’ lives and deaths. Finally, as it has always been for my novels, I loved the book.

And I removed another 3,000 words.

When I was confident Broken Jewel was ready, I sent it via email to my longtime agent, Tracy Fisher at the William Morris Agency. Tracy and her splendidly clever assistant Elizabeth read it quickly and proclaimed it “amazing.” Tracy opined that Broken Jewel, because of its subject matter concerning the comfort women, an issue greatly ignored to date in fiction, might also be “important.” I could not have selected two better words to hear from my agent.

Let me advise you at this juncture that an agent’s approval is as important as anything an editor or publisher can say. Your agent will make it happen if he/she believes in the work. Never discount an agent’s role in your career.

Now, the book was sent by Tracy to my editor at Simon & Schuster, Colin Fox. Colin is a very pleasant southern fellow from South Carolina, affable to a fault and well respected in the business for his abilities with a manuscript. He has edited many big names, and I am proud to have him on my team.

As is my habit, I went somewhere sunny while my editor read my new book. It’s nerve wracking waiting for their opinion, since it is, in the end, the one that matters most. I visited my good friend Mike Beach in Miami Beach. (Yes, that is Mike as a secretary in The Assassins Gallery, for those of you watching close enough.) I spent seven excellent days, brain dead, laughing, exercising, resting. Notice in the last photo, of me writing this update - I have no beard.

Then Colin notified me he hadn’t read the pages as promised. His managing editor had dropped several manuscripts on his desk the Friday before he’d planned to read my book; all of them were to be published before Broken Jewel (winter, ’09). He had to read them first. That’s fair, and I have no quibble. But, I’m still waiting for word from Colin and Simon & Schuster. If you’re reading this, so are you.

Stay tuned. As soon as Colin lets me know what he thinks, I’ll snap a picture, and post it along with the news. Then, we’ll begin the next phase of publishing a novel: working with the editor’s changes, cover art design, dust jacket copy, maps, and many such details. I’ll try to get them all into words and images for you. Come play along, and keep your fingers crossed.

All best, with appreciation,

David R.

—Posted 2.26.09

Episode 2

All,

It's my birthday today, March 10, and I got a really great present. But not without a lot of work and worry.

Colin, my editor at Simon & Schuster, just emailed me regarding his appraisal of my new novel, Broken Jewel. I will ask his permission to include his email to this website later.

I've been looking for this communication from Colin for the last three weeks. But, because Broken Jewel is scheduled for a winter release, other books got slotted in front of mine for his attention. He's a great editor and in demand inside his publishing house, so I begrudgingly clamped my mouth and waited, glad to have him on my team, irked at having to wait.

Finally, my patience was rewarded, and not a day too soon. I've been reading Watchmen in preparation of seeing the movie, and it's so bleak, I was getting down in the mouth. I mean, really, why so much violence and anger? But, unquestionably a work of genius. Just a bit grim for my taste.

Then, this morning, my wait was over (Happy Birthday to me) and I got word. The photo is of me immediately after reading what Colin wrote.

He loved it. Used words like "triumph" and "remarkable," even "flawless" when describing one of my characters. Oh, and we have a lot of work to do in the middle third. Seems I lost the thread in there somewhere. Hmmm.

So let's discuss editing for a moment. I know of many writers who view their editor as a problem, an interventionist, a tool and not in the good sense. Me? I have a different approach. I consider the fact that, at no expense to me, a professional is going to help make my work better. Wow. Imagine, someone trained at improving a manuscript is going to do this for my book. I look forward to the collaboration and the finished product. Colin is circumspect and considered in his comments, professional in his conduct, and is on the same team as I am, which is to put out the best novel I can. What could I ask for more? In your own work, I recommend you embrace the editorial process, so long as the editor is respectful and likes (preferably loves) the underlying work. Let them do their work; often it's a skill set writers lack. Learn from your editor, you'll never have a better writing teacher.

So, what's next? Colin will send me a detailed editorial letter (again, I will try to post it). I'll go over it with him, and in the following weeks, I'll attack the book along the guidelines he will establish and I will ratify (and when I don't agree, we'll talk it through). Then, when we're both satisfied, the next phase begins: designing cover art, dust jacket copy, marketing schemes, and a plan for the next book or books.

Nerve wracking, gratifying, challenging, rewarding, scary stuff. Stay tuned.

David R.

—Posted 3.10.09