I finished final edits on Miss Lonely Hearts last week and the first thing I did when I had the final, final, final approved version back from my editor was to open up the book’s folder and dump the twelve hundred prior versions, empty my recycle bin, and wave bye-bye forever to the particles.
There are many ways to write a book. Many ways to write each book. Some of them aren’t wrong, they just don’t quite do what you want them to do for one reason or another. With this book, I had 3 alternate beginnings. One started at a central event in the story as a prolog, and then jumped back in time with chapter one to the chronological beginning. I rejected this for multiple reasons, the main two being that I didn’t want to disorient people by jumping around in time if it wasn’t strictly necessary, and by doing so I also ended the first chapter in the wrong place, on a downbeat, which is bad.
In another alternate version, the heroine was the bad guy. Yeah, that was dark. Not so good in a romantic comedy. Delete. In yet another version, the heroine was too much of a victim. Also not funny. Delete.
In the end, I went with chronological order, no prolog, ending the first chapter on an up note while piling on the complications, and the heroine on her way to get her happy ending without being either victim or villain. Was it the right way to tell this story? I think so. Could I have found yet another way? Sure. But sometimes it comes down to gut instinct and aesthetics when you have to decide on a version of events.
Lawrence Block talks about the transition from writing with a sort of tunnel vision that only sees one possibility to learning to navigate the maze of multiple possibilities in Telling Lies for Fun and Profit. The first time I read that book, I remember being dumbfounded by this. “What does he mean, there’s more than one way a book can go?”
In a lot of ways I miss the early “how else could it happen?” days of innocent ignorance. Now I am painfully aware of alternate versions of my fictional reality. I could do this, but…I could go there, but…every choice has consequences and some of them lead the story a place that isn’t right for that book or those characters or this theme or even the genre.
Sometimes I explore a version because I’m not sure. And once it’s down on paper, I can judge it better. “No, this is wrong. Too much backstory. That’s wrong, it puts the emphasis in the wrong place.” Whether an idea works or doesn’t work, having it down in black and white will make it plain.
Sometimes I write an alternative because the direction I’ve chosen to go presents difficulties I’d like to avoid. Wicked Hot is in first person, a choice I struggled with. I even went so far as to write the opening chapters in third person to make sure that wouldn’t work just as well and allow me to do an end-run around the limitations of first. Thinking about it didn’t answer the question. Putting it down on paper created certainty. Third person didn’t work. First person did.
When it comes to romance, there probably are more than fifty ways to meet your lovers and get them to happily ever after for each book, but only one final version in the end. That final version might be the tip of the iceberg in terms of total pages written (and dumped), but all the rest belongs under water, as far as I’m concerned.
When you read, do you ever wonder what would have happened if the book had taken a different turn? When you write, do you ever hang onto previous versions?
Sarah, who can’t even move them to CD and just leaves them cluttering her desk top
by Sarah McCarty September 27th, 2007 at 6:42 amI always hang onto early versions. One, you never know when something old might come in handy, and two, it’s interesting to go back a year or three later and see what I was doing and what choices I made — take a look at how I was working the craft at the time.
When I’m reading, I generally don’t wonder how else the writer might’ve done something, unless there’s a problem. If everything’s going well, I’m sucked into the story and not thinking about craftsmanship. It’s like when you’re at a play and start staring at the scenery or trying to figure out how the effects are done and where the trapdoor in the stage is — that’s when you know the play’s failing for you, if you’re so unabsorbed in it that you can be distracted by that sort of thing.
The only time this isn’t the case is when the craftsmanship is so spectacular that I can pay attention to the why and how without losing my interest in what’s going on within the story. That doesn’t happen very often, though. The one book that comes to mind is Piers Anthony’s Bearing an Hourglass, where I was so O_O over how he managed to successfully (IMO) write a novel where the protagonist lives backwards through time relative to all the other characters. It’s a piece of beautifully done craftsmanship, just for that one thing, and I read it several times to “watch” how he’d done it.
With most books, though, if I’m studying the paint job and the studs and the pulleys instead of getting caught up in the story, the writer did something wrong.
Angie
by Angie September 27th, 2007 at 6:44 amCount me in as astonished too. I even save the scraps of paper I write notes on — whether or not I used them.
I enjoy going back from time to time and seeing how a story evolved. Someday I’d like to do a class about first draft to final draft, how to rearrange the words in a sentence to make it funny or emphasize a point, that sort of stuff. So I always save my drafts to use as examples.
But yes, I do think about the many ways a story could’ve gone. Am doing that right now, in fact, for a new series. It’s hard to decide.
Thanks for this post today. I think I’m going to try your method and write them all, to see which one fits. It’s great advice!
by Ann Wesley Hardin September 27th, 2007 at 7:03 amSometimes being acutely aware of the many possible permutations and directions can be a handicap and leave one paralized by indecision!
by Bernita September 27th, 2007 at 7:10 amWell, as a reader, if I’m imagining other scenarios to the story while I’m reading the author hasn’t sucked me into the story. A sure sign that the book isn’t working for me.
by Tara Marie September 27th, 2007 at 7:38 amDitto everyone who says they second guess the author only if the book isn’t working for them the way it’s printed.
My last manuscript has been, literally, six completely different books. I think the only things that never changed were the character’s names and occupations! I thought it was just because I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. I don’t know whether to be relieved or dismayed that the waffling isn’t a one-time newbie fluke.
by Kerry Allen September 27th, 2007 at 8:43 am[...] I’m over at Romancing the Blog talking about the more than 50 Ways to Meet Your Lovers. It’d be so much easier to write a book if there really was a formula you could just fill in… [...]
by Writers Blog » Blog Archive » RTB day September 27th, 2007 at 9:20 amSarah, it’s tempting to hang onto that stuff, but I could never reuse it. The scenes wouldn’t fit other characters or plots, and it’d be so much easier to recreate new scenes that to try to cobble together something use the outtakes.
by Charlene Teglia September 27th, 2007 at 9:43 amAngie, that’s a very interesting point. I’ve noticed the same thing; if I’m looking at how a story is put together, it’s either not working for me at all or it’s amazingly, incredibly good.
by Charlene Teglia September 27th, 2007 at 9:45 amAnn, trying different things out on paper can be really helpful. Good luck with your new series!
And really, if I don’t start throwing stuff out now, the mess in another three years is going to be incredible. The photos of Jennifer Crusie’s office as she cleaned it out, only the electronic version. I’m already reaching the point where there are so many versions it’s hard to find the right one.
by Charlene Teglia September 27th, 2007 at 9:47 amBernita, no time for paralysis.
I find working out ideas keeps me moving forward even if I dump the pages in the end. It leads me to the thing that DOES work. (Sort of like the inventor who discovered all the ways not to make an incandescent bulb and finally had nothing left but the right way to try.)
by Charlene Teglia September 27th, 2007 at 9:50 amTara Marie, I have found that sometimes I love a book’s characters so much that I want them to have more adventures than the author wrote. That’s when it’s fun to imagine that a scene happened where they did this, or went there…
by Charlene Teglia September 27th, 2007 at 9:51 amKerry, my normal process doesn’t involve so many totally different versions. But sometimes things just don’t work the way you planned or expect, and sometimes a project just keeps going south. When that happens, you have to be willing to dump what isn’t working for the good of the story. Hey, if this writing thing was easy, everybody would be doing it.
by Charlene Teglia September 27th, 2007 at 9:55 amYep, as a reader, I agree with the others. If I’m thinking about other endings then the book didn’t work (and probably got slammed against the wall).
But then I don’t worry about my own past decisions so it makes sense not to worry about the character’s.
by Kimber Chin September 27th, 2007 at 10:00 am[...] Your Own Adventure Jump to Comments Charlene Teglia posted today over on Romancing the Blog about the many ways to write a book. Shetalks about missing the “innocent ignorance” of “how else could it happen?” The notion made me smile. I was there in the not too distant past. Back in April when Pot and I first started working together as critique partners, she challenged a lot of my plot elements in House of Cards and there were times I sat there dumbfounded–”But that’s how it happens!” Thankfully, I have gotten beyond this limitation and am willing to expand my horizons and look at other possibilities. I think HOC is a much stronger book for having my having gotten to that point. So thank you, Pot, for pushing me to explore territories unknown. [...]
by Choose Your Own Adventure « A Field of Paper Flowers September 27th, 2007 at 10:35 amI have all the versions of each book (and there are many, many versions, LOL!). I tend to rewrite the opening over and over until it’s “right” and I’m in the groove, then the rest of the book unfolds pretty naturally. I can’t imagine ditching those alternate versions forever though . . . ack!
by Kalen Hughes September 27th, 2007 at 11:05 amAh, I must be an anomally…because I write one version of my book and I’ve rarely if ever rewritten a scene or ripped one out…the most recent time I’ve rewritten was on my last book because my computer kept crashing and I’d lose multiple chapters at a time, and lost my backups as well…so I HAD TO REWRITE with tears streaming down my face.
That may be why it takes me along time to write one draft, because I usually work most of that stuff out in my head before I write one word down.
by Vivi Anna September 27th, 2007 at 11:11 amKimber, it only becomes important if it becomes a problem to the story.
by Charlene Teglia September 27th, 2007 at 11:27 amKalen, the beginning is typically the hard part for me, too. I work out everything in the first act, and then it’s all downhill.
by Charlene Teglia September 27th, 2007 at 11:28 amVivi, I suspect everybody either works it out on paper or in their heads. Whatever gets the job done!
by Charlene Teglia September 27th, 2007 at 11:29 amLola, were you expecting naked Chippendales?
I think RTB does a pretty good job of providing diverse viewpoints on the romance genre, from writers to readers to agents and editors and critics of the genre. Obviously no one blog (or one column) will be exactly what everybody is looking for.
by Charlene Teglia September 27th, 2007 at 11:30 amI really like the song by “Paul Simon.”
‘50 ways 2 leave your lover.’:arrow:
by Lola September 27th, 2007 at 12:03 pmHeh. I’ve even let entire unsold books from a dozen years ago die a natural death on old hard drives…and no longer care. They were great exercises, but I’ve moved on and will never, ever need any of that stuff again.
I definitely go through a lot of changes (both mentally and in the WIP) as I write. If I’m not sure whether a new direction is the right one, I’ll temporarily save the old file, or print out the questionable pages, while I play around with the new stuff. But once the book’s done, the old stuff goes bye-bye. If a character or premise from an old project is meant to find a new home, he/she/it will stick in my head until that happens. In fact, I’m fiddling around with a book now that’s gone through at least three different permutations, but I’ve only saved the most recent version while I work on the latest one — the earlier ones are dead, both in my head and on my hard drive.
And I never save my notes (yeah, I know, huge loss to posterity). Which is okay because they’re illegible, anyway.:???:
by Karen Templeton September 27th, 2007 at 1:07 pm***Sometimes I write an alternative because the direction I’ve chosen to go presents difficulties I’d like to avoid. Wicked Hot is in first person, a choice I struggled with. I even went so far as to write the opening chapters in third person to make sure that wouldn’t work just as well and allow me to do an end-run around the limitations of first. Thinking about it didn’t answer the question. Putting it down on paper created certainty. Third person didn’t work. First person did.***
I did the exact same thing and came to the same conclusion. It was the only way to know for sure. I don’t tend to mentally change the books that I read unless I think the author did something dramatic. I do change movies that I watch though. Strange, eh? *g*
by Jordan September 27th, 2007 at 4:05 pmI save all my old versions, all my notes, scraps of paper and cocktails napkins with ideas jotted down on them…:-). I actually sometimes find ways to work cut material into new books. There’s a chase through Covent Garden Market in “Beneath a Silent Moon” that was originally in “Secrets of a Lady” back when I was first writing it (when it had its working title “The End of Reckonining” before it became “Daughter of the Game” :-)).
It tends to take me a lot longer to write the first half of a book than the second, and I think this is because in the first half (even though I’m an outliner) there are myriad directions the story can take, myriad choices to make. In the second half, the direction the book can take is much more focused by the choices you’ve already made.
by Tracy Grant September 27th, 2007 at 4:07 pmOh, I always hang on to older versions of what I write. I never ever delete scenes. I never know when I can use them in another story. Just because something doesn’t work one particular story, it doesn’t mean that it won’t work for another. Sometimes I’m surprise how one deleted scene can be pivotal in another story.
by Tempest Knight September 27th, 2007 at 4:38 pmI don’t usually find myself second guessing the author when I read unless something is just out of place, not making sense, or one of those huh? what the heck is that character doing this makes no sense given what I know of the character. OR hopefully this is rare and so far has been almost non-existent but scene or portion of the story that is extraneous to the plot or just plain TMI.
by Melissa in Oregon September 27th, 2007 at 6:47 pmIt’s amazing to me how we all approach our stories from different angles. I’ve never had alternate endings in my head. I think this is because I think of how it’ll end from the very beginning (and I write to that ending) OR I don’t know how it’ll end until I get to the end! LOL!
Like many others have said, I don’t dump the older versions of my stories (this are usually versions before rewrites and edits).
by Patrice Michelle September 27th, 2007 at 10:20 pmKaren, very smart. Much better to write something new than try to rehab something old. And you’re right, the ideas or characters that stick are the ones with life.
by Charlene Teglia September 27th, 2007 at 10:29 pmJordan, sometimes the only way to be sure is to try it out! And, um, I’m with you on the movies.
by Charlene Teglia September 27th, 2007 at 10:29 pmTracy, very true about building on all the earlier decisions. You build your base in the first act and everything else comes from that.
by Charlene Teglia September 27th, 2007 at 10:31 pmTempest, I’ve sometimes found a scene I had in mind didn’t fit one project, but belonged in another. Of course, by the time it’s rewritten to fit it’s a whole new scene.
by Charlene Teglia September 27th, 2007 at 10:32 pmMelissa, I do think it’s interesting to extrapolate what would have happened if the character had made a different decision, taken another turn. Maybe just the kind of exercise in plotting writer brains are prone to.
by Charlene Teglia September 27th, 2007 at 10:33 pmPatrice, I tend to keep the older versions until everything is final. If I realize I’ve made a mistake and need to roll back, I can.
by Charlene Teglia September 27th, 2007 at 10:38 pm“Sarah, it’s tempting to hang onto that stuff, but I could never reuse it.”
Oh, you don’t re-use it. You cling to it, hold onto it, just in case something AWFUL happens. Never mind I can’t think of what that could be. I just can’t throw it away.:roll:
“And really, if I don’t start throwing stuff out now, the mess in another three years is going to be incredible. ”
Two words that solved my issue: Bigger hardrive.:lol:
by Sarah McCarty September 28th, 2007 at 6:19 amSeriously, I need to clean this thing out. I do not need every step of what I did on every book. Maybe I’ll start small. With the first synopsis I never finished.
There you go, Sarah! Baby steps.
by Charlene Teglia September 28th, 2007 at 8:16 am