J Alan Erwine is a prize winning SF writer. He is also an SF editor, and the co-designer of the Ephemeris Role Playing Game. He is also the creator of the Rocks on the Other Side RPG, as well as the Battle for Turtle Island RPG.
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Page 1
I've officially started the novel over again. I tried to fix it from where I was, but it just wasn't happening, so now it's back to the drawing board.
Writing is easy they say.......grumble, grumble, grumble.........
It's a truism in computer programming that if a system doesn't work, it is often better to rewrite it from scratch than to try and fix it. It is also usually easier to fix something than to do it right in the first place. You have to balance the two. If there are enough good parts, you can salvage those that you like. A badly broken part will have to be trashed and a completely new one built. This is a normal part of the creation process and it is as true with the programmer, engineer and artist as it is with a novelist. Check out Lionel Fanthorpe, he wrote a novel every 12 days on the average.
It's a truism in computer programming that if a system doesn't work, it is often better to rewrite it from scratch than to try and fix it. It is also usually easier to fix something than to do it right in the first place.
ReplyDeleteYou have to balance the two. If there are enough good parts, you can salvage those that you like. A badly broken part will have to be trashed and a completely new one built.
This is a normal part of the creation process and it is as true with the programmer, engineer and artist as it is with a novelist.
Check out Lionel Fanthorpe, he wrote a novel every 12 days on the average.