tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10890387.post1384245416701763811..comments2023-12-25T00:38:19.500-08:00Comments on Finding Wonderland: The WritingYA Weblog (archive): The End: EventuallySarah Stevensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16534942492714970282noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10890387.post-463931589378234792007-02-27T18:58:00.000-08:002007-02-27T18:58:00.000-08:00He didn't say specifically to delete them, but he ...He didn't say specifically to delete them, but he said that if you throw away the first draft, and then you rewrite from memory, you'll remember the good parts if they were good enough. Something like that.Sarah Stevensonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16534942492714970282noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10890387.post-8819845605820947022007-02-27T15:50:00.000-08:002007-02-27T15:50:00.000-08:00Victor actually said to delete files?Huh!Well, her...<A HREF="http://authors.aalbc.com/victordlavalle.htm" REL="nofollow">Victor</A> actually said to delete files?<BR/><BR/>Huh!<BR/><BR/>Well, here's the truth:<BR/>When I first started writing, we had a rickety computer and temperamental electricity in our rural town, and I LOST things -- big things -- more than once. Utterly. Totally. I learned how to scour my hard drive for pieces of fiction, but there wasn't automatic saving with Windows back then (was there Windows? Okay -- kidding) and I was just a consistently forgetful person. I still am not cured of that, but most of the time it's okay.<BR/><BR/>Once I lost <I>an entire novel</I>, something like 103 pages (back when I considered something that short an entire novel - boy, times have changed!) and Mac was so upset on my behalf, I realized I needed to rein in my hysteria, because two of us freaking out completely wasn't helping. I told him that since I already knew the story, it'd be okay. I just sat down... and rewrote it.<BR/><BR/>Not that it was easy? But it worked.tanita✿davishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01671822274852087499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10890387.post-6784916855626410222007-02-27T14:45:00.000-08:002007-02-27T14:45:00.000-08:00Cynthia's comments about first drafts are almost e...Cynthia's comments about first drafts are almost exactly what one Mr. LaValle said. It gave me the shuddering flashbacks to what was one of the scariest things Victor ever uttered in Craft of Fiction. Yikes! Yikes!!<BR/><BR/>My reaction to that is exactly what <A HREF="http://justinelarbalestier.com/blog/?p=554" REL="nofollow">Justine's </A>was--"What if I just wound up writing another shaky first draft? Do I throw that one out too? And start over again? Couldn’t that go on forever?" I'm almost positive that's what's happening with <I>Olwen</I>. Though I <I>am</I> sort of trying the "disregard-the-first-and-second-draft" thing, I can't bring myself to actually throw it away. I'm just forbidding myself to look at it any more than is absolutely necessary (e.g., if I want to make sure I've retained the wording on something I can't quite remember because I wrote it <I>two years ago</I>).Sarah Stevensonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16534942492714970282noreply@blogger.com