My first attempt at writing a novel is slowly taking shape. I wrote the first draft, then went back to start cleaning it up.
I'm catching a lot of little bits here and there; there are missing quotation marks, missing words here and there, and places where the wording was so awkward it makes a baby's first steps look graceful by comparison. So I cut and trim and alter things as I can.
My wife is far more trained in the art of utilizing the English language. As I moved through my manuscript, I would bundle up a batch of pages I went through (say, 50 pages at a time) and send them to her for editing. Essentially the story is getting a light touch-up by me then a heavier edit by her in one pass...I edit edit edit, then send it to her and when she's done I re-integrate her changes into the master manuscript.
But this got me thinking...is the story still mine?
I think it's a ridiculous thought. I mean, the story itself is still mine. I came up with it. She's not adding characters or changing events (yet...I am waiting for her to start suggesting things that work or don't work and I'm hoping it'll help improve the story.)
Still; there was always this little fantasy that I would be able to sit down and create a great story that would be well received as it is. I could write it out, edit it, and not rely on the crutch of a third-party to alter this and fix that and...essentially, by the time I saw the story or work in print, I'd read it and not find a spot where I'm scratching my head wondering why a particular passage didn't seem familiar. "I don't remember writing that," I think to myself.
I go back to my manuscript and reread the section. "That's because I didn't write that..."
Is the story still mine?
Perhaps the idea of a great story that sells is kind of a fiction in itself. From what I can tell from reading various blogs and stories on the publishing industry, unless you're Stephen King you probably won't have the clout to make the story 100% yours. If you're fortunate enough to have your manuscript picked up by an agent who then finds a publishing house willing to sell your story, you're going to have copy editors, editors, your agent, etc. all having a hand in shaping the story.
You as the author create a framework and most of the meat for the book. Then you're going to have a lot of surgeons using their plastic surgery techniques to enhance your book for marketability. There will be tweaks to layout, certain wording, etc. until they think it's ready to sell. So again...the end result is a story that should be close to what the author wrote, but not exactly what they turned in.
At least, that's my impression. Maybe someday I'll find out.
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Barry,
ReplyDeleteFew people realize how collaborative writing is. Of course the fact that it is leads to many arguments and hurt feelings. I have personal experience in this regard, unfortunately.
@Paula: I guess my philosophy on that is that while I would love to be the great novelist, and make a living as a novelist, and I hate Stephanie Meyer for just hitting the grand slam in the lucky lottery, I think that a book is a product. I have to come to grips with the idea that an author creates a story and it's mostly a framework with most of the meat on it, and if you're lucky enough to land an agent and a publisher those people are looking to turn your baby into a marketable product, not tell your story to the world. So they're going to alter it however they feel they need to in order to make money from the product.
ReplyDeleteThat's just part of the business, I guess. The author supplies the raw material and most of the work while agents, editors and publishers churn out the mass-market product.
It's just hard to think that it's not in some way admitting that the author's work is sub-par or needed even more improvement.
I don't know what most (wanna-be published) authors think of this kind of attitude, though. Maybe I'm in the minority. I'd like to think that the editor and publisher are trying to make the story more appealing in the end and so I should try not taking it personally as a criticism.