Write once to throw away...

[khiemtran]

No, it's not advice for hopeless writers... it's a well-known programming technique that basically equates to the "zeroth draft" approach in writing. The idea is that you'll write a piece of code once to get it working, and then, once you know how to do it, you start again from scratch and write a new version using all the experience you gained. I've been thinking of it, because I've been doing a lot of "refactoring" at work lately ("refactoring" is when you take a piece of working code and reorganize it so that it's more efficient, or more readable, or more reusable, or more /something/...)

I've also been thinking about the smouldering ruins of The Silver Bowl and how I'd approach it if I was starting over. If I started now with the same story seed that I had in the beginning, would I still get the same story or would it come out radically different? Would it even be recognizable as the same story, apart from the names and some of the geography?

There is something appealing about the idea of starting from a clean slate, balanced with the vaulting terror of having to start back at zero wordcount yet again. At this distance, since I'm not writing anyway, it's fun to fantasize about it. When it's back in it's pre-formed state, it can be perfect again, as was once it seemed to be in my mind.

In many ways, I had to learn to write while writing this story. There were many points where I basically just tried one approach to see if it would work and then stuck with it all the way. Unfortunately, writing turns out to be a bit like doing a sudoku - you can't rely on a mistake becoming obvious until you get to the very end.

In the meantime though, it's back to refactoring source code and writing documentation...

Comments

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

I've also been thinking about the smouldering ruins of The Silver Bowl and how I'd approach it if I was starting over. If I started now with the same story seed that I had in the beginning, would I still get the same story or would it come out radically different? Would it even be recognizable as the same story, apart from the names and some of the geography?

You can't cross the same river twice, so you'll never know.

What, apart from your whole wordcount, do you have to lose, though? I'm looking to rewrite Five Hundred Thousand Words of the quadrology - go and let that sit for a moment, it's momentous - but the words I get in this manner are far better words than I would be getting were I to chop and change and agonise over each sentence, and lazily decide that I was going to keep them because they do the job ok, and end up with flab - this way I'm forced to review my character's actions and motivations and think about what detail to put in and how I can show it best. Writing it fresh is forcing me to re-view a scene, and as I write a lot better now than I did six years ago, the result is superior. I *do* read the old part before I write it again, and any particularly good sentences will jump out and bury themselves in my brain and make it into the new version, as will witty dialogue, particularly telling facts, which is one of the reasons why I'm writing a lot faster than if I have to carefully pick my way through it.

It's daunting, but it's worth it. For my next assignment I need to work out how to either produce those superior words first time around, or how to write a very quick draft I can work from to get it right.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

What, apart from your whole wordcount, do you have to lose, though?

Well, the big danger is that I'll end up never actually completing anything. But I'm pretty sure now that I've done the best I can with the story in its current form, and it's still not going to be good enough. The only way forward is to start over with a newer and better story, hopefully without the inherent constraints of the original.

I'm looking to rewrite Five Hundred Thousand Words of the quadrology - go and let that sit for a moment, it's momentous

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<i>What, apart from your whole wordcount, do you have to lose, though?</i>

Well, the big danger is that I'll end up never actually completing anything. But I'm pretty sure now that I've done the best I can with the story in its current form, and it's still not going to be good enough. The only way forward is to start over with a newer and better story, hopefully without the inherent constraints of the original.

<i>I'm looking to rewrite Five Hundred Thousand Words of the quadrology - go and let that sit for a moment, it's momentous </i>

<Gives Secret League of Writers' Salute of Honour with Two and A Half Twists...>

Now that really would be daunting...