what I could really use
6 Jan 2009 02:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kaigouI think I've mentioned this before, but I think I need the reverse of what I've seen requested by other writers (or maybe writers similar to me just don't go around saying this where I can hear/read them): I need someone not to say, "expand here, explain this," but to say, "this, this, this, and this, can go."
Not saying I would automatically then delete (as in: not saying the idea is to allow someone else to fully edit on my behalf) but because I can always see a valid argument for retaining this section of a scene, that bit of exchange, and think, okay, this is information the reader needs. It would be good to have someone else willing to be brutal, and give me a kind of lesson-plan for teasing how their justification/reaction, and start to develop a process of my own. Kind of like saying I know what gets scenes to the semi-finalists' round, but not to the finalists' round, so if I could watch someone else do the judging and compare it to how I would have judged, I might learn something useful.
I've never really managed that well, I think, and I suspect that's part of the reason I can hit such a high word count so easily, so fast.
Of course, the other reason for a high word count is because I have real trouble reeling myself in against intricate plots driven by significant interpersonal tensions. I like 'em best when not fully explained but hinting at a whole past that motivates the present. Like having two characters who appear like they should get along fine, but there's always a subtle unexplained tension.
I imagine it doesn't help, either, that I also adore and use business regularly, but that's for another post.
Not saying I would automatically then delete (as in: not saying the idea is to allow someone else to fully edit on my behalf) but because I can always see a valid argument for retaining this section of a scene, that bit of exchange, and think, okay, this is information the reader needs. It would be good to have someone else willing to be brutal, and give me a kind of lesson-plan for teasing how their justification/reaction, and start to develop a process of my own. Kind of like saying I know what gets scenes to the semi-finalists' round, but not to the finalists' round, so if I could watch someone else do the judging and compare it to how I would have judged, I might learn something useful.
I've never really managed that well, I think, and I suspect that's part of the reason I can hit such a high word count so easily, so fast.
Of course, the other reason for a high word count is because I have real trouble reeling myself in against intricate plots driven by significant interpersonal tensions. I like 'em best when not fully explained but hinting at a whole past that motivates the present. Like having two characters who appear like they should get along fine, but there's always a subtle unexplained tension.
I imagine it doesn't help, either, that I also adore and use business regularly, but that's for another post.