This week we’ve had a high and a low in the
Guyler household – my first press interview with the fabulous journalist
Charlie Ray who wrote a wonderful article about me here
What fascinated me when the article came out was what he didn’t put in, bearing
in mind after our meeting he commented on the pages and pages of notes he’d
taken, proving I can talk for England . . .
The low came when the family hamster died
suddenly. At his funeral youngest son asked us all to say a few words but his
tears spoke more eloquently than anything any of us said.
Half the difficulty with revising a first
draft manuscript is deciding what words shouldn’t stay, those that don’t add to
the story and will harm it by leaving them in there are usually fair game. A
reader doesn’t want to know what the characters do for every second they’re in
their skin - I’ve read, and skipped through, books where the author spells out
everything the protagonist wears and even eats, get on with the story already! But those
words that simplify and strengthen the tale through the act of taking them out
are much harder to recognise.
Stephen King in his excellent On Writing writing memoir shared a
scribbled comment he received on a rejection that
‘changed the way I rewrote my fiction once
and forever. Jotted below the machine-generated signature of the editor was
this mot: “Not bad, but PUFFY. You need to revise for length. Formula: 2nd
Draft = 1st Draft – 10%.’
Deciding on the less obvious words that
should fall in that 10%, that’s the trick.
