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Resistance

I am fighting a writer's basic urge, fighting the the almost irresistable need to edit something that is already in print. The work could certainly benefit from it. I knew that eventually I would succumb to the temptation and just do it. That is probably why I have not looked at it for a couple of years.

I know there are some remaining typos that even in the second edition version of Book 1 we have missed. I just found some in the posting of Seawall to this blog. A couple of sentence fragments could be rewritten. I know the benefit it would serve. Still, sometimes I think that there is a historical need to maintain the editorial integrity of the original text of a body of work.

It is not that I expect that at some point in the future someone may discover the writings of a heretofore obscure sci-fi/fantasy writer from the early 21st Century. It is more like it is a contract with the original base of readers, not to change something once it is in print. It is the reason that I defended the original first edition version that includes the since omitted 56 pages of narrative.

My daughter Amanda reminded me today that once upon a time in 2001 there was a hard copy print out of Book 1 that I had cut to 6X9 and comb-bound at Kinkos (at a cost $34.95). I was going to have two copies comb-bound to be sent to The Library of Congress. That was immediately before my publisher finally decided to enter into round upon round of edits, revisions and several volleys of knit picking one another's suggested changes.

I know what happened to the Kinko's version of Book 1. Jina sent it to one of her friends in hopes that her husband might be interested in investing in the project. He still has it (I hope). Perhaps he is waiting or hoping that the book becomes famous so that it may be worth something - as an original manuscript.

I doubt that Jina's friend's husband even bothered to read the book. I know juan very well. I built a couple of computers for him. He is a good guy just thast he is very busy and would have never had the time to read the book. So I figure that Amanda, an editor named Bob and Jack my publisher are perhaps the only ones that ever read that version. However, Bob, Jack and I have read so many of the subsequent versions that I have forgotten what distinguisted one from another except for the more or less minor edits. Amanda did not read any other version until the first edition that is in print and she read that only recently.

I mention these facts as I find them curiously relevant. In the matter of the 56 pages or narrative a good deal of that was added after I had printed out the kinko's version of Book 1. This tends to support my contention that those 56 pages and a good deal of the first hundred pages were over-edited to the point that the plot advancement was adversely affected. Sometimes when you are so close to a project you lose objectivity. That is a very good reason for having other people read something and give their opinions.

The only reason I could support the changes to the text of Book 1 was the clarification of the plot and the overall purpose of the first half of Book 1. It makes it easier for the reader to understand what still is a very complicated introductory experience to a highly intricate plot that spans 6 books. Since the second edition is not yet in print I am seriously considering revising it. I know there are a couple of things I have found in Book 2 that I would like to address as well. It might actually benefit the continuity of the whole body of work that now spans two series, none books in all) for me to revisit the beginning two installments and adjust for whatever is to come. Somehow having finished the later works always gives a new outlook and focus to the introduction.

I have also written a prequel to the fantasy plotline that is included in the first and second series. As the real storyline of the fantasy plot does not begin until Book 2 the existence of The Specter of Dammerwald does not impact Book 1. The base material from which The Specter book was written existed even before I wrote the material that is in Book 2. I doubt there are substanative changes needed but there could be some continuity issues.

The downside of doing such material alterations, regardless the time to make such an effort is that I resist excessive revision. I may actually add in too much detail early on and forego the necessity of a reader to complete the entire series in order to obatin the gist of the message. I might destroy the magic of discovery that happens as a writer is exploring the provinces of a fabricated world. I think the reader can almost empathize with the writer's wonder at the mental discovery of a new world. The challenge therefore is resistance to say too much; correct what must be corrected and move on.

I am not certain how long it will take me to revise Books 1 and 2. I am certain it will subsequently necessity review of all six of the first books. Then I must get back to revising book 7 - before deciding the concentrate on "In The Way of Humanity" that was what I was doing.

I am chuckling. My publisher is going to think I have lost my mind yet again. It is a matter of artistic integrity. A writer wants a book to be perfect. Knowing that even the most concerted effort will fall shy of the goal, a writer wants the book to be readable without the unnecessary distraction or typos, wrong words and grammatical errors. The resistance that I need to maintain should be limited to those things but perhaps should include any glaring inconsistencies between what I wrote ten years ago and what there of of the remaining storyline that was carried foreward into my more recent writings.

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posted by Unknown @ 4:00 AM