Edits Across the Pond

In my website, I answer a question about how I go about writing. I liken it to oil painting. The idea is the blank canvas. The first blush of words is the primer, also known as gesso. I always try to get that part done as quickly as I can. Basically, like brushing on the gesso, I go for it. I know that it is really important to have that primer on so that there's something to build on - something solid - but it doesn't matter too much how it looks yet. Just get it done and get ready to paint in all the wonderful colors and textures. Once the gesso is on I take the opportunity to type "The End" on the last page of the work. I'm far from finished and in fact, I'm just getting started, but the psychological benefit of typing those words in is huge - especially for my delicate psyche.

Now it's time to do the real work and, in writer's parlance, it's called editing. I spend as much time editing as I do the initial writing, sometimes more. After I've submitted my 'final' script, I wait a while; an eternity it seems. Then guess what? My editor comes back to me with comments and suggestions (also known as ripping the heart and soul out of your work, with special emphasis on passages and characters you hold most dear). And then - you guessed it - I'm back to editing and rewriting. This back and forth will go on until the publisher gets what they want and the finished product looks nothing like the product you had in mind when you first pulled out the canvas.

I just sent my first rewrite (of the Avery McShane script) back across the pond to my publisher in London. We may go back and forth a few more times. After that, the really, really nit-picky grammar editors will get a hold of the script. That ought to be fun.