ON REWRITING

‘I’m not a very good writer, but I’m an excellent rewriter.’ ~ James Michener

REWRITING makes the difference between good writing and poor writing. James Michener and other great writers had given us some good reminders on the importance of rewriting. So whenever I felt dissatisfied with my writing style or couldn’t finish a story or an article, their advice on rewriting comes to me like fresh air into my humid desk.

Now every time I open my document, I would edit here and there and try to take note of things I want to change. But if there's no progress at all, then I rewrite and, when necessary, change almost everything in the document. As one author says, it is perfectly okay to write garbage, as long as you edit brilliantly.

It’s a big advantage living when easy-to-use computers and word processing software are readily available to every writer, and they have simplified immensely my rewriting task. I couldn’t imagine how much Michener labored with his typewriter and painstakingly writing and rewriting long notes to complete drafts for his manuscripts before releasing the final version to his publisher. According to Michener, he went very slowly and needed constant revision in writing his best-selling historical fiction Hawaii. He had to type about three million words to only trim down to about half a million in the final version for another round of draft writing.

Even the best writers, so I've learned, are unable to express themselves perfectly on paper in their first drafts. Ernest Hemingway, he said, had to rewrite 39 times the ending of his famous opus A Farewell to Arms before he was satisfied. Other writers would not like to submit for publication any story or verse unless it is the final version of their creative act. Exhibiting rough drafts for everyone to read is an act of mediocrity, and it is compared by Vladimir Nabokov to “passing around samples of sputum.”

Books, according to Michael Crichton, “aren't written, they are rewritten.” Other famous writers and even our writing instructors have been emphatic on the importance of rewriting. They explain how the magic happens at this stage. The readers can only see and savor the beauty of the final product, not the pain and frustration of the writer.   

Putting your thoughts and emotions in words is already a difficult task, and capturing a reader is much more difficult. I am still learning the craft, and I admit, rewriting at first was not easy option for me because I felt it’s like doing all over again, taking that extra time and effort for just a single story. But if I really love writing, then I should endure lots of paperwork.

I've learned much from Michener and other masters of rewriting. Most of my short stories and feature stories published in Bannawag magazine, had been the products of many rewrites and editing. I never sent a manuscript to my editor unless I was satisfied with the final version of my work. I’d been to some rejections in my early attempts and I have learned from my mistakes. Rewriting carefully cleans my manuscript, polishes it and finally forms it into a draft deserving of the attention of the editors.

My first full-length novel that is being serialized now in the same magazine, for instance, took me 12 years to finish. During the years, I have lots of things to consider, like family hardships and my post-grad studies, but a big percentage of the delay is due to lots of rewrites I made on the draft. I have made about 15 chapters of the novel when suddenly I found myself in a quandary on how to wrap up the story; throwing the manuscript away in my frustration would have been an option. But I got better sense when I decided to rewrite from the beginning, so I redid my original outline, checked on flaws on my plot and presentation in order to agree to the resolution of the story that I belatedly contrived, and eliminated inconsistencies and faulty constructions. That took me another year or so to polish the whole 36-part novel.

I have to write the first draft of my story to see how it's going to come out, as Michener would advise. But sometimes the urge to begin rewriting hits as soon as I complete the sentence or paragraph or page. And when I am not yet satisfied with the outcome, I let the draft germinate for a while. Then I go back to it with a fresh pair of eyes and refreshed attitude and see things I have missed. Sometimes, I find someone who'll read or listen to my stuff with a critical but constructive view, usually it was my father, my wife when she was alive, a friend, or one of my siblings. This worked for me when I had this draft of a humorous story that I planned to submit for a literary prize for Ilocano humorous story. I let one of my sisters to read it and after reading, she pointed out those weak points which I immediately revised. The story would win first prize in the annual contest. 

I'm always open to suggestions from the editors. I took their criticisms to heart; I don't mind rewriting my manuscript if my editor so requires. Juan S.P. Hidalgo Jr, former editor of Bannawag, told me that no manuscript to him is good for trash. A manuscript is like an ugly lump of driftwood you found on the river bank, which can be polished into a work of art through careful rewriting. Each manuscript can be saved or recycled if only the author allow revisions and careful rewriting of his output, or more than willing to expunge what he wrote when these things don’t serve the purpose of the text.

But I have to admit that in spite of many rewrites and revisions, and even though I had the feeling that after a lot of persistence and hard work, I have made a well-written final draft, the editor could still see some flaws on my manuscript. Nobody’s perfect, and this is why God created editors and first readers, in the first place.  But if I have to rewrite, then I'd be more than willing to comply because that essentially is good writing.