REWRITING: A LITANY AGAINST PERFECTION, A CHANT FOR COURAGE
As a follow-up to the piece on rewriting, I was asked to share any insight I had on improving one’s rewriting skills. To be completely transparent: I’m one of those Baldwin folks who find rewriting a pain in the ass and had to work hard to sharpen my skills in this area. Part of it is just the way I’m built and part of it is a challenge common to all writers: we’re asking the mind that wrote the story creatively to analyze the same story from a detached critical perspective. Ours is a classically bicameral pursuit: we have to master both the passionate fire of creativity and the dispassionate light of criticality.
Some of us manage this simultaneity better than others. But even for those of us with less capacity: practice and technique can help close the gap.
As always I possess no vatic insights, and bring only the standards: