Lara Zielin

Welcome to the first installment of the “Six writers for six weeks until August 6″ series! We’re kicking things off with Ellen Baker, author of KEEPING THE HOUSE, which, among its many accolades, was one of the Chicago Tribune’s “best books of the year.”

After reading about Ellen, remember to leave a comment for a chance to win a $10 gift card from Dunkin’ Donuts! I’ll pick and announce the winner tomorrow.

Re-writing (and re-writing again!) is important to any author’s process. Of course it sounds easier than it actually is, but we can all take heart in the fact that authors like Ellen have been there in the weeds with us. Take it away, Ellen!

I rewrote my first novel KEEPING THE HOUSE about six times, relying on comments from friends, before I even started sending out queries. After I finally got an agent, who quickly sold the manuscript, I did another substantial rewrite based on my editor’s suggestions. So I’m no stranger to rewriting; in fact, I even like the process. Still, somehow I thought that writing my second book would be easier, that now that I “knew” how to write a novel, my first draft would be pretty okay. Or, at least, my second draft. Well.

The first year and a half, there were many false starts, occasional episodes of panic (of a subdued nature – I’m Minnesotan), and hundreds of useless pages. In June 2008, with the deadline fast approaching, I finished a draft and sent it to my agent. It was the best I could do at the time, but it was really a big, fat mess. Thank goodness, she told me so (in kinder terms) and gave it back to me, along with wonderful suggestions for improvement. I deleted many, many more useless pages, and even cut a point of view character, after coming to terms with the painful fact that I was the only person who found him likable.

In September, I turned the manuscript – now titled THE WORK OF A WOMAN – in to my agent again, and she gave it back to me again, this time for a less extensive rewrite, which took about a month. Then the manuscript went to my editor; I received comments from her in early December. She said she loved the book – the story of a group of women who work as World War II shipyard welders, the tragedy that weaves their lives together even as it divides them, and the great-granddaughter years later who tries to piece together their stories in the hope of final reconciliation – but, in general, it needed to be better focused. In April, having completely restructured the novel and rewritten much of the text, I turned it in to my agent again. There were a few more changes to make, and then it went to my editor. The other day, I received from her another set of fabulous comments and suggestions; I’ll be going back to further hone the story. I’m actually excited to be starting over again – every day, with each small change I make, the novel gets closer and closer to what it needs to be.

Maybe when I write my third book, I’ll get started on exactly the right foot. But I doubt it. Thank goodness for honest friends, and for insightful editors and agents who believe in taking time to get things right. And also for the “delete” key.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 at 11:44 am and is filed under other writers, writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.