Friday, May 11, 2012

Making the Ugly Beautiful

It's Friiiiday! Momma and Poppa TR are in London Town! All is right with the world!

Today, I'm pleased to have Gilli Alan, author of Life Class and Torn,  here to talk about a topic near (athough at the present time, not quite so dear) to my heart: editing.

Over to Gilli!

Editing (or making that ugly ill-formed lump into a thing of beauty)

When I was fifteen, I found and reared a fledgling owl. I called him Timmy. I’ll tell you in a minute what this has to do with writing.

Editing is the best bit of writing because every time you do it you’re making your book better. But before you can start the editing you have to have the raw material to work on. Sorry to state the obvious! Writing doesn’t come easily to me. To get the original story out and onto the page is a slow, hiccupy sometimes painful process. It was when I was thinking about the creation of that first ugly, misshapen draft, that the image of my owl came to mind. In the wild, owls eat the whole of their prey, bones, fur and all. They then regurgitate a pellet of the indigestible part of the diet. So, if you’re rearing a young owl, you have to incorporate some of these elements, to keep this mechanism working.

Timmy lived in our garage; I often watched him, sitting up on a rafter, regurgitating these pellets. It looked very uncomfortable; it looked like it took a great deal of effort; it looked like Timmy would far rather be doing something else as he gagged, retched and eventually brought up a surprisingly large and steaming lump of matter.

It’s only after the horrible process of excavating that first draft out of myself, that the fun begins. It’s only when I read the whole thing through that I realise it’s not as bad as I first thought. But even if it is, the ideas about how to improve it start to flow. And it’s not just the way I’ve expressed myself that can be tidied up. New revelations come to me about the characters and their motivations - why did X say that and Y do this? Flaws in the plotline show up, but also the solutions. The story may even go off in new and surprising directions. All of this is like magic and is deeply rewarding.

After we released Timmy we’d leave his food out in the garden. He’d return every evening to eat. Then he stopped coming. One summer night, a year later, we heard a very loud and very close ‘tu-whitting’ . It sounded just like Timmy. My dad shone a torch onto a full-grown owl sitting in our beech tree. As we watched he flew down and perched on the top of the side door to the garage where Timmy had lived. I believe it was him. It was almost as if he’d come back to tell us he was all right. And I’ve discovered since, he wasn’t a boy. It’s the girls who go ‘tu-whitt’ and the boys who go ‘tu-whoo’.

Now where can I get an owl called Timmy? Thanks, Gilli!

Gilli can be found at her blog, Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads. Her new novel, Life Class, is available here.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

38 comments:

  1. Thanks for a great interview. I love editing! I think it's the best bit (maybe I'm mad?) Take care x

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  2. Regurgitating all that lumpy matter. Yup, that sounds like what I do with my manuscripts. Thanks Gilli, Thanks Talli. Have a great weekend.

    Yay, Momma and Poppa TR are in London. Have and extra special weekend.

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  3. I hate editing but loved this analogy! Thanks Gilli- great guest post Talli:)

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  4. Just what I needed to hear as I begin my first edit! Thanks!

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  5. That's also how I view writing - the first draft is the worst, but editing is fun.

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  6. As much as I love writing the first draft, because I do, there is a certain relief that comes when it's done and I can work on the major rewrites. I feel even better when the major rewrites are done. :)

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  7. Editing and owls, how cool! I agree that the processing of editing has to start with the difficult task of actually writing something but the beauty formed...

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  8. Believe it or not, your analogy truly works. I totally understand it and (kind of funny but...) appreciate it. ;D

    I'm the same way with my first drafts. The first 50ish pages flow with ease, but after that I find myself constantly questioning where I'm headed.

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  9. I tend to write a chunk and then edit, so my first draft isn't a horrible mess when I do finally finish it.

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  10. Great analogy, Gilli, and I love owls! Have fun with your parents, Talli!

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  11. Its great to meet Gilli and best wishes to her and Life Class! I'll hook up with her on Twitter and Fb too.

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  12. I agree that the editing process can be very rewarding.

    And how cool that you raised an owl! When I was a kid, I found a hummingbird in the woods that was missing half of one of its wings. We took it home and kept it as a pet since it couldn't fly. It didn't puke up anything gross -- just the opposite, in fact; it would sit on your finger and let you take it around to all the flowers in the garden. But it was very cool to get to interact with a wild animal that you'd never think would have anything to do with humans. :)

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  13. I'm relieved my analogy made sense and didn't revolt you all! In fact, I also edit as I go, Diane, but they don't count. It's only the further edits I do - once I've written 'the end' - which are fun and really feel like I'm beginning to hone the story into shape. Thanks for your comments everyone. And thank you for having me, Talli. Have a great weekend with your parents.

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  14. Editing is painful for me but it's the place where my books become books instead of a random collection of ideas and pieces. So its necessary, but still painful!

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  15. 'Build a Man' has to be on my TBR list. :)

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  16. What an amazing analogy, Gilli! I love, love, love it. I'm a bit of a helicopter editor; I sit back and look at the whole thing (using the original concept) and if I need to, get chopping. Literally. I have been seen wielding the kitchen scissors and reassembling scenes with sticky tape. Does that count as regurgitating and editing? Fabulous guest post, thanks to Talli for bringing it to us. :-)

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  17. An entertaining and inspiring post (in spite of the regurgitating bits). I feel like I get to know my characters as I'm writing about them, so by the time I go back and start editing, I have a clearer idea of what they'd do or say. Life Class is on my Kindle, and I'm looking forward to reading it.

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  18. A large steaming lump...? Yup, you are right Gilli, that's just what I look like after I've finished toiling over a first draft. The editing is the bit I like the best too! Give my love to Timmy/Timisina

    Janice xx

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  19. Editing...the quintessential thing needed to turn that lump of coal into a diamond.

    By the way, Talli, I was at Tara Tyler's blog and we had a list of genres to do a "first thing to come to your mind" response for the list. For Chick lit, you were the first thing to come to mind. Figured I'd tell you since that could be taken all sorts of ways lol!!!

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  20. Love the analogy - I'll be thinking about regurgitating pellets as I'm editing now! :)

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  21. Great analogy.

    I love having a messy, blobby first draft take form when I revise and edit.

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  22. Hate editing mine but love editing other people's books. Great analogy Gilli. X

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  23. A wonderful interview. Made excellent reading.

    Yvonne.

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  24. So pleased everyone seems to have enjoyed the piece, rather than thinking, what the hell is she talking about? I did wonder if it's 'just me'!

    I'm sure Timmy /Timisina is long gone, Janice, but maybe the descendants are still swooping around the vicinity of my old house. But it was rather special to receive that visit a year later. Gilli x

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  25. I didn't know that male and female owls had different vocalisations. I wonder if this si the same for all birds?

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  26. I love the idea of you watching over Timmy like that, and you equated it well to writing, and the editing process.

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  27. I have a lot of editing to do right now so this was very timely for me. I think my lump is almost formed into ... something.

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  28. Have a wonderful visit with your parents Talli!

    I love the analogy of the owl pellet to the first draft! :)

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  29. Superb analogy and very well-written piece. You have made me feel less despairing about that first read through of the finished draft!

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  30. Great analogy with the owl, Gilli - and my 'process' sounds very much like yours - I struggle with the first draft (I think you once likened it to carving granite with a teaspoon, didn't you?), and do some minor editing as I go along. Once the whole story is written, I then get a smile on my face as I love the editing process - adding, deleting, rewriting, giving the characters more 'layers' and generally pushing and pulling the whole thing into shape. Best of luck with 'Life Class'!

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  31. Oh I love that owl story & analogy. Best of luck with Life Class.

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  32. Your tale of bird rearing reminds me of the time I reared an abandoned groundnest of blackbirds. I had to chop up earthworms (no easy feat - let me tell you and MOST unpleasant for a vegetarian) and feed them with tweezers.

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  33. Hi Gillian,

    Thanks for sharing this analogy about how rearing Timmy gives you an insight into editing!

    Thank you Talli!

    (BTW, the twitter link is not working.)

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  34. Loved this post Gilli. Thanks for hosting her, Talli. Maybe that's why Lamott's Bird by Bird was so good. Like the analogy!

    I'm sick. I like editing.

    Denise

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  35. Girl owls go, tu-whitt. Haw, haw. Love it! Lovely post, Gilli. Great analogy - and, yes, I quite like editig too. Goo luck! :) x

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  36. Am pleased to find you through Glynis!

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  37. Hi, Talli. Thanks for the comment on my post about wahat goes with fish and seafood. As I was drafting it I got hungrier and hungrier. I have just started your Willow Watts book.

    Have a good week

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Coffee and wine for all!