Elizabeth George Interview

One of the very best books about the process of writing I have read is Elizabeth George's Write Away. To my delight I found this wonderful interview from William Kenower at Author Magazine.

Enjoy!








CR: Darkness on The Edge of Town by J. Carson Black (and the cool thing is, I happen to be in Tucson at the moment, where the story is based).

It's all better with friends.

Self-Editing, Elizabeth George Style

Self-editing.

Are you shaking in your boots?

One of my all-time favorite writing books is Write Away by Elizabeth George. If you're looking for a craft book where the author lays out her process in a clear and easy way, I recommend George's work. Of course, it could be I love it because it's similar to what I have bumblingly put together on my own. However, because I want you to get something out of this post, I'll go with George's detail, not mine. She's much clearer because she's done it some twenty-five times. Me? Um . . . twice.

George does an incredible amount of prep work before she begins. Because of the preliminary work, when she's finally ready to settle down and create her first draft, she doesn't have to worry about what's going to happen next or how her characters should respond. She's able to focus on the best words and use them to create a compelling story.

That doesn't mean things don't change and new ideas don't surface, it just means she's free to allow them to do so without concern about how they fit into the story she is telling.

When she's finished with her first draft, she prints out a hard copy and tries to read it through in a couple of days. She makes no changes to the book. Let me repeat that, because—at least for me—this is the hardest thing to do. She makes no changes to the book during this read through. On a separate piece of paper, she makes notes of where the story needs some kind of work: clarification; delete areas of repetition; delete purple-prose; improve sub-plots; etc. She's simply looking for ways to make the story better, in an editorly way.

Then she writes herself an editorial letter as a guide for her second draft. She doesn't say this in Write Away, but I hope she gives herself a few pats on the back while she points out the weaknesses of the manuscript.

Her second draft is done pen-to-that-untouched hard copy. She goes through and deletes, adds and moves things around with the real cut and paste concept. If she needs to create something longer than three handwritten pages, she'll consider typing it up. Otherwise, this is where she literally gets her hands dirty, uses a bright red pen to slash through paragraphs, and scissors and tape to move paragraphs or scenes around.

This second draft is done at the rate of about fifty pages per day. When she's finished with her marked-up, cut-up and pasted draft, she types all of the changes into the computer, prints out a new copy and gives it to one cold reader. She includes two documents. The first one contains questions her reader should know about prior to the cold read, the second one is sealed and contains questions George didn't want her reader to be influenced by beforehand.

If there are further changes that need to be made, she makes them. Then it's off to her editor.

Have you read Write Away? Does this process appeal to you?



CR: Seed by Ania Ahlborn.

It's all better with friends.

Morning Rituals

At the moment—this moment—I love my morning time. Well, mostly. Except when it's hard.

For the last couple of weeks, I've been faithful at one thing for sure. My morning pages. The Artist's Way encourages even the busiest among us to get up twenty minutes early (for me it would take thirty minutes. Just sayin'.) and write out three full pages, long-hand, in a pretty much stream-of-consciousness style. The idea is to begin to identify your Censor and kick it to the curb. And at the same time, connect with the huge and immense creative center so many of us block. It's not always easy, but it's never wrong. Week Two gave me a big clue, but I needed to get through Week One to understand.

The processes and background in TAW keep me filled with trust that it will ultimately yield to good things. So I'm plugging along, sometimes getting an aha moment, sometimes just glad to finish the three pages. Trust really is a big part of this.

Thus far, I think I've uncovered that I'm a little leery of uncovering anything that might release my driven side, and well, there's always the comfort in the status-quo, even if it means staying in that stuck spot I've been comfortable in for so long. If you've done the work in TAW, maybe you know what I'm talking about.

Aside from TAW, I'm LOVING, LOVING, LOVING Elizabeth George's Write Away. Her process gives me so much hope. I guess, in the end, there's a part of me that craves a certain amount of structure. And her stream-of-consciousness plotting had me practically jumping up and down in our courtyard this morning. She gives insight to a process that doesn't seem stifling.

In the meantime, LoML is putting together an amazing road trip for us. Can I just say I love his wanderlust? His romanticism? His never ending interest in the world around him?

CR: Dying for Justice by L.J. Sellers.

It's all better with friends.

Books on Writing

I don't know about you, but I have shelves of books on the craft of writing. Some are terrific, some not so much.

What's important to remember when you buy a book on the craft of writing, is that it won't do you any good if it just sits on your shelf looking good. I know this from personal experience.

So, as a kind of accountability, here are the craft books I'm reading bits from every morning (beginning this morning) while I sit outside in the Colorado sunshine:

The Art of War for Writers by James Scott Bell. As opposed to craft, this is more about the writing life, and how we can get through it. I'd begun reading it ages ago, but for some reason (probably the need to organize my desk), I shelved it.

The Fire in Fiction by Donald Maass. I don't always agree with him, but I always learn from him. Again, I'd started reading this one a long time ago and had to pull it off the shelf this morning.

Write Away by Elizabeth George. This one has been untouched on my shelf, but not for very long. George is going to walk me through her process, and I have the feeling she'll hold my hand if I need it.

The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. I confess that this book has been in my home longer than I can remember. Even before I seriously considered writing a novel. Unread. I think because I thought it might be a lot of psycho-babble. But, along with Write Away, it's probably the book I'm most excited to read now. She teaches us how to unblock our creativity. I'm willing to give that a shot.

What books on craft are you committed to reading right now?

CR: Passions of the Dead by L.J. Sellers.

It's all better with friends.