Writing takes perseverence

Yup, that’s me. I summited a fourteener a couple of weeks ago. Actually two in one day. But that’s another story you can read about here.

This post is about a different kind of mountain to climb, namely the struggles of writing and re-writing a novel. For the lucky ones, a book’s first draft spills out, spurred by the passion of an unrelenting muse. Words mingle into scenes, melding into chapters until hundreds of pages emerge. Weaving the life story of each character with threads of hope, anguish, triumph, and grief drive the writer to the novel’s climax and denouement.

After the blush of the story fades, the hard labor beings. Tedious hours of wordsmithing — shaping and reshaping sentences to better spin the magic every grand tale deserves. It can be an endless task to rearrange phrases and delete or add scenes to ensure the reader (hopefully) can’t wait to turn the next page.

With every proofread, the maddening discovery of yet another "hiding in plain sight" typo can drive an author to the brink. Indeed, writers sometimes get stuck repeating a word or phrase out of habit without noticing at first. For example, overuse of the word was can be a common crutch. Given all of the fabulous verbs in the English language, the bland to be variant should be avoided like the plague.

Consider the following contrasts:

The dog was in the field.

The Irish Wolfhound lounged in the grassy field.

The substitution of the verb allows the reader to visualize the mood of the pup rather than simply describing a generic scene. Adding in the dog breed and the type of field gives more detail to enrich the literary experience.

Another editing trick relies on the search-and-replace function. How often, for instance, do characters shrug in the novel? If that same reaction appears say a dozen times in a book, it becomes cliché and draws attention to the writing, instead of leaving readers to lose themselves in the story.

Revising a novel requires the same kind of mental stamina and drive as hiking up a trailhead to endure the endless days of slogging through the manuscript with hyper concentration to catch that elusive, missing comma on page 296.

Any task, whether it be painting a landscape or tuning up a classic car, requires tenacity to persevere for a job well done. And in the end, mustering that kind of discipline to achieve a worthy quest brings unmatched satisfaction. Blessings to those scaling their mountain today.