As I’m in edit mode on my current novel, I read each sentence, each word carefully. Sometimes I have no memory of writing a certain sentences. I remember creating scenes or chapters, but the little bits that constitute a scene or a chapter…I usually can’t say, I remember the day I wrote that sentence.I found myself explaining this to a friend and I mistakenly told her that’s how it is for writers, that no one remembers the tiny nuances of a chapter or a completed novel, but who am I to speculate?
Maybe there are some of you out there who can say, “I wrote that sentence on the fourth of July.” I think the reason why it’s different for me, and I expect many of you, is because while I may have a detailed scene in my head, when I sit down to write, but then something takes over. I may not stick completely to what’s in my head. And then it’s all organic after that. Sometimes I really like what I’ve written and think, “Wow, I must’ve been on a roll that day.”
Sometimes I’m like, “What was I thinking when I wrote that?” Mostly, it’s a joyous thing and I’m happy to be at the point where I’m revising. I stumble across things that make me smile, laugh out loud or tugs at my heart and I wonder if the reader will feel the same in those places.
Am I the only one who forgets certain sentences, and then is surprised by how good they are? Or are you the type who can’t remember writing every word of your novel?
6 comments:
When I am in the 'zone', it is almost like a trance and I can have entire PAGES that I don't remember writing. Very weird, but I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who doesn't recall everything that slips out the tips of my fingers onto the keyboard.
I only experience this when I read something I wrote over a year or two earlier, and it's more like, "I actually wrote this crap?" ;)
On my current WiP, I tend to remember the edits in clumps, which ones I did at the same time, which can be very helpful if I'm accidentally working on an older version.
Fun post!
I don't remember a good deal of what I write. LOL Once I get going, it just flows...I'm more "transcribing" than actually writing. It's weird, but in a very cool way, I think. :-)
I remember a lot of things about what I write but I couldn't tell you about what date I wrote this or what time.
Sometimes I can - like if it's a significant date. Once I wrote a chapter on New Year's Eve in my grandfather's house and I'll always remember that because of the celebration and the fireworks going on.
Jai
Yes, Vicki I know all about the zone. I kinda love the zone! It's pretty awesome.
Tere, I sometimes forget the edits as well, especially when it's just an enhancement. But I do know, without a doubt that it wasn't part of the original text. I love that too.
You're right Jamie, it is WAY cool. Everything about writing is way cool, but then again, I am a writing geek and proud of it!
Jai, that sounds cool. Fireworks in the background, New Year's Eve and at grampa's house. That's a story right there. Nice.
I think it was Fitzgerald who said that time is the greatest distance between two points. When there's time between a piece of my writing and my re-reading of that piece, I quite often am surprised...and not always pleasantly :)
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