Every word counts....

Aphrodite's Rock from a new perspective

Well, I haven't written a blog for a while – time seems to be passing far too quickly.  At the end of this month, 30th September to be precise, I have to produce 40,000 words for my MA.  This isn't a problem really as I have 130,000 words to choose from, but it feels like a like a lot of words to have absolutely perfect.  

I've re-read this 40,000 piece and edited it four times now.  Is there a time when you can be a hundred per cent satisfied with a piece of writing?  I don't think so – the more you look, the more you think you could improve it.  It's the same with photography when you edit a picture.  The more you stare at it on the computer screen, the worse it gets.  So, you have to simply say at some point, "Right – that's enough.  I can't do any more," and let it go.

We have to print the piece out twice – that's a hell of a lot of paper and ink – so I've got to be pretty certain that it's perfect.

But then, something I've learnt on this MA is that EVERY word in a novel has to be perfect – not just this 40,000 words, or the first page, or the first three chapters. 

 EVERY word counts.  That's something I found hard to get my head round when I started.  Surely that's not true for a novel, I thought?  But the more you write, the more you realise that each word has an impact.  The choice you make changes the sentence – and where it is in the sentence makes a difference.  How it relates to the other words alters the sense.  

So, you see, when it comes down to it, 40,000 words isn't the problem – every word is the problem. 

 It puts the MA into perspective.