On Revision
"Revision is where fine art begins. It’s thrilling to take an ending and pull it backward like a shiny thread through the whole fabric of a manuscript, letting little glints shine through here and there. To plant resolution, like a seed, into chapter one. To create new scenes, investing a character with the necessary damage, the right kind of longing. To pitch out boldly and try again. To work every metaphor across the whole, back and forth, like weaving. I love that word “fabrication,” because making an elaborate fiction feels so much like making cloth.
Perfectionism is my disease. Revision is my milk and honey."
Barbara Kingsolver
This quote is taken, with thanks, from a link to a Kingsolver interview over at WomenRuleWriter. I 'll be holding fast to the metaphor of fabrication as I revise this weekend, I don't know if it's because of time spent at the loom, but this is the only quote I've read recently that has given me a real sense of how to progress.
Have a great weekend.
Comments
It will all be worth it in the end, also looking forward to seeing your poem in the Moth next week!
Thanks, its a great site, v interesting on writing.
brigid
i dont know about the patience!:) ...about Moth, I'm really looking forward to it too,and thanks for the support!
x