More from "Immediate Fiction"

by Sandra Gulland | Jun 28, 2009 | Adventures of a Writing Life | 2 comments

Jerry Cleaver, author of Immediate Fiction, notes emphatically that emotion defines a character:

Who does she love & hate?
How does she love & hate?

It’s in this realm of emotion that I’m most withholding in my fiction. It has to be dragged out of me every time! This time, I’m going to try to overdo it, at least at the start.

This quote from Immediate Fiction is spot on:

If you go too far out with your story, you can always cut back. An old writing rule says: The best way to find out what’s enough is to do too much.

I need to keep this in mind this summer while writing the first draft. No brakes!

On rewriting: did you know … ?

by Sandra Gulland | Jun 25, 2009 | Adventures of a Writing Life | 2 comments

I was surprised to learn in Cleaver‘s Immediate Fiction that John Fowles, author of The Collector and The French Lieutenant’s Woman, rewrote The Magus ten years after it had been published to great success. There are two versions of The Magus in print, apparently: an astonishing thing. The second version was a best-seller as well.

I can well understand thinking about how a story might have been written, but can’t imagine going back, not after it has been published.