As Good As It Can Be — Seeing Your Novel All the Way Through

This week in my publishing class, when talking about the relationship between editors and authors, my professor said, "A good editor will push an author do another rewrite when the author thinks they just don't have another rewrite in them." Spoken by a venerable veteran of the publishing industry, who also happens to be a well respected author, I instantly related this to my revision process with my current novel.

I am currently in my second round of revision with my mentor, and as I think about the remaining three revisions I will have to do, I know that part of me worries whether I will have it in me to get them all done in the next two months, and if I will do them well. The vast amount of revision needed to take a manuscript from a first draft to the final draft can be quite large. And while I can't say that I know just how much time my manuscript will need, my professor's statement really made me think about the hard work it takes to make your book the best book it can be.

On Friday of this week, I also took a research trip to down Connecticut to visit the children's literature archive where all of the original materials for the book Tuck Everlasting are held. There, I got to go through the original, early manuscripts of Natalie Babbitt's work, correspondence between her and a myriad of people, as well as all of the publicity, reviews, and other materials for her various books. One document I read that really stood out to my writerly self was a note from her editor that said something to the effect of, "and you thought this day would never come." Thinking about the implications of this statement, I realized that it's good to know that Natalie Babbitt struggled with waiting, or the long process of revising, or just the vulnerability that comes with trying to put your work out there. And this author, whose work I really admire, and whose work was sitting right in front of me, perhaps wasn't too different from me. 

I think in the midst of revision, or writing, or just working hard, it can be easy to lose sight of the idea that we want to make our novels the very best novels they can be — and here's the key part — no matter how what it takes. At moments, it can be easier to settle for the feelings of "right now".  Right now, I wonder why my novel can't just be good enough as it is? And right now, I don't really want to cut this portion or reconceptualize that section. And right now, I just don't know how much longer I can take writing and rewriting and revising the same piece of work. But despite these feelings, the truth is that you don't really want to put out a novel that is just "okay". You want to put out a novel that you are proud of, and a novel that tells your story in the very best way possible.

It's pretty great to see that one of my favorite novels had to go through several rounds of revision. And that she mapped out her chronology, and changed her characters name more than once, and wrote ideas in the margins, and crossed things out, and all of the other things that I, and the rest of us writers, do on a daily basis. We're all going through the same frustrating process filled with hard work, anxiety, perhaps some tears, and definitely a whole lot of time. But at least I'm not the only one who feels that it's tough sometimes, and I'm not the only one who struggles to think that I have more in me for this rewrite or the next.

Writing is not always a glamorous art. Maybe the actual process might never seem glamorous to some. But we're all going through the same thing. And hearing my professor talk about her struggles, and seeing Natalie's right there on the page in front of me, it reminds me that hopefully, in the end, I might just come out with something beautiful.