Monday, August 11, 2008

Can I get a rewrite? (whoop whoop)

I got a rewrite request this afternoon from a market I really, really want to break into. It wasn't an easy rewrite, though. I like rewrite requests that go, "Can you cut 500 words and tighten the ending?" This one required me to--gasp--THINK.

So I went for a walk and thought and thought and thought, and when I came home I made popcorn and cut the entire climax of the story and rewrote it from scratch. On balance, I added almost a thousand words. The story is much, much better now. Even if I don't sell it to this market, I'll sell it.

Tomorrow night, after letting it rest for a day so I can go over it one more time with fresh eyes, I'll send it back. I do not like letting rewrite requests sit around weighing me down.

2 comments:

Cate Gardner said...

I've only ever had two rewrite requests and boy were they scary.

K.C. Shaw said...

Yeah, I kind of dread sending this one off. One chance, that's it. On the other hand, I only had one chance before and it didn't bother me then. Now, technically, I have a second chance. :)