Composting Your Writing
I am starting a compost. What goes in? Egg shells, coffee grinds, rinds of fruit, vegetable leftovers, grass clippings, and leaves. What comes out? A dark soil-like mix that can be used to fertilize my vegatble garden--and without pesticides and chemicals. Not only that, I am not adding the above list of "what goes in" to the local dump.
And all of that is a lot like writing.
When I first started, I was completely paranoid about having every sentence be perfect. The idea of freewriting, or continuing to write without having everything prior to it perfect was impossible for me to embrace. As a teen, I wanted to be a writer, but I probably ripped to shreds HUNDREDS of short stories, feeling almost a deep sense of shame that they sucked so bad.
No, with the wisdom of hindsight, I don't think those ripped-up things were gems. I was right. They sucked. But . . . I now realize that sometimes out of the detritus of crappy writing, something good can come--even a simple sentence I can go on to use--a little like fertilizer--in another book or story.
I've shared on this blog before that I wrote the sentence My first instinct was to look at the corpse as a 17-year-old writer or thereabouts. It was for a story that never saw the light of day, but I always liked that sentence. So I saved it. And saved it. And in May of 2004, it was published as the first sentence of my favorite book I've written, THE ROOFER.
I save everything now. Even stuff that's just the coffee grinds and leftovers of my writing life. Because with some age, some wisdom, some crafting, it COULD . . . maybe . . . become something good.
Thoughts?
And all of that is a lot like writing.
When I first started, I was completely paranoid about having every sentence be perfect. The idea of freewriting, or continuing to write without having everything prior to it perfect was impossible for me to embrace. As a teen, I wanted to be a writer, but I probably ripped to shreds HUNDREDS of short stories, feeling almost a deep sense of shame that they sucked so bad.
No, with the wisdom of hindsight, I don't think those ripped-up things were gems. I was right. They sucked. But . . . I now realize that sometimes out of the detritus of crappy writing, something good can come--even a simple sentence I can go on to use--a little like fertilizer--in another book or story.
I've shared on this blog before that I wrote the sentence My first instinct was to look at the corpse as a 17-year-old writer or thereabouts. It was for a story that never saw the light of day, but I always liked that sentence. So I saved it. And saved it. And in May of 2004, it was published as the first sentence of my favorite book I've written, THE ROOFER.
I save everything now. Even stuff that's just the coffee grinds and leftovers of my writing life. Because with some age, some wisdom, some crafting, it COULD . . . maybe . . . become something good.
Thoughts?
Labels: composting, saving all writing
posted by Erica Orloff at 7:34 AM
12 Comments:
I deleted a 50k first draft because I hated it. I should have saved it. I'm sure I could have salvaged SOMETHING.
I agree with you. Ban the trashcan. Save the words.
That's a great slogan!
E
After I finished my first novel, I took a three-foot stack of paper (false starts, early drafts, etc.) and loaded them into the compactor at the dump.
I don't regret it. It felt good.
For me, as a minimalist, it's very liberating to throw things away. It frees my mind, makes room for the new.
That's what works for me, but I know everyone has to find his/her own way.
Whatever works, you know?
But, as someone starting to think a bit more green, I'll at least start taking my throwaways to a place where they handle paper for recycling. :)
Jude:
I guess if that works for you, then great. I've just been doing this a long while--since childhood--and I know that in the midst of crap, sometimes something great emerges.
And another thing . . . I save everything--even bits of an idea--unformed--in files on my computer. Sometimes I will put something in there, and it is so raw and I forget about it. But periodically, I will open old files and go "You know, there IS something here." Sometimes, when we have just completed something, we haven't, I don't think, gained the distance to see what might be useful. But again, that's just been my own experience.
E
I know I'm in the minority (or maybe even all alone) on this one. Most of the writers I've known (or read about) save every cocktail napkin they've ever scribbled a thought on. Most of the writing books tell you, "Never throw anything away!"
But remember in Wonder Boys when that doorstop of a manuscript got blown away? MD's character was then able, finally, to write the book he was meant to write.
I save ideas and things on the computer, too. I'll save them for a while, until I'm really sure they're worthless, and then delete them. I just don't feel the need to save everything. But like I said, I know I'm in the minority among writers.
Erica,
I also was writing as early as grade school and saved many pieces that were horrible ...
I wrote one short scene at the age of fifteen about a girl who is being abused by her father. I don't know where it came from - my father never even raised his voice to me, let alone hurt me. Last year I was able to use that in a novel I am writing. Everytime I read it, I cry. I edited it quite a bit, but some of the lines are verbatim.
It is comforting to know that when I hit a dry (writing) period, I can go back through some of those pieces and get some inspiration.
Kelly Lee
kelly:
You obviously have an empathetic voice in you to be able to draw a scene so well yet so different from your own experience.
Thanks, Erica.
But it wasn't off the top of my head. I had blogged about this recently. ;)
http://heatherharper.blogspot.com/2007/04/ban-trash-can.html
Erica, ya know I and my family started going green in the last couple of months.
We give old clothes to charity and recycle.
I compost food stuff, but not always my books. I've thrown books out that I know were total crap. I do save ideas, although when I look through my file and go "Huh?", I'll toss them.
Now, if you're talking clothes ... I really will lose 15 pounds and fit into those old jeans. And by the time I do, they'll be back in style again.
la:
Good for you! I am starting to get vigilant, also, about not frequenting restaurants where they package the hell out of stuff--do we NEED all that paper and plastic and to-go stuff? And BUYING recycled goods is important--napkins or toilet paper or paper towels, if you're going to use them.
E
Edie:
LOL! I hear ya!
When I moved (relocated to a whole new city and life last June), it was very freeing to give up things in my closet and life that no longer had a place and move on. I didn't bring any of my "skinny jeans." :-)
E
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