Who says when your tale is done? Where can you find someone to help decide?
Yesterday in ‘Part the Head and Hands’ I wrote
In talesmanship, the editor who says at last, ‘It’s done’ should not be the one who does the rewrite, makes the cuts and smoothes them, recasts the order of scenes, renames the characters, or writes the new scenes.
Of course it’s the talesman himself who does the work. And up to the moment the talesman sends the tale out — to his agent or an editor, say — it’s the talesman himself who has the last word on whether it’s good enough. But up till then who says?
Ateliers, Editors, Bullpens
The way that is most like the film world (where the editor works under the director who passes judgment and guides what should be done) is to go back to the atelier system of Alexandre Dumas père. This was a criticism of Dumas in his lifetime, and Dumas himself denied that he worked in quite this way. But the rumor was that Dumas had a series of collaborators (some of whom he did acknowledge as co-authors) and scribes (this he denied). Dumas gave the outline, the others researched the history and wrote the first draft; Dumas rewrote, polished, signed his name and sent it to press.
In some instances a like plan was used in pulps and commercial series: the editor gives the outline or OKs the writer’s plan, the editor may even come up with the idea. The writer cranks out a draft, and the editor gives it the green light or asks for more work. In this case the writer signs his name and the editor leaves his off; or else a house name is used for writer, and the bullpen of word smiths get no credit.
Lone Guns
Most of us writer talesmen work alone. We write on spec, though some of us get a green light for an idea or outline from our editors. We write a draft, revise it, polish it, and when we feel it’s done we send it in. Our editors ask for changes, and the tale is done as the talesman and editor negotiate.
For most of the time the talesman works alone as a lone gun. He does the work and he says when it’s good enough.
He must do the work unless he uses the atelier plan or hires a ghost-writer. But even when he does all the work, he can get advice whether it’s good enough.
For this he has to find a partner, a critic, a judge.
This judge will have to earn the talesman’s trust. A good judge will have a sense of story, of word-craft, of subject or genre, and taste. He will also have to give a lot of time to read partial drafts over and over, until the tale is done.
Some talesmen use their husband or wife as judge. Some use fellow members of writers groups, and serve as one another’s judges.
To Find a Judge
I don’t know how to find a judge. Here are a few thoughts to start with.
Simpatico. Your judge must share your taste but also complement it. His likes must be close enough to your likes so that you do not write what you hate, else not only will you be unhappy with your job, but you will lose your inner sense of story. You’ll need to ignore what you think sounds good, and then how will you feel your way through your tale?
Shrewd. Your judge must know what is good and bad in talesmanship. He must have a sense of story and pace, of character, and of the rhythm and sound of each line.
Fan. Your judge must be a fan of your genre or class of tale, and he must have a sense of what works and does not work in the field. This means he should know both the genre’s history and its current makeup.
Prompt. Your judge must be friend enough, or in some other way devoted enough to your work that he will read what you’ve done and tell you what he thinks of it, in good time.
Articulate. It isn’t enough that your judge shares your likes, has good taste, and knows your genre. He has to be able to tell you just what he feels about what you give him, and know the reasons why. Many of us can say, ‘I like this,’ or ‘This doesn’t quite do it.’ Fewer are those who can go on to say just why the work strikes them in this way. It can happen all too often that the reason why we think we like or dislike a tale, won’t be the real reason, and often enough we can’t point out the specific reasons why — it’s just a ‘feeling’ we have.
Useful. One of the chief snares a talesman can fall in when he hears another man’s tale is to judge it as though he himself were writing it. His advice then boils down to ‘If I were writing this, here is what I would do.’ But this may not be what the tale’s own author would do. The best judge will tell you, as best he can, how to get the tale to be the way you want. (This ties in with being simpatico and having a good sense of the talesman’s personal taste and aim.)
Work
Sometimes, when you have published several tales, you will find good judges among your fans. A good agent or editor may also serve, though these professions are both too busy to give their members any time to spare. Finding your judge is hard. But it is worthwhile to most writers.
(Composed with pen on paper Monday, March 17, 2008)
