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The Director's Cut?
14/11/10 09:13I have been scanning my first book to put up on Book View Cafe.
The book, Althea, was written when I was 21, living in Los Angeles, in a one-bedroom apartment with my mother. I had read through all the easy entertainment books at the library and was dying for something to read, and so I wrote it. I had fun writing it, it kept me occupied (and it kept my mother off my back, as she had a near-religious faith in writing). And I sent the book off, and it was bought and, ultimately, published. I haven't looked at Althea (or the four books that followed it) much in the past twenty years or so--I moved on to other stuff, and my need for fluffy entertainment shifted (it would be more dignified to say it diminished, I suppose, but dignity has never been my long suit), and anyway, I'm writing different stuff these days.
However, scanning it, I have my nose pressed up against the book in a way that brings into sharp relief how, um, young I was. It's Heyer pastiche, and competent Heyer pastiche, but every page brings a phrase I want to change, a word that cries out to be deleted. Because I'm older and crankier and less is more, even with pastiche. I could make the changes--hell, I could go in and rewrite anything that irritates me, now it's digitized. But should I? Without sounding pompous, these books are (cue the Galaxy Quest alien's voice) historical documents; they are not only a record of my immaturity as a writer, but of my callow self. I wonder if some of my reaction to the book is not simply a reaction to her, the girl sitting there hunched over her second-hand typewriter, writing something to keep her company and amuse her.
I have (thus far) deleted one repeated word. I'm fixing typos. And I'm still arguing with myself as to whether I want to fix the book or let it be what it originally was.
The book, Althea, was written when I was 21, living in Los Angeles, in a one-bedroom apartment with my mother. I had read through all the easy entertainment books at the library and was dying for something to read, and so I wrote it. I had fun writing it, it kept me occupied (and it kept my mother off my back, as she had a near-religious faith in writing). And I sent the book off, and it was bought and, ultimately, published. I haven't looked at Althea (or the four books that followed it) much in the past twenty years or so--I moved on to other stuff, and my need for fluffy entertainment shifted (it would be more dignified to say it diminished, I suppose, but dignity has never been my long suit), and anyway, I'm writing different stuff these days.
However, scanning it, I have my nose pressed up against the book in a way that brings into sharp relief how, um, young I was. It's Heyer pastiche, and competent Heyer pastiche, but every page brings a phrase I want to change, a word that cries out to be deleted. Because I'm older and crankier and less is more, even with pastiche. I could make the changes--hell, I could go in and rewrite anything that irritates me, now it's digitized. But should I? Without sounding pompous, these books are (cue the Galaxy Quest alien's voice) historical documents; they are not only a record of my immaturity as a writer, but of my callow self. I wonder if some of my reaction to the book is not simply a reaction to her, the girl sitting there hunched over her second-hand typewriter, writing something to keep her company and amuse her.
I have (thus far) deleted one repeated word. I'm fixing typos. And I'm still arguing with myself as to whether I want to fix the book or let it be what it originally was.