23 November 2008

In which Piglet is entirely surrounded by water

It rained and it rained and it rained. Piglet told himself that never in all his life, and he was goodness knows how old - three, was it, or four? - never had he seen so much rain. Days and days and days... It was rather exciting. The little dry ditches in which Piglet had nosed about so often had become streams, the little streams across which he had splashed were rivers, and the rivers, between whose steep banks they had played so happily, had sprawled out of its own bed and was taking up so much room everywhere, that Piglet was beginning to wonder if it would be coming into his bed soon.
'It's a little Anxious,' he said to himself, 'to be a Very Small Animal Entirely Surrounded by Water.'
- AA Milne
Map from BoM

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

dear editors... some advice? i mean, can you give me some advice? ...
What do you do if you are a writer and your friend is an editor and she reads your manuscript and says it is really really good but that you need to rewrite it starting from scratch?
It is really hard to start from scratch when you think you already have a finished manuscript.... what is yr advice? tah
grace.

The Alien Onions said...

Saving Grace - it's a good question, and a tricky one to answer, and unfortunately Alien Onion is not a forum for editorial advice. However, you should take much heart from the fact that your editor friend says your ms is really, really good.

Writers work in many different ways, and sometimes finding the best way is a matter of trial and error. Maybe it might help you to find out how others approach the task of rewriting.

Perhaps you could check out the blogs of authors or editors who post about writing, getting published, the editorial process and rewriting etc. A good place to start might be Justine's blog as she often posts about the writing life and has a general writing FAQ here and an essay on rewriting here.

You might also like to stop by the Talking books section of Cheryl Klein’s web site. Cheryl is an editor at Arthur A. Levine Books and she has much advice to offer about writing and editing.

Wishing you all the best with your writing.

The Onions

The Alien Onions said...

Apologies Saving Grace, the links did not make it into the comments - but you can find the link to Justine's blog in our For Your Reading Pleasure section - and the Cheryl's Talking Books site can be tracked down by the magic of google.

best, Onions