The War On Wonder

Damn, writing a book is hard work.

I knew that my first draft productivity was great, and that I’d need a heavy-duty highlighter in subsequent drafts to raise the quality of my writing. That was fine. What I hadn’t counted on was the sheer volume of inconsistencies, verbal ticks and bad habits I’d accumulated over the years.

No first draft will ever be perfect; I accept that without reservation. But I’d not realised that even with a keen eye and oodles of time, the problems survived from draft to draft, ducking under my radar.

Take, for example, wonder. Do you wonder what you’re having for dinner tonight? Do you wonder if there’s going to be heavy traffic on the road visiting the folks back home this weekend? Yes. But do you actually think the words: I wonder if I’ll make it through this day today? Or are you more likely to think: damn, it’s gonna be a long day.

My main character does a lot of wondering. In first draft, he wonders about things in 23 out of 39 chapters. That’s a lot of wonder. Even in second draft (up to chapter 22 out of 39 so far) he wonders too much.

Luckily, I’ve noticed this little writing tick of mine before I get close to sending the book out. Otherwise…ouch.

So what’s the best course of action? My first instinct is to raze every single mention of the word from the book. This is relatively easy to do. It also makes the narrative flow more smoothly as a result. I feel good. My spirits soar. I may leave one wonder intact, a sole survivor. He can tell the others in subsequent books to watch out – they really shouldn’t hang around here.

But still a nagging thought surfaces: just how many other repetitions and awkward turns of phrase have I missed? How many more lurk within the text, waiting to trip me up? It’s a scary thought.

Thankfully, there’s still time to catch them and pull them out of the narrative. I am scouring my stash of accumulated bookmarks, searching for advice and pet hates. A good example is Miss Snark. No longer updated, she’s thankfully left her full archive of correspondence online for me to trawl through. I recommend a look if you’re into that sort of thing. She’s certainly given me a lot to think about.

Right, back to the war against wonder.

Matt