Revision isn't failure. It's the path to perfecting.
One of the joys of living in Berlin is (re)discovering the treasures held in the plentiful museums and galleries which dot the city. On Saturday morning I popped into the beautiful Bode Museum and was slightly shocked to find myself face-to-face with one of the great masterpieces of the Florentine Renaissance – the Pazzi Madonna by Donatello. How, after living so many years in Berlin, did I not know it was here?
This sculpture took my breath away, both for the virtuosity of the artist and the moving presence of the Mother and Child. The marble relief is a virtuoso of rilievo stiacciato – very shallow relief carving - only six centimetres deep, yet Donatello has created a spatial reality that convincingly holds the strong body of the Madonna and the playful Christ child. The influence of antique Roman sculpture is clearly visible in Mary's grave, serene profile – Mary, both stoic and loving. Her distant beauty conveys a glimpse of a desired eternity. And yet the humanity of the Child, nuzzling into his Mother's face, reminds us that this is a work firmly of its time, of an artist who sought to unite heaven and earth.
Some may say the Pazzi Madonna is perfection ... the epitome of Italian Quattrocento art. Such genius! It's easy to forget the years of study, practice and work which culminated in such a masterpiece. In our fast-moving age, it's hard to remember to slow down. Early-career writers of both fiction and non-fiction should not be discouraged at having to rework their writing.
This happens all too often: I receive an excited email from a potential client, they've successfully completed their novel and it's ready for a proofread! (An unsaid implication is that they want their book ready on the shelves for the Christmas rush in a few months.) But I then have to firmly but kindly deliver the bad news that this isn't going to happen.
Completing a first draft of a novel is a big deal – a huge deal – and deserves credit. Yet it's quite a shock to an early-career writer when they're told the novel they've spent many hours writing in isolation is actually a draft, and could do with a coached manuscript assessment, followed by a spot of developmental editing, another coached assessment, and then, finally, a copyedit.
Writing is a craft, a skill, and like all crafts, 'practice makes perfect!' A quote attributed to Jordan Peele points out: 'When I'm writing a first draft, I'm constantly reminding myself that I'm simply shovelling sand into a box so that later I can build castles.'
And writing is for reading, and constructive feedback from a reader (and editor!) is an important part of the writing process. That's why I offer coached manuscript assessments as well as developmental editing and copyediting – to help writers identify and work with the problems which are holding them back – be it convincing character dialogue or pinning down the character arc of their protagonist, to the complexity of their worldbuilding.
Multiple revisions of a text are not the sign of a bad writer.
The title for this newsletter is 'Revision isn't failure. It's the path to perfecting.' Note I said, 'the path to perfecting,' not 'the path to perfection.' Perfection is subjective and arguably unattainable. But you can give your best – that's all you can do. And that's something to be proud of.
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