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to be an artist

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um and particularly to be a writer,

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what you are doing is a two-fold

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process.

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And to put it very simply, it's a

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process of creating and then it's a

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process of fixing or of editing.

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The first thing you do as a writer is

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you explode. You explode like a bomb

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explodes. You explode onto the page. The

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story is an explosion

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and you get to the end of it.

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And once it's done, then you get to walk

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around it and you get to look at the

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shrapnel and the damage it did. And you

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get to see who died and you get to see

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how it worked. And that's the point

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where you get to think about it.

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You get to think about what works and

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what doesn't work.

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For me, once I've finished writing

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something, whether it's a short story or

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a novel or a script,

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what I do, if I can,

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is I

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leave it, walk away, do something else,

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and then maybe a week later, maybe 10

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days later, print it out, come back to

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it

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and try and pretend

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and pretend like a method actor. Pretend

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like this is the most important thing in

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the world to me. pretend that I've never

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read it before and I know nothing about

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it

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and then I read it and it's very easy

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gets easier the longer it goes I think

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for me just to pretend that I've never I

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don't know anything about this thing.

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I'm reading it as best I can

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as a reader and I do it printed out

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because I have a pen or a pencil with me

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and

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I am

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not vicious, not cruel, but I'm

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a reader and I will make notes in the

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margin of anything that doesn't work for

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me as a reader.

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Some of the time it's things that I

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thought I could get away with as a

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writer.

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There's that point where you're a writer

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and you go, "Well, I don't need to write

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the whole battle, do I? I can just sort

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of I can imply that it's happening." And

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you go, "Yeah, and nobody's going to

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mind." And then you're sitting there as

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a reader going,

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but I was expecting that battle. You've

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led everything up to this battle and you

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don't even real.

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So you write the note saying needs a

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battle and um and you try and pretend

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that you as a writer and you as a reader

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are two different people

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because you're going to look at your

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notes at the end and that's what is

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going to really guide you. That is going

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to be the primary engine

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through a second draft, through an edit,

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through a fix.

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When you get to the end of your first

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draft of whatever it is, whether it's a

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short story, whether it's a novel,

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um

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then you read it and you read it

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pretending you've never read it before.

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You read it with new eyes. And one of

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the questions that you ask yourself when

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you get to the end is, okay, what was

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that about?

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And that's the most important question

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that you can ask yourself

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because the difference between what

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you're going to do in the first draft

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and the second draft can often be tiny.

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But it's the most important

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draft is getting to that second draft.

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And the question, what is this about is

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what gets you from the first draft to

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the second draft. Because what you're

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then doing

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is you're going, okay, in which case

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what I have to do now

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is buttress

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what the story is about

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and eliminate those places where I'm

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writing stuff that isn't what the story

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is about. And it gives you just a

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wonderful easy yard stick for what stays

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in and what goes out is just the idea of

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what is my story about? You've you've

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now written it.

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What you thought it was about probably

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isn't what it's about or it's only part

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of what it's about.

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And now it can become very very obvious

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that this little bit of plot that you

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loved actually is just has nothing to do

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with what the story is about. And that's

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good. And you can let it go. You can cut

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it out. You can save it in a file where

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you save things that may come in useful

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later. But it's okay. There is never any

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heartache at letting that go because

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you're going, "This is what it's about."

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And by the same token, you're

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buttressing.

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You're going

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here. I sort of did that thing. This is

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where I I didn't quite know what I was

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doing, but I seemed to be talking about

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the theme. So, let me go in and make

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that stronger. Now that I know what this

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is about,

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let me go in and just sort of shore up

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the sides. The process of doing your

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second draft is a process of making it

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look like you knew what you were doing

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all along.

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You always have to remember

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when people tell you that something

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doesn't work for them that they're

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right.

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It doesn't work for them.

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And that is incredibly important

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information. You also have to remember

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that when people tell you what they

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think is wrong and how you should fix

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it, that they're almost always wrong.

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Sometimes they're right. Sometimes they

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say, "Hey, this doesn't work, but you

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could do this." And you go, "Whoa, thank

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you." You just But most of the time when

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someone goes, "This didn't work for me.

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Maybe we need this or this."

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You have to go, "Right, that doesn't

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work for you." That's the important

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information.

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And you think this or this would fix it.

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But actually, normally the problem is

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earlier. Normally the problem is earlier

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in the text. Sometimes it's something

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that needs to go away. Sometimes it's

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something that needs to be written to

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set something up. Um

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it is really important knowing and

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absolutely accepting in faith when

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things do not work for people.

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But do not ever take that as anything

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more than information that something

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doesn't work for people. Because if you

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try and fix things their way, you'll be

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writing their story and you have to

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write yours.

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long long ago

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on Sandman.

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Um, I wanted it to be colored by a man

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called Steve Whitaker. Steve's now dead.

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Terrific artist,

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really good colorist. He colored Vif for

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Vendetta.

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Steve was a perfectionist

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and I gave him the pages of Sandman,

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black and white pages and his job was

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simply to color a few of them in and

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send them in to show the editor that he

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could do it.

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The job was his. All he had to do was

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send in those pages

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and he never did. Steve would show me

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some of his pages and they were

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beautiful and I would say, "Great, send

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them in." and he was saying, "No, no,

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no, not yet. They're not quite right.

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They're not perfect."

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And he was trying to make them perfect.

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And the people at DC Comics

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hired a colorist because Steve's pages

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never came in.

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Perfect

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does not happen in this universe.

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Perfect is an ideal. Perfection is the

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goal. Perfection is the mountain that we

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are heading towards. It's the gleaming

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crystal city on the hill to which we

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aspire.

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But

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we also have to know that anything we do

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is going to contain its share of errors

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and mistakes and we cannot be crippled

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by that. We cannot be afraid of that.

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Um,

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if you write something, it can be

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improved. The problem is

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you cannot fix a blank piece of paper.

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You can fix a short story that doesn't

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work. You can fix dialogue that isn't

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quite there. You can fix the beginning

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of something, but you cannot fix

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nothingness.

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So, you have to be brave. You have to

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just

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start. You have to be willing to let the

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process carry you through. And you have

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to be willing for it sometimes

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to land you on the rocks,

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for it not to work. And the truth is,

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I'm sitting here as an instructor. I'm

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sitting here as a teacher.

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I'm not sure I have much more of an idea

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of what I'm doing now than I did when I

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started 30ome years ago. I know that if

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I'm going to write something,

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some things are going to be better than

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other things, and I won't necessarily

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know why.

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But I do know

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that I need to have faith in the

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process. I do know that if I don't write

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the story, there is no chance that it's

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going to be one of the good ones, one of

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the loved ones, one of the ones that win

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the awards, one of the ones that becomes

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famous, one of the ones I can read at a

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public reading that people will love. If

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I don't write it, it will never be that

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thing.

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And if I obsess and worry about the ones

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that I write where I look at it and go,

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"Oh,

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I thought you were going to be better.

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you were such a lovely idea and you're

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not really magic. Then that feels like

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I'm also closing the doors on the ones

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where I go, I had no idea you were going

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to be so beautiful.