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[CLASSICAL MUSIC]

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There's something
called completion fear.

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Completion fear is, I'm afraid
to finish it because what

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if it's not any good?

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And you can get stuck
in that for some time.

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And here I just say, barrel
on through, get it done,

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and then you can see whether
it's-- what else it might need.

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And remember, you
can always revise.

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And remember, you
can always revise.

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If you need a
different sofa, you

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can have a different
sofa, because nobody's

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going to see that until
you allow them to.

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So overcome your completion
fear and just finish.

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What do you do next?

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Pretend you're a reader.

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Start on the first page--

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is it a good enough first
page to hold your attention?

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Are you going to
turn the page or not?

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If the answer is not, you
need a different beginning.

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So revision means re-vision--
you're seeing it anew,

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So revision means re-vision--
you're seeing it anew,

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and quite frequently
when you're doing

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that, you see possibilities
that you didn't

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see before and that light
up parts of the book

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in a way that
wouldn't have happened

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if you hadn't done that.

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So seeing the book anew,
seeing into the book.

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More questioning yourself--
why did this person do that?

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So why else did they do that?

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So why else did they do that?

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And why else, in addition
to that, did they do that?

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[CLASSICAL MUSIC]

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Once you feel there's
nothing else that can--

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that you can do to your
manuscript to improve it,

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that's when you need to hand
it to an outside observer.

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What I like to have is people
who are dedicated readers,

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but who are not in the
publishing business.

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You want somebody who can-- who
can give you a true opinion,

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You want somebody who can-- who
can give you a true opinion,

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and it's better if
it isn't your spouse.

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You don't want to have any
of those frosty silences

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over the breakfast
table, and you also

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don't want to have put themsel--

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them into that position.

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So it should be somebody
outside, not somebody

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who's in an agent or a
publisher position towards you,

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but who is a dedicated reader.

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That's the best, and that
allows you to step back,

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That's the best, and that
allows you to step back,

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it allows you to see it through
the eyes of another person.

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If there's something that
you thought was quite clear

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but they find unintelligible,
they will tell you that.

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If there is a piece
of information missing

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that they felt they
really needed to know,

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they will tell you that.

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They will also tell you,
this chapter is too long.

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Or, you already said that,
or, I got it the first time.

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There's only one real question--
is it alive or is it dead?

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There's only one real question--
is it alive or is it dead?

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And anything else can be fixed.

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The best thing is, how
quickly did you read it?

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If the answer is, I
couldn't put it down,

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then you're in really
pretty good shape.

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If the answer is two years,
something needs to be done.

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It's always a good idea to
have more than one person.

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So Person A may say this,
Person B may say that,

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So Person A may say this,
Person B may say that,

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and you consider.

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But-- but if they're
wrong, you will probably

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know it, depending, of
course, on how pig-headed

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and set in your ways you are.

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But just remember, when
push comes to shove,

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the buck stops with
you, so whoever's advice

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you may have taken, wherever
alterations may have been made,

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what is on that page is going
to be considered your work.

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what is on that page is going
to be considered your work.

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[HARP MUSIC]

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The final stages of revision
are about texture and--

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and the-- the little things, the
punctuation marks, the grammar.

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Much arm wrestling goes on
between me and the line editor

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about semi-colons.

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We horse trade-- she'll
give me that semi-colon

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if I will change this
other thing to an en dash.

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if I will change this
other thing to an en dash.

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Too many semi-colons,
it gets repetitious.

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I-- I-- I understand that, I'm
just a bit addicted to them.

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Read your text out loud.

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You will find things,
you will see things,

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you will catch things that
you wouldn't if you're just

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sticking to the--

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the eye.

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What you're aiming
for is the text

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that you can then
print out and revise

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and edit on the page, which
is the best way of doing it.

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And the really best way
of doing your line editing

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And the really best way
of doing your line editing

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is with a ruler.

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So you have the page and
you move down line by line,

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and that way you
can spot mistakes,

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doubled words,
that sort of thing.

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But while you're doing
that on the page it's ha--

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it's useful to have a digital
copy that you can search.

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The thing about digital copies
is that they're can put in--

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you can put in find and
you can check that word

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you can put in find and
you can check that word

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to see how many times
it might have appeared

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in the manuscript, if at all.

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Not always so easy
to remember when

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you're dealing with 400 pages.

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[CLASSICAL MUSIC]

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This is "Oryx and Crake."

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It's in page
proofs, so these are

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the kinds of things that the
publisher will send you right

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before they go to
print and submit.

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It's your last chance
of fixing things.

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It's your last chance
of fixing things.

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And I do the manuscript editing
and the page proof editing

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with a line editor, and
we sit beside each other

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at a table like this and
we turn the pages in sync,

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and she makes
notations on her pages

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and I make the same
notations on mine,

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so we know we've
got the same thing.

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And she is a person
who counts things,

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and you really need
a person like that.

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and you really need
a person like that.

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So in "Oryx and
Crake," she said,

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you sent Jimmy
Snowman out on a quest

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and he's got five
Joltbars, five energy bars.

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And he eats one of them
here, one of them here,

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one of them here, one of
them here, one of them here,

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and one of them here.

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So you either have
to give him one more

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or he has to eat one fewer.

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And such a person is
very, very necessary,

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And such a person is
very, very necessary,

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because someone will
notice and they'll

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write you that letter
that begins "You idiot."

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So a person who counts--

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you really need that person.

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So those are the
kinds of things--

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which way does the traffic go
around the Queen's Park circle

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in Toronto?

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I had it going
around the wrong way.

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That's what a good
editor is for.

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And they will even say
things like, there isn't

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a phone booth on that corner.

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a phone booth on that corner.

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But I will be able
to say, because I've

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used a good researcher,
but there was in 1976.

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So these things will
happen, you just

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need to be prepared for them.

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There's a website now
devoted to anachronisms

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in novels about clothing.

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You can do this
research, and then you

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will avoid the "you
idiot" letters.

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will avoid the "you
idiot" letters.