6/21/10

Decrap-ification Defined

Recently, I talked about my revision process, in which I coined the term DECRAP-IFICATION. Some folks who didn't read that post have since asked me what I meant by this semi-vulgar term. It's quite simple, really. Your novel is like a lawn you spend all sorts of time cultivating, trying to make it a lush, green paradise.

As many of you know, I've got a little black pug who goes by the name Tinkerbell. Tink, our four-legged friend, does not use the toilet. Being a good little pooch, she uses the great outdoors to relieve herself. When we walk her around the park or down the street, we carry a baggie to dispose of her "doings" properly. (Darn, I love the use of "doings", almost as much as "leavings".) But at other times, her doopity-doops find their way onto our lawn. Guaranteed that if my son walks her, they will remain there until such time that I wander the yard, plastic bag and pooper scooper in hand.

As I make my way around our property, I am very clearly DECRAP-IFYING the lawn. Head down, eyes scanning a 180 degree area before me, I carefully step from one spot to the next, looking for that which sullies the lawn. In other words, I need to get the crap off the lawn before taking a carefree stroll about the yard, laying down weed killer, proper fertilizer and additional seed.

It's the same process with a novel. This may be crass, I realize, but my first drafts are littered with crap, and until I scoop that nasty stuff off the pages, there's not much sense working on the finer points. I'll just wind up stepping in a pile of my own "doings" and losing the attention to detail I need for the later revisions.

2 comments:

Roland D. Yeomans said...

You probably would've gotten less flack for using "weed pulling." But it wouldn't have been nearly as fun. You have an enlightening, entertaining blog. Thanks, Roland

Jay said...

"Weed pulling", eh? Now that euphemism might be taken any number of ways. ;-)

Thanks for dropping by, Roland!