REVISING THE MANUSCRIPT, PART 4: Surgical Removal of Darlings

ByLee Ann

“Kill all your darlings” is a piece of writing advice that is attributed to a couple of sources. American writer William Faulkner is most often credited, but he apparently paraphrased British writer Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch’s recommendation to “murder your darlings”. In any case, the advice is to delete anything you write that you particularly like, the logic being that if you like is so much you obviously are not being objective and therefore it must not be as good as you think. So cut it.

I’ve never liked this idea. I prefer the following formula: Draft 2 = Draft 1 – 10%. I believe any piece of writing can be culled by 10% and will be better for it. To me, using the formula allows for a more judicious pruning, not just a brute chopping of anything I think is particularly well written.

Before I finished my research for Muskoka’s Main Street, I still believed what many sources told me: that the road ended up in North Bay. During the time I was hunting down the truth about that, I did quite a bit of research on North Bay and learned some really interesting things about it. None of which is particularly relevant to my story, now that I know the road went nowhere near North Bay. But I like what I wrote, so I’ve kept it in. Until today, when I took out my literary surgical instruments.

So here are 344 words about the origins of NorthBay, which you will not be reading in Muskoka’s Main Street.

Sorry, darlings.

REVISING THE MANUSCRIPT PART 3: Stuffing a Rag Doll

ByLee Ann

I never had a rag doll when I was a little girl; mine was the era of plastic Barbie and Ken. I’ve been thinking, though, that this round of editing is very much like stuffing a rag doll – say, one that is well-loved but getting a bit flabby.

I’m slicing into the manuscript and adding more detail in various parts. Some are at the heart of the story (road elevations, expanded detail about some of the settlements along the way) and some provide additional supporting information (steamboat lines).

Slice, open, stuff, close. My rag doll of a manuscript is fuller now, although maybe a little lumpy. “Editing Part 4” will involve a general review, to make sure the extra padding is all smoothed out and has resulted in a plumped-up, complete story.

Hmmm. Maybe this isn’t like a rag doll after all. Maybe it’s more like Botox Barbie!

REVISING THE MANUSCRIPT, Part 2

ByLee Ann

This is what revision looks like. It’s messy and it takes up a lot of room on my dining room table. Spread out over the work area you can see:

  • Five manuscript critiques, each one giving me suggestions for change, questions to clarify, corrections and more detail.
  • Maps, to help orient myself and provide accurate descriptions to my readers
  • Laptop for Internet access, to find yet more information in answer to the questions.

This is the Big Review. It resulted in a manuscript about 12,000 words longer than the first draft. You can see the new total in the word counter at the right-hand side of the blog.

I now move on to Final Review. This involves one more read-through of the entire manuscript. My cartographer Gary, who has been drawing the custom maps for the book, has double and triple-checked the route of the Muskoka Road using all his resources: topographical maps, aerial maps, Google maps. Rewrites will result! I’ll also be adding more detail about things like the Canadian Shield in Muskoka (almost a character in its own right), steamships, and the villages at the north end of the Muskoka Road. I’ll be double and triple-checking all the distances and dates I’ve cited in the book, and reviewing my  files to make sure I’ve included everything I have learned over the past year and a half of research.

At this stage as well, I’m putting together what is known as the “front matter” and “back matter” of the book: the preface, acknowledgements, dedication, bibliography.

And yes, there are still a few key illustrations I need to track down.

Am I sick of revision? No – and good thing too. Once it’s submitted to the publisher, the first thing that happens is a whole new round of editing.

A CHRISTMAS POEM

ByLee Ann

(With thanks to Karen from Book Club who suggested it.)

On the twelfth day of Christmas

The book gods gave to me

Twelve charts of pictures

Eleven image captions

Ten words for “granite”

Nine new subtitles

Eight returned phone calls

Seven chapters total

Six brand-new checklists

Five great critiques!

Four new custom maps

Three .tiff files

Two copyrights and

An extension to February!

Merry Christmas everyone!

SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

ByLee Ann

I have over 70 photographs in my book plus six historical maps and 13 custom maps. For every illustration except the custom maps, I have to:

  • Find the source of the picture or map. Is it in a book? At the Archives of Ontario in Toronto? At Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa? In a library? At a museum? In a private collection? In my camera?
  • Find out if the picture or map is under copyright or in the public domain.
  • If it’s under copyright, find out who owns the copyright. Ask permission to reprint.
  • Regardless of whether the illustration is under copyright or in the public domain, note the proper way to reference the source – each organization or person requires something specific for this. Here’s an example from Archives of Ontario: RG15-13-3 Barcode F000932, File item RG-15-13-3-0-294-1.
  • Get an electronic copy of the picture in .tiff format, at least 300 dpi resolution for printing.
  • Store the picture in the proper folder on my computer, corresponding to the chapter it will appear in.
  • Write a caption for the picture and store it in a separate file, with a name corresponding to that of the illustration so they can be matched up later by the publisher. Include the proper source reference.
  • Keep track in a separate chart: the name of the illustration, the source, whether I have it or I am still chasing after it, whether I have permission to reprint in writing, and from whom.

70 photographs. Six historical maps. All form part of the submission to the publisher.

I feel like a new homeowner with a piece of furniture from Ikea and only an Allen key to help me.

REFLECTIONS FROM THE END OF THE ROAD

ByLee Ann

I’ve just returned from my final field trip hunting down the remains of the original Muskoka road. This time Geoff and I drove from just north of Burk’s Falls to Nipissing Village. And although I didn’t take as many pictures as I had wanted to – too many orange-clad men in pick-up trucks and gunshots in the woods – I still got a feel for the northernmost sections of the road. 

Nowhere else along the road’s length have I been so struck by how completely life changes. Here’s a picture taken at the intersection of the Muskoka Road and the South River Road.

South River Road from Muskoka Road looking east

This trail used to connect the village of Uplands – the northernmost settlement along the Muskoka Road – with South River, an important railway depot. Through South River on the train came the mail for all of Machar township, plus food and supplies for the five villages that once existed here.

There’s not much left of this formerly vital link. There’s not much left of Uplands either – no sign of the stores, the school, the post office. We saw maybe five modern houses and one woman walking an unruly dog. At one time this was the busiest settlement in Machar. But as the centre of commerce shifted to the east along the railway line, Uplands withered.

I was shocked to find that so little remains! I’ve been so immersed in the 1880s and 90s that I fully expected to see that once-major intersection of the Muskoka Road and the South River Road. Instead, we drove right by it and had to double back, peering into the woods until we saw the trail snaking off to the east.

So there you go: for everything there is a season. Some villages take root, thrive for a time, then slowly fade away. Some roads – including parts of the Muskoka – suffer the same fate, and are now mere traces on the map compared to former thick, vital lines.

 In fact, the ten northernmost kilometres of the Muskoka Road itself are now a snowmobile trail – best explored in winter and certainly not during hunting season.