Ed McBain: All better. Came out of the blue. Big surprise.
Rob Holden: Now -- you told me when we were setting up this chat that you were going to start TODAY rewriting your next 8-7 novel ... what is it called, by the way?
Ed McBain: It's called Fiddlers.
Rob Holden: Okay -- so -- since the difference between writing and re-writing seems to be very much on your mind, I thought we would discuss that this month!
Ed McBain: Good topic.
Rob Holden: So, let me start with the obvious question -- which do you find easier to do, and why?
Ed McBain: Writing is easier. You're tapping into the unconscious, moving into the flow. Making sense of it later is difficult.
Rob Holden: So it is easier for you to be "in the moment" when working on a new book than it is for you to go back and polish it up?
Ed McBain: Oh yes. Incidentally, how many beginning writers out there even have the word "rewriting" in their vocabularies?
Rob Holden: Well, the writers may not, but I suspect that their editors certainly do! So how many times will you rewrite a novel? Let's take HARK! -- on the stands now -- as an example. How many rewrites did it get?
Ed McBain: No, let's take Fiddlers instead because that's in the immediate present. There are six victims in the book, and I wrote those six threads separately.
Rob Holden: Okay -- and that was in the first draft?
Ed McBain: Yes, that was the first run. The second run was putting the six threads together.
Rob Holden: And where are you now?
Ed McBain: I am now trying to assemble the six stories in a way that maximizes suspense.
Rob Holden: So this is the third run-through?
Ed McBain: Yes, but not the last, I fear. I'm discovering that parts of the novel may have to go. I'm discovering that I may need some parts that aren't there.
Rob Holden: Tell me Evan -- does that happen often with your novels? That parts need to be removed, or other parts added in the third or fourth draft?
Ed McBain: No, this is unusual. I rarely have so many vics. All of them seemingly unconnected. It's a truly difficult book to write. Normally, I'll do three drafts and that'll be it.
Rob Holden: So, I suppose the next question logically would be, how many drafts do you see this one being?
Ed McBain: I suspect there'll be five before I consider the book finished. I'm figuring another two to three weeks' work.
Rob Holden: Which leads me PERFECTLY to my next question -- time. How long does it generally take you to write a first draft, and how long for each rewrite?
Ed McBain: I try to do about 40 pages a week. Figure ten weeks for a first draft of 400 pages. Figure half that time again for the first rewrite. Then another 5 weeks for the polish. Total of 20 weeks for a finished book. What's that? About 4 months or so?
Rob Holden: About five, actually. Next question that occurs to me is, of your over 100 published novels -- which was the HARDEST one to rewrite?
Ed McBain: Good question. Let me think. Streets of Gold, maybe. Started with the hero blind. Changed him to sighted. Went back to him being blind again.
Rob Holden:And how long did that one take you?
Ed McBain: Streets of Gold took about eight months to write, but there was a lot of research beforehand.
Rob Holden: Wow -- that is almost twice as long as you told us it usually takes you. Was it the blind character that made it so difficult?
Ed McBain: Yes. It was enormously difficult to put myself in his skin.
Rob Holden: Okay so -- you have done both fiction and nonfiction. Are there any major differences in the rewriting process between the two?
Ed McBain: In non-fiction, you're bound by the facts. Those can't change. In fiction, you make your own rules -- the guy's blind today, you don't like that, he's sighted tomorrow.
Rob Holden: And then -- in the case of Streets of Gold -- blind again the next day! This might be an embarrassing one, but I am going to ask it anyway. Are there any manuscripts lurking around the McBain household that you simply found that you COULDN'T rewrite?
Ed McBain: There are a couple of novels I never could get to work, yes. I'm not sure I've given up on them yet.
Rob Holden: Any of them 8-7's?
Ed McBain: No. All of them Evan Hunter novels. Straight fiction.
Rob Holden: Which brings me to my next question -- is it easier or harder to rewrite an Evan Hunter novel, or about the same as a McBain?
Ed McBain: It's harder to do a Hunter. New characters, new setting, new voice each time out. You know, it occurs to me that I haven't emphasized the importance of rewriting. I forget who said it -- Twain, Hemingway? -- "It shouldn't be called writing, it should be called rewriting."
Rob Holden: Someone else said -- it might have been Ross Thomas: "I can't write worth a damn, but I can rewrite the hell out of anything."
Ed McBain: Wonderful!
Rob Holden: Just as an aside -- is there a new Evan Hunter novel in the works?
Ed McBain: All I can think about right now is Fiddlers. Then maybe a short vacation. Then a new novel in the fall. Maybe a Hunter.
Rob Holden: Before we bring this to a close, one last thing I would like to know about your rewriting process is how quickly you jump into it. Do you take a breather after finishing a first draft before you start the first rewrite, or do you plunge right into it?
Ed McBain: Right into it. Well... first I read it from top to bottom. Then I read it again, making notes. Then I start the rewrite. The hospital slowed me down on Fiddlers, and I'm getting itchy.
Rob Holden: Well then, we probably shouldn't keep you any longer -- it is time for you to get to work! Next month Evan -- well, you have written about murder, mayhem, thievery and all manner of villainy but next month we are going to get REALLY down and dirty and talk about ... politics!
Ed McBain: We're not! Are we? I already get nasty letters.
Rob Holden: We are SPECIFICALLY going to talk about how the political climate affects writers -- from someone who started his career in the shadow of McCarthyism. As always, we invite our readers to send in their questions to readersroom2@aol.com. And so Evan, we'll wrap this up until next time. As always, it was a pleasure!
Ed McBain: My pleasure, Rob. Can't wait till next time, though I'm not sure we should go near politics.
Rob Holden: Well ... we'll discuss in the coming month! See you next time!
Copyright 2004 by ReadersRoom,
LLC. All rights reserved.
