Last year, when I became a professor at the e-media department at the University of Cincinnati, I started working with more diverse media, and observing what goes into the making of even very simple videos. I worked with one of my colleagues on a 2-minute intro clip for an hour-long panel, and I assisted as he spent hours collecting footage.
His philosophy? Get far more footage than you need, from as many angles as possible.
That’s why I love this article in the latest Glimmer Train bulletin, “Cutting Out the Bad Bits,” by fiction writer Will Boast. He says:
Give yourself a good deal of raw material to work with before you begin to edit. Try multiple angles—change the point of view, change the perspective. Multiple takes—write the same scene two, three, ten different ways. Allow yourself multiple performances—let your characters deliver their lines with several different inflections and respond to each other in new, unexpected ways.
Then, when you have your rough cut, mix up the chronology. Try intercutting one scene with another … as you splice different passages together, remember always that you’re working toward rhythm.
Read more of Boast’s wonderful piece over at Glimmer Train.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
YES. This has been my mantra to clients and fellow writers for as long as I’ve been writing. It’s ALWAYS easier to cut than to add in more. Great topic!
Thanks, Jane, for passing this on. I did this subconsciously and now I’m grateful. I can do a whole second book from the other characters’ POVs.
[…] bound together. Will Boast said it in his essay for Glimmer Train (the link to which I found on Jane Friedman’s site): Give yourself a good deal of raw material to work with before you begin to […]