Ian Rankin: You get these writers who say: "I go to my office at nine and I write from nine till 12 and then I revise from two till four and that's my day, and I do 2,000 words a day and when I've done my 2,000 words a day that's me," and you go: "What?" I have days when I do fuck all.
My disturbing conclusion was that, if it happened once, as seemed beyond reasonable doubt, then I needed to revise my whole world view.
I thought it was pretty interesting, and then I decided to revise this animation and develop more plots.
Then I spent several months revising it, and then revised it again with the help of my marvellous editor at my US publisher, Grove Atlantic, and the team at Vintage Books.
Then, after setbacks and shortcomings, I revise my expectations downward and approach a different design — and do that over and over until the effort and the design are on speaking terms.
I edit my work a lot as I go along, and then, later, as well, when I revise whole drafts, but I don't think I've ever had to add or get rid of a joke; the beats are usually there from the first draft, and what I have left to polish is . . .
I wrote on a tear and then I spent the next year revising with the help of my agent and editor.
I think if he had pulled 'Is He Dead?' out of the drawer, he would have slapped himself on the forehead and said, 'What was I thinking?,' then revised it and put it onstage.
"Then I get it down, and revise it.
Generally, if I can see originality and novelty in a manuscript and the study was carried out in a solid way, then I give a recommendation for "revise and resubmit," highlighting the need for the analysis strategy, for example, to be further developed.
