The Question of Rewriting

Like thousands, possibly millions, of other people, I am really looking forward to the publication of Harper Lee's second novel, Go Set a Watchman. Of course, the book is not really her second, but her first, having been written before To Kill a Mockingbird and providing the kernel for the novel which made her name. In fact, most people thought To Kill a Mockingbird would be the only one Lee ever had published. The author famously stated, in 2011, she hadn't written another novel after her Pulitzer-prize winning first because she had said all she had wanted to say and hadn't wanted  to experience again the "pressure and publicity" she did with To Kill a Mockingbird.


I am interested in the release of Go Set a Watchman not just because it provides a chance to read something more by a writer whose work I admire but because of its part in a story which reveals the long and tricky road many writers have to take before getting published.

Lee was able to work intensively on the book which led To Kill a Mockingbird because in 1956 friends she had made in New York gave her a wonderful Christmas present - a year's wages, accompanied by a note saying, "You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas." The agent she had signed with just before receiving this gift found her a publisher and she worked with Tay Hohoff until To Kill a Mockingbird  (which was published in 1960) emerged.

In short, it took Lee two and a half years of rewriting, and following the advice of an editor who thought the child's point of view in her original work was the strength that should be developed, to produce To Kill a Mockingbird. It also took cash in the shape of a generous gift from friends who believed in her.

In recent months, several writers I know have been asked to rewrite novels by potential agents. This inevitably leaves them wondering if they should follow the agents' suggestions. Harper Lee has said she did 'as she was told' by her editor.The result was To Kill a Mockingbird rather than the book - or something close to it - which will come out in a few days time from which it was crafted. But then again, she was working with an editor, not an agent, and the book was, presumably, going to be published, as long as the rewriting was completed along the lines suggested. It is not unknown for a writer to get an agent, do rewrites for them, but fail to obtain a publishing deal.

A wise writer accepts they will need to make changes to their work, that there are agents/editors who can really nurture and improve their writing and assist them in getting published. But it would be a mistake for a writer to embark on a major piece of rewriting without first giving it a lot of thought. Perhaps it is all about instinct. If suggestions 'ring true' then writers should act on them; if they are going to take them away from what they really want to 'say' then perhaps it's best to take a step back, particularly if there is no certainty that the work the writer is being asked to do will lead anywhere. (In such a case, even if it does - and they get "into print" - will what they have published sit well with them?)

As to the money side of things ... people get up at five in the morning to write and then go to work, or they do odd jobs here and there to keep themselves going, worrying endlessly in between this and that contract that they will have enough to pay the bills. It's not ideal but while Lee's generous Christmas gift helped for a while, it wouldn't have been a long-term solution to the eternal problem writers have of keeping afloat financially had To Kill a Mockingbird not been such a commercial success.

Lee didn't even use her financial security to write more. She had 'said all she wanted to say', which goes to prove for most writers publication is not about the money per se, but about recognition for the writing. All the more reason, then, that the writing remains honest and that any rewriting simply distills strengths already present in earlier drafts.

"There is no good writing. There is only good rewriting," wrote Harry Shaw in Errors in English and Ways to Correct Them. A lot of writers have said as much in different ways. The operative word is "good". Good rewriting surely requires the guidance and oversight of an editor/agent who is an astute judge of the writer's abilities and what they are trying to say.

Lee clearly felt To Kill A Mockingbird was very much her book. The rewriting was "good". She felt her publisher helped her find her voice. Completely. That being the case, Go Set a Watchman should be a great read but perhaps not quite as perfect as To Kill a Mockingbird. Its publication should also help to remind writers of the importance of rewriting and the decisions about when and why to do so.