You Only Write Twice

First try: “Scent and smoke and sweat hit the taste buds with an acid thwack at three o’clock in the morning.”

Second try: “Scent and smoke and sweat can suddenly combine together and hit the taste buds with an acid shock at three o’clock in the morning.”

And then, at last: “The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three o’clock in the morning.”

That’s the first line of the first novel written about James Bond, for which the third try was the proverbial charm. Good writing is rewriting, my friends.

Source: “Ian Fleming” by Andrew Lycett