Part 3.2 Editing
30 mins
- Consider what to bear in mind as you edit
- Review work from fellow writers
- Receive feedback from other writers
Editing your work
This section reminds us that the majority of writing is editing; most of the stories we consume started life very differently to how we encounter them. The sooner we recognise that a first draft is a starting point, the freer we are to begin creating and recording our inspirations.
It’s true that it is usually hard to say things precisely. It requires more thought and skill to be succinct. It’s normal that drafts will get more concentrated as they are worked on, but I think this gives rise to a fallacy: that the main goal of editing is to “take things away”.
The orthodoxy is that “less is more”, and that we should “kill our darlings”, but I think much depends on the style and genre and reader and what the first draft is like.
The advice ends with the summary that “The more ruthless you can be about your own work, the better it will be.”
No, I disagree. I would say that “The better judgment you can have about your own work, the better it will be.” Ruthlessness is not equivalent to good judgment. It implies a certain austerity, which is not the same as clarity and economy. If we are too harsh, then we can lose connection with our creativity, and reflexively deny our first instincts, which may be good ones.
The general discussion of the editing process, which I see in the course comments as well, tends towards “removal” — but “substitution” and “addition” is also a part of it. In my conception, it’s about finding the right balance between story-telling forces.
Editing vs self-censorship
In the next piece of advice, my concern is partly allayed by the distinction made between editing and self-censorship. Their idea is that a telling of the story should be unconstrained, while editing makes sure that the telling is done that to the best of your ability; as the course beautifully puts it, “clarifying that intention”.
So, the editing is there to make sure that what you have written fits the story you want to tell. It starts to put some distance between what you like and what the story needs. I think of it like a cooking recipe; just because you like a range of flavours, does’t mean you’re going to put them all into the same dish. If the dish comes from a certain tradition or needs to taste a certain way, then some flavours might not be appropriate at all.
We are asked to be “ruthlessly self-critical” again, which I’m still not a fan of. We are also asked to be “scrupulously honest”, which seems more useful.
Exercise
When editing, it is important to look at what really matters in the scene, adding that which is missing, and taking away that which is distracting.
We are given the following passage to edit down to two lines:
The heavy black and blue winter sky groaned awfully with rain clouds that at any moment were really about to fall crashing heavily down upon the street where, because it was rush hour, so many people, wearing all manner of different clothes, hats, shoes, boots, some of them carrying bags, suitcases, briefcases, scampered and strolled about the place as though oblivious to what was just about to happen over their very heads. One of these people was called Hilary and concealed inside her voluminous coat she carried the loaded, snub-nosed gun, and she also seemed to be the only one looking upwards into the tempestuous thundery heavens.
Fun!
Always easier to edit someone else’s work.
This is what I ended up with:
The bruised, stormy sky loomed over the rush hour crowd. Hilary looked into the clouds, and put her hand inside her coat, onto the pistol.
Because I cut this down so much, and substituted “bruised” for the original colour description of the sky, and added Hilary touching the gun, I changed the style. It is pacier; more of a thriller than a meditation. It eschews detail for clarity; the reader has an easier time, but is less immersed.
It got me thinking about the difference between editing our own, and other people’s work. If the writer of the original passage had wanted to keep the accumulating rhythms and detailed information of the first passage, then I would probably have taken words away without changing the structure. As it was, I “re-wrote” it, to create a terser style.
It makes me realise that editing is very powerful and we need calibrate it before we start, if we are going to keep our style consistent across different sessions.
Over-writing vs style choices
The course shares a video, explaining what needed to be cut from the practice passage:
- beware of qualifying verbs with adverbs – e.g. “awfully”
- colours can be interesting but “black and blue” are contradictory
- “heavy” is useful because it has a double meaning
- the rush hour detail is superfluous and makes the sentence lose shape
- use active rather than passive tenses – e.g. make Hilary the subject, not object, of the sentence
- find a cleaner way to describe the gun, rather than a series of adjectives
- don’t repeat description (of the sky)
I was interested to see that many of the commentators shared my feeling that cutting it down to the essentials changed the style, which they didn’t necessarily support. Some of them felt there was a place for more “wordy” fiction. I agree!
Commenters’ Tip!
I fully agree with the other participants who’ve suggested merely “relocating” phrases or passages that don’t seem right at the edit stage. It’s much easier to gently move these bits of writing to a random notes document, or another piece of work, than it is to feel like we have to say goodbye to them forever. They might actually be good and useful in the future. But mainly it massively cuts down on the angst and decision-making intensity that accompanies the decision to “delete” things.
The Editing Checklist
The course provides this checklist to help us towards clarity of expression:
- Is it what you meant to say, really?
- Have you found the best way to convey it?
- Would a particular event really have happened that way?
- Would a particular character definitely use that expression or turn of phrase?
- Does an idea or scene really belong where you’ve put it, or would the piece be better if that element was cut? Could it be used elsewhere, or on another occasion?
- What’s missing from your story? Details or background information?
- Is there enough to engage your reader?
- Do events occur in the best order and are significant events given enough weight, or are they lost beneath less important things? If so, is that what you intended?
- Does it read too slowly, or too quickly?
- Overall, does the writing convey the right tone – does it create the mood you hoped for?
Give the course a spin yourself!
www.futurelearn.com/courses/start-writing-fiction