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The Craft of Writing > Revision

Okay, so you've finished your first draft. Now what? Talk about the process of revision and support other members as they revise their own work.

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on editing. what is too much, when is the narrative's soul killed?

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Posted on 11/23/2011
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As an editor, I find myself going over my manuscript until I want to scream. I scrutinize every paragraph, sentence, phrase and word, thinking it must be possible to improve something. I think after the 300th edit maybe I should give it up, I'm killing my narrative's soul. Or maybe it's the fear of putting it out there with lousy writing. So what is enough editing? let's face it, every writer can improve, but what is the trade off? A flat gray story without a personality.
Then, of course, there is the little Typo Gremlin. Where the hell do those little sods come from? I can almost guarantee that one can go through 120 000 words and there will be typos.
Am I the only idiot that does this to themselves?  
Showing 1 to 10 of 18 comments
1 year, 5 months, 26 days ago

I completely understand the feeling, Charlotte! I too am a vicious self-editor and it makes it very difficult for me to write anything of my own.

I think it's a completely natural thing though, especially if you have editorial experience working with other people's work. It uses a very different part of the brain than crafting a story from the ground up.

I think when you have this issue and are writing, the most important thing is to find a way to either shut off or just ignore those editorial voices. Don't let yourself go back. Don't let yourself dissect sentence after sentence. Power through your first draft and then you can go back through--after you've walked away from it for a while and perhaps given some objective readers the chance to weigh in first. We certainly can be our own worst critics!

But once you start the revision process, you're right, there is definitely a valid fear of over-editing. And unfortunately, there's no trick that I've found. It's a matter of determining where the voice of the story lies, what makes it special and powerful and compelling, and working hard to maintain those pieces while fixing the ones that need improvement. It's knowing your story and its true soul.

The Typo Gremlin I wouldn't worry too much about though! That's an easy fix when you're through revising and certainly won't kill your narrative. =)
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1 year, 5 months, 25 days ago

LOL I know the Typo Gremlin won't kill a narrative, but I want to know how they just seem to happen. I was about to send my MS off to a publisher (first 3 chapters) and saw the most innocuous error on the first page! That caused me to doubt the rest of the MS and I put on my hiking boots and slogged through the thing for the 300th time.
I know that if I look at an MS synopsis or just the first page, and find a typo, I immediately have warning bells going and become editor-super-sleuth. If the narrative happens to be good, then it's like seeing a well dressed woman with a ladder in her stocking.
I definitely believe in editing until one has it as polished as possible, then shelving it for a few months before going back. 
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1 year, 5 months, 25 days ago

Ahhh gotcha. Yes, that always seems to happen! The best way to counteract it, I think, is to have someone else review/proofread the work with a very careful eye. You know the material too well at this point to catch everything--your brain knows exactly what to read before you get there so it's a lot tougher to catch!

Also, not sure if you do this, but I find reviewing in hardcopy super helpful =) computer screens do something weird to our eyes!
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1 year, 5 months, 23 days ago

...reviewing in hardcopy super helpful =) computer screens do something weird to our eyes!

Hah-- I thought that was just me! What is that? I can go over and over something I wrote on-screen, but can't spot the silliest "am" instead of "an" until reading on paper.

I learned copy-editing in journalism, so maybe I'm just defaulting to the angry ball-point marks, but I also find it helps do the job itself.

On paper, I actually read it, instead of continue writing it... To me, its like tasting the sauce on the pasta instead of out of the pot with the seasoning bottle still in-hand.

Power through your first draft and then you can go back through...

Thanks for that note... I remember writing like that, but along the way became preoccupied with getting that perfect sentence. (I end up losing hours G.B.Shaw-ing the order of seven silly words instead of telling the story that is backing up in my head.)
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1 year, 5 months, 22 days ago

I have been accused multiple times of overworking my drawings and paintings when I used to be an art student. I wanted it to be perfect  instead of putting it aside when I should have. I had to remember that art is never finished, it is just abandoned. Then I moved on to writing, something I had been doing since I could hold a crayon, and found that the same rules apply. I had to be willing to let my story go and let others see it. So now I have a three revision rule before I put it up on here, or give it to someone I know, to look it over. I'm still scared to send my stuff out because I don't think its ready, but I'm taking my first step. I'm letting my mom read my novel for her Christmas gift. (It makes me nauseous just thinking about it.)
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1 year, 5 months, 21 days ago

LOL I'm the queen of overworking my art--I'm a wildlife artist. Seems I'm no different with my books--sigh. And, yes, Danielle, I certainly do get my fellow editors to read my final drafts. I even rope in my long suffering daughters. I just want one or two of you guys to give Twilight Path another lookover.
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1 year, 5 months, 21 days ago

@LeeAnna, the comment about your mom made me laugh because it reminds me so much of mine. I think the absolute last beta reader I would give my manuscript to is my mother. She's hypercritical and tends to crush my ego in 5 seconds flat. If you ever want some soul-killing, give your manuscript to her. It doesn't matter how many times I edit my work, she would still kill it with a red pen. Well, actually, an old-fashioned No. 2 pencil. She wont even use a mechanical.

And I say all of that being a detail-oriented editor myself. I edit and edit and edit some more, even as I continue to write new material for the same project. I used to bang out a draft and then edit, but then found the editing task just too overwhelming at the end. The size of the job was what would end up killing the book, not the editing itself. Now I edit as I go and I have to say it has done wonders for my writing. But, yeah, there has to be a point when you say enough is enough.

I'll let you know if I ever find it.
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1 year, 5 months, 20 days ago

@LR: Its not that my mom is a soul crusher, I suffer from worrying about changing her opinion of me. She can be critical, and knows good writing from bad, but there is some stuff in there that makes me want to bury it under the couch when she's around out of shame. I guess I got lucky not to have a pencil toting, writing nazi for a mom. I leave that to my creative writing professor. The reason I want to let her read it is that I'm still trying to find my audience. I can't say its the fantasy crowd in general because I get mixed reviews from those who are into that genre. (One of the reasons why I over edit.) So my mom, the trekkie/er, will help me out. Hopefully.

A question that I should have answered before: Yes, you can suck out the soul of your work with over editing. I've seen it happen. Even though people call for perfect grammar, perfect grammar can be one of the greatest soul killers of all. Every writer should use the basics, but should be able to make an educated call.
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1 year, 5 months, 19 days ago

There was once an Indian Chief who went to find his best warrior whom he found wrapped in chains in his tee pee. The warrior was bound so tightly he couldn't move. The chief asked him;"Who crafted those chains so neatly around you that you cannot move?" The warrior answered: "I crafted these chains so neatly around me that I cannot move." This is a story that was told to me when I got involved in analyzing my own analyzations. It's only my own personal view but I feel that writing is the telling of a story that takes place in my own mind. I am all the characters in all the situations that face them in all the environments where it happens. For me it is the story that counts and the arrangement of chapters that leads me to more words to see what happens next. If I am happy with the story and it draws my attention from beginning to end; then I go check the quotation marks, question marks etc. In an article many years ago I read where Kurt Vonnegut scribbled his writings on paper bags, napkins and matchpacks. He then threw them all into an envelope and sent them to his publisher. Sounds like you are so much farther ahead than him already.
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1 year, 5 months, 12 days ago

I'm 100% for creative writing and taking liberties, but sometimes those liberties border on plain literary rudeness  :-). I also think one should look at too many adjectives--too much telling and no showing--too much, he said/she said.
The typo gremlin crept in again. Roy found a typo in my book. My reaction, when I looked at his comment and he took the trouble to put the typo section in, was, what is he talking about. He didn't say typo, just put the section in. I looked at it, thought, sod it, and moved on. it bugged me. I went back and looked again. Then I saw it. Instead of "snores" I put in "sores" I couldn't believe it. The point I'm trying to make is that one gets stable-vision and just don't see the mistakes.
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Showing 1 to 10 of 18 comments
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