Can Editing Be Fun? Maybe.
By Therese Walsh | July 5, 2011 |
Note: I penned this post in March, and it was originally posted on Storyfix.com.
Also, p.s., the Writer Unboxed Facebook group is nearly 500 members strong now. If you’re looking for a vital writing community on Facebook, come and check us out.
You might think this crazy, but for me, editing is…fun. I have the harder time getting ideas onto the page to begin with. I toil over concepts, the timing of reveals, characterizations and descriptions and most especially the wording of my sentences (8,302 of them in my work-in-progress; I just counted).
Something happens to me, though, after I hit that final period in my draft—the end. I turn from fretful writer to dispassionate editor.
How? Why? And fun? Am I crazy?
Introducing Write Brain, Left Brain
When I complete a draft, the writer-me is exhausted and desperate for a break. But the part of me I’ve been suppressing—the manager who’s kept a mental tally of better ideas—is eager to have a turn. Some would say that the right hemisphere of the brain—the side that’s credited with our creative functioning—has just passed the baton to the left hemisphere—the more analytical part.
Bear with me as I ask you to envision these hemispheres as if they are real people. Right Brain is the artist—a little disheveled with a smudge of blue paint on her cheek and a half-dead daisy tucked behind her ear. Her long skirt is fringed with tiny bells. Left Brain is all business. Power suit. Flats. She carries a hatchet in one hand and a red pen in the other. Her smile is a little evil.
You can’t blame easy-going, love-my-bells Right Brain for hesitating to pass her work over to hatchet-happy, evil-smiling Left Brain, can you? But she’s exhausted, she needs a break, and Left Brain is there, waiting…
The Steps to Editing Acceptance
Feeling resistance to editing your work is completely normal. You’ve labored over your story for months, maybe years (six years for my debut!). You don’t want to change anything. You don’t feel you need to change anything. Or maybe you just don’t feel it’s fair you should have to change anything. All normal. But you also know that writers who don’t edit their work usually remain unpublished, so you’re going to do it. Here’s how to make the process a little easier for you and Right Brain, and even (gasp) fun.
1. Create a safety net. Open the file containing your work-in-progress and use the “save as” function to give it a new name. You should now have two files—the original and this new one. Right Brain is content knowing that Left Brain can go hatchet crazy on a copy of the manuscript that isn’t hers.
2. Make friends with the red pen. Not everyone may have this experience, but I find that I become a different sort of writer when I have a pen in hand. I adore the loops and arrows, the circles and splatter marks I make with a red pen on white paper. And I sense Right Brain’s approval of Left Brain’s unexpected creative streak. She relaxes a little; maybe Left Brain isn’t so evil after all.
3. Start big. Right Brain’s anxiety doesn’t spike until you start messing with her words. She’s way less likely to freak on you if you move blocks of text around and delete nothing. If you have structural changes you’d like to make, do that first. Color code the moved blocks, too. It’ll help Left Brain keep everything in order, and the rainbow shades make Right Brain coo.
4. Attack the sentences. Right Brain hates this part. Left Brain’s hatchet is out, she is slaying words, sentences, and full paragraphs, leaving them to die their red-ink deaths all over your carpet. Don’t delete-delete these sections. Tell Right Brain that you’re putting them on probation instead. If you use Word, you can use the comment function here. Cut-paste your deleted text into that comment box, and move on knowing all is not lost—just in case Left Brain doesn’t know what she’s talking about.
5. Acknowledge smart changes. Once rearrangements have been made, once blocks of text have been deleted and new words added, Right Brain will get it. The rework is better than her original. Maybe not all of it. But most of it is an improvement. She accepts that editing is necessary, even…awesome.
6. Observe a moment of silence. Right Brain is never going to be entirely happy about the dead darlings on the office floor, but she can keep their literary carcasses around if she’d like—in a separate file. And you can always do what I did and share one of them on your Facebook page, to give a prize darling a moment in the spotlight.
Ready for the Big Time
Best thing about learning how to love editing? When your actual editor comes back to you with her Left-Brain list of things to consider and change, your Right Brain Writer Self will recognize the process. There’s no evil here, only the desire by all brains involved to create the best product possible. And you will survive it. You will.
Do you love editing, or hate it? Have any tips or tricks you’d like to share? The floor is yours.
Write on!
Therese Walsh (she/her) co-founded Writer Unboxed in 2006 and is the site’s editorial director. She was the editor of WU’s only book, Author in Progress, and runs the Writer Unboxed UnConference.
Her second novel, The Moon Sisters, received starred reviews and was named one of the best books of the year by Library Journal and Book Riot.
Learn more about Therese on her website, and sign up for her newsletter to be among the first to hear about any new projects.
and again a perfectly timed (for me) post! Have you guys been here watching me put off my second draft?
I’ve been doing some adding of a couple scenes that I realized I needed when I got to the end…straightening up a few names that kept slipping around, adding a mention of this or that earlier to make a later scene make more sense. But I’ve been putting off the red pen.
I know it needs to be done, but I’m not sure if I should wait awhile…or if the three weeks I’ve been finished is long enough? Is there a recommendation as to what amount of time makes it easier for Ms. Right to loosen her grip?
I’ve also had an experience, years ago, of editing to the point that that book lost a lot of the funny, which was very frustrating. Although I think I’ve learned a thing or two (maybe more than two) since then and the good things that happen in my writing are more likely to be planned now rather than just happy accidents…I still worry a little about how to clean up while still keeping the voice and the funny intact.
Ah well onward and upward!!
Is there a recommendation as to what amount of time makes it easier for Ms. Right to loosen her grip?
I’m sure it’s different for everyone. I found myself able to see my wip with truly fresh eyes after a few months away from it. Months, I know, may seem excessive. But that’s what it takes for me to no longer feel married to my ideas, the turns of phrase, a particular word choice, etc… At that point, I can think in terms of serving the larger work.
You said you lost some of your favorite funny writing in edits. It is because you changed direction a bit and the funny stuff was no longer a good fit? Or because you “lost” them in larger cuts? If the latter, maybe go through and highlight lines you don’t want to lose for tone before you edit. If the former, then maybe it’s for the best; you know what the masters say about killing our darlings.
I love editing (most of the time), but paper no longer exists in my life. I write and edit on the computer with Scrivener, because it gives me much more flexibility than paper. Deleted material goes in its own file — just in case. I can make notes for the whole project and for individual chapters. I write in the editor to have access to all that, but edit in full-screen mode so I can focus on the text without any distractions. Comments and highlights alert me to problem spots that may take time to work out.
The hardest part of editing is *staying* in that left-brain space. Mental fatigue sets in or I get caught up in the story, or I lose focus as to whether I’m dealing with plot or sentence structure. Editing is by no means easy, but there are time when it’s almost the most enjoyable part of the writing process.
I need to check out Scrivener, now that it’s available for Windows. I’m glad you’ve had so much success with it.
I needed to read this because I enjoy drafting much more than editing. These are great suggestions to help make the process more enjoyable!
So true. So, so true. Especially the parts about doing bigger stuff first, and making friends with the red pen. (Or pink, or green, or whatever it takes to get deep in there with the crossing-out and the scribbling up the margin.)
Too bad I’ve got too many other things to do today, because this makes me want to jump right into editing! Will have to bookmark for when I need a Left Brain powersuit push.
I love editing, because it is THEN that I can take my raw, half-formed crap and spruce it up into something beautiful. For me, that’s where the real CRAFT of writing takes place. Creativity and craft are two vastly different things.
Creativity and craft are two vastly different things.
Wise words, Sophie! I’d like to get to the point where I can crank out a wip that is truly ugly, sketchy, but structurally sound in a few months, then spend the next year applying smart craft to the story bones.
Sophie said: For me, that’s where the real CRAFT of writing takes place. Creativity and craft are two vastly different things.
I totally agree. This is exactly how I feel. It’s the difference between how I feel after waking up in the morning and then doing my hair, make-up, and putting on a formal dress. The first is more comfortable, but people notice the bling.
Thanks, Therese! This was a fun read.
I’m with you, Therese. I much prefer editing to generating new material. Writing a first draft is all about making something out of nothing. For me, editing is about taking that “something”–usually a big mess– and turning it into art. There’s nothing better than handing in a first draft and getting back pages of notes from my editor, agent, and fellow writers. it’s daunting, sure, but it’s also exciting to know that I produced a bunch of material out of thin air and now that material could actually become a book.
Amen, Jennifer. That’s exactly the right way to think about editing, in my opinion. It’s not easy, but it’s a crucial part of the process.
I’m pretty sure I commented on the original post at Storyfix.com, so let me just ask this: Did you seriously count the sentences in your WIP?! Or do you have a program that does it? o_O
No, I didn’t count them by hand! (Can you imagine?) I can’t remember exactly how I did it, but I may have done a quick search for periods in my wip, or found a way to count using some other Word doc trick.
Great, timely post for me! I just edited my first novel for the umpteenth time, and as much as I dreaded it, the book is better (tighter, richer) because of the process. Getting a draft down is SO right brain for me, too. Editing my own work is a challenge, but that’s where some of my best work gets done.
Thanks, Therese! I just discovered Writer Unboxed a week or so ago, and I’m enjoying the posts.
I hear you on the dread. Even though we know the book will be better for the editing, it’s hard to take the plunge.
I’m glad you found us, Gerry!
Great post, and I can see how the right brain/left brain approach helps create some emotional distance from the words you’re editing.
For me the editing phase is when I really look at the structure of the book, and stuff starts getting moved around a lot. If I’m unsure about some significant change, I’ll actually create two versions of the document (with and without the big change), and then re-read both versions after letting the manuscript sit for a few days, to see with fresh eyes which one works the best.
And I’m glad to see I’m not the only color coder. Different pen colors mean different things – I so get that!
Thanks, Keith. I keep several docs of my wip as well. It makes experimentation more acceptable to Right Brain.
I think it’s Barbara Samuel who said she uses color not so much for coding but to keep her right brain happy during an otherwise black-and-white process. However you use colored pens and notes, color really can help.
I love this! And I’m glad you re-posted it — I missed it the first time around on Larry’s site. I love that you’ve got strategies, like the different colored text or the looping arrows, to help coax your right (write?) brain into accepting left brain’s edits. This matches what I believe, but I’d never really applied it this way. Definitely a lot to think about!
Yep, you’re crazy.
I think you hit the nail on the head (could explain why you’re crazy) when you said the right part of the brain is exhausted. The brain is a muscle and needs a rest.
I recall when I used to teach Physics and often on a Friday afternoon when I had prepared an exciting lesson with lots of getting up and doing different activities in different parts of the laboratory some pupils would walk in the door look at all the stuff laid out and say “please sir, can’t we just do some copying…” I tried it a few times (in interesting ways that involved learning, of course) and the pupils were surprisingly appreciative because by Friday afternoon their brains were exhausted.
I’ve always enjoyed editing most. I have no problem cutting, slashing, re-arranging, etc. It’s getting those words onto the blank page I find most painful.
I remember seeing the original post on Storyfix and love it!
#1 really resonated with me then (as it does now) and editing isn’t the scary thing it used to be. On my most recent edit I saved a new file for each of the steps you’ve listed :)
Are you me? This is my exact strategy, except I relish upcoming editing opportunities and get itchy as I approach the end of any first draft. It was difficult with my first novel, but now I love cutting words, figuring out which plot arcs need to be emphasized or moved around or dropped, and making everything piece together better. I love the feeling of shedding I get from it. It’s like getting a haircut after way too long and making your head feel so much lighter. It’s refreshing. I’m going to start revising a novel soon and I can’t wait!
I’m still hacking away at my own manuscript, but every tiny change I make turns into an avalanche later in the book, with twisted and broken branches of plot poking out of the wreckage. Clearing these up isn’t a fun experience for me at all, because I find myself dreading my fix will trigger yet another disaster and just create more to edit later.
Maybe if I give left brain a Mr. Plow she’ll find the process a little less harrowing. At the moment, she’s picking away at the mess with a trowel.
The post itself provided me with a new perspective on how to tackle the editing process. Sophie’s comment hit home with me as well.
‘I love editing, because it is THEN that I can take my raw, half-formed crap and spruce it up into something beautiful.’
I just have to keep reminding right brain that’s what we’re doing. We’re sprucing. Not murdering.
Thank you :-)
“Left Brain is all business. Power suit. Flats. She carries a hatchet in one hand and a red pen in the other. Her smile is a little evil.”
Ah, Therese, how do you know me so well? The initial writing is much harder for me than the editing phase. When the story is all laid out and I can see its complete shape with all its strange, pointy edges, then the fun begins, for me. I love moving pieces, chopping, rearranging. Polishing. Making it better.
I save the initial first draft, just in case, but after that, I don’t save multiple versions. I just dive in and slash. If I am nervous about a particular change, I’ll use the “Track Changes” feature in Word. It will just strike-through any deletions, so they stay in the text. Then, when I’m done, I just click “Accept Changes”. It works well for me when the evil smile is just a little bit toooooo creepy.
I’ve never understood this dichotomy. I’m always going back and re-arranging, striking, adding, or modifying sentences. I couldn’t possibly write the rest of the book knowing that there’s a flaw in the foundations somewhere.
Astute and cogent comments have already been said. I just want to give appreciation for the wonderful illustration of right/left brain. What a great visualization. Well done, Mr./Ms. Artist.
Great post and a great discussion about art and craft, too.
Three additional tools that I use:
1) Read your work out loud. You’ll “hear” where the story lags, or sits still, or has no forward motion. For dialogue, you’ll hear when your characters sound like real people, and when they don’t.
2) Use the screenwriter’s and playwright’s tool: See how late you can get into a scene and how early you can get out of it. Start in the middle of the action and leave us wanting more.
3) When you think you’re done editing, go back one more time with the goal of deleting 10%. Sounds impossible, I know, but how many books have you read where you asked: Where was the editor?
Perfectly timed post for me. I’m in the early editing stages, and I definitely enjoy it more. I’m going over stuff I haven’t looked at in a couple of months, and I’m able to see my plot and the issues clearly. And I’m like you, I tend to have better ideas the second time around.
I’m working on coming into the middle of the action–that’s something I’ve got to improve on.
Thanks!
How interesting! And your readers too, they have all clearly a different approach…but I like your right vs. left brain dichotomy. The stronger the dichotomy, no doubt the easier the editing becomes!
As they sa here in Italy: brava! A very useful way to approach one of the hardest jobs for a writer…
Wow. I’m surprised to be part of a tiny minority. I like writing the first draft, I don’t mind the first round of big edits. But after that, my brain tires of project A, it starts composing project B, and I waste hours struggling with myself to do the picayune parts of the necessary task.
I am in revisions now and relishing the control I feel vs. the empty void post-submission. Left-brain editor is a much better companion than non-responsive agent. ;) Your rules 1, 3 and 4 have worked to nudge my Right Brain along the gangplank, too.
You have a great point of view there, which I agree with. Editing is something that a lot of people view as a chore, but it really isn’t. It’s an opportunity to improve on what we have already written, and make it reach its full potential.
Editing can be a great thing but only when you look at it not as a chore. When you think that you can actually generate better results to your work, editing can really be somewhat fun. However, it can be frustrating too.
I find myself in the middle of fun and frustrating.
Today I was reading a story I haven’t looked at in a while and was horrified to find some cruel person cut out a bunch of my favourite lines. That person was me!
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