How to Think Like an Editor
By Jeanne Kisacky | March 4, 2012 |
The importance of editing to good writing is clear, but how to become a good self-editor is not. Few colleges offer ‘editing’ courses. Writer’s groups are everywhere, but I’ve never encountered a self-editor’s group. There are a number of helpful books on self-editing, but they typically break down the editing process into task-oriented strategies that guide you in word selection, plot structure, character development, and literary themes. In my experience, however, good editing is not just a product of piecemeal strategies, but of a particular mindset. Editors think differently about writing than do writers.
Here are a few critical features of the “mental space” necessary to thinking like an editor.
Check Your Ego at the Office Door
Writing is inherently an act born of hubris; editing is an act born of humility. In order to write a book, you have to throw caution to the winds and believe that you can somehow capture the perfect magic of the story that is in your head. In order to self-edit a book, you have to acknowledge that what is written is imperfect and needs fixing—large scale and small scale fixing—and that it will take work, lots and lots of work. Training yourself to see your work’s flaws rather than its beauty is a constant challenge. I can’t tell anyone how to be humble, but I can provide a few guidelines for how to train yourself to think like an editor.
Trust Your Reader’s Instincts and Train Yourself to Act on Them.
Most writers are sophisticated readers who can feel and sense ‘wrongness’ in someone else’s writing. It’s a gut feeling, almost an instinct, that something is just not right. Most writers can also sense that ‘wrongness’ in their own work, but then don’t manage to make themselves do something about it. It’s too easy to get caught in the flow of words and far too hard to stop and figure out what needs fixing and then fix it.
Self-editing requires you, as a writer, to train yourself to pay attention to your reader’s instincts, and to act on them. For example:
- If you are re-reading a passage in your work and your mind is not on your own words, then other readers will also drift away. Fix it.
- If you have to re-read a passage to understand it, so will your reader. Fix it.
- If you have a moment of doubt whether the events on the page are consistent, or really true to the character, or scene, or plot, believe the doubt, and fix it.
- If you read a passage and think to yourself, “Oh, I’ll fix that later,” but plow on with the reading, you’re ignoring your instincts. Fix it.
Justifications Are a Sign It Needs Editing
Any time you sense a passage is just not working but you end up justifying your inaction, it means you need to wake up your editor. My most-common justifications include:
“It’s not working, but I’m tired; it will make sense to my readers.”
“It’s not perfect, but it’s better than a lot of published writing.”
“It’s not making total sense but that’s because I haven’t gotten into the flow yet.”
The editorial answer to all of these justifications: “You’re not the problem—the writing is.” Fix it.
Keeping Your Entire Book in Your Head
Trusting your reader’s instincts works for individual passages, but what about large-scale editing? That requires a complex but clear understanding of what the work is about, at its deepest, strongest, most resonant level. That understanding is the only guide available for what to keep and what to cut; what to move and what to leave. Good editors internalize this understanding—they keep the whole book in their head—from details to big picture. While they are working on a manuscript, they assess every passage, setting, character, event, dialogue, and exposition in the work against its contribution to (or detraction from) the book’s main point.
To self-edit, you have to develop this deep, multi-layered understanding of your own work, and you have to keep it in your head and keep true to it. You have to get outside of the story and into the larger picture. This is difficult, because writing requires delving into the details—the plot, characters, story, scenes, dialogue, etc.—while editing requires discerning the (often hidden) deep theme against which the plot, characters, and story crash. A writer is in the forest, describing the trees; an editor is in a high vantage point, simultaneously seeing the dirt, the trees, the forest, the paths and patterns manifesting in the forest, and the relation of the forest to the surrounding landscape.
What voodoo, regimen, or work schedule can train an author to get this kind of view of their work? If I could answer that, I’d be sitting at a much nicer desk in a much nicer office. For some, it’s a matter of meditation and self-examination. For others, it’s a matter of working through the details (often via charts, timelines, post-its, index cards, journaling, etc.).
For me, it’s a matter of total immersion, and exercise. I re-read the work until my brain is full of its details and themes. Then, with all the details jangling around as a constant chaos in my thoughts, I make an offering to the muses and go for long walks. Somehow the walking frees my mind and I can think about the book more clearly. (Barbara Samuel blogged about that here.) Eventually, a burst of editorial inspiration strikes and it all becomes clear. You know what needs to be changed. When that happens, you know you’re thinking like an editor about your own work.
Five Good Books on Editing and Self-Editing Strategies (all are pictured in the lefthand sidebar under Craft Corner):
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Brown and Dave King
Stein on Writing by Sol Stein
Flogging the Quill by Ray Rhamey
Fiction First Aid by Raymond Obstfeld
The Forest for the Trees by Betsy Lerner
Image from Rojish
Jeanne Kisacky trained to be an architect before going back to her first love–writing. She studied the history of architecture, has written and published nonfiction, and has taught college courses. She is the author of Rise of the Modern Hospital: An Architectural History of Health and Healing, 1870-1940.
A worthy issue, Jeanne. Most times ‘outside’ editing works best. We writers are just too close to the trees. I am fortunate in having an in-house editor, my wife, Barbara, who edited professionally for large corporations’ grant proposals, advertising and technical advisories where NO errors were tolerated. She finds mistakes and discontinuities that I miss no matter how many times I read the material myself. Her work is so essential that my works are labled ‘By Alex and Barbara Wilson’. I create the stories and she makes them correct and professional. I am blessed.
That is definitely the best of both worlds. You are one lucky man. I have a similar relationship with my sister–I got all the skill at producing an overabundance of words; she got all the skill at pruning them into coherence. :-)
“Keeping your entire book in your head.” Of the many useful tips in this post that is the one that stands out for me. When you know your work intimately you must ask yourself, ‘what is the essence of the story.’ And that is what you need to polish. Any extraneous material, no matter how well-written, must go. It is true that we fall in love with our own prose as writers, but as editors we must be merciless.
So true that being merciless with our own work is so much harder than with someone else’s.
I’m an editor first and a writer second, and I wouldn’t think of publishing something of my own that wasn’t edited by someone else first. (Well, maybe this comment! Ha!) We can do all the things you said first, but it still has to go through a wringer at least one more time to squeeze out the excess that waters down our writing.
Great post — my favorite kind. Lots of useful information, well written and concise.
And thank you for linking Barbara O’Neal’s post on walking. Another great one, and I hadn’t seen it.
Jeanne,
Thanks for reminding me that my first draft of my novel is not perfect.
I have perfected two voodoo acts that help me: 1) I read my stuff out loud, like I am really two people, the reader and the listener. I trust the listener to report accurately and truthfully. 2) I read my first draft over and over and over until the trees become the forest.
However, I am not waiting for my nicer desk. There are other acts, I’m sure. In the meantime, I’m farming this job out to someone who doesn’t like me very much and will tell me all that is wrong. They can tell me they don’t like my sport coat, too. That’s okay.
Reading your work out loud is humbling, I can’t do it because I get a squishy feeling from hearing my own voice that interferes with my concentration. But more power to you, I know it works well for a lot of people.
I love it! I too give it to people who are so merciless that my WIP is left floating in a pool of its own remains.
And I’ve been taking opinions on a new cape I just bought as well.
Most writers will say ‘turn off your internal editor’ but once her switch is flipped, it can be hard to turn it off each time you start a new project. I used to edit for a small publisher and once I started, and once I became a published author myself being edited 2 and 3 times during the course of the publishing process, my internal editor has never shut up on anything I’ve written. What’s interesting to me, is that my publisher editors don’t always agree with my self editor :-) But I edit and revise and edit and revise and so on and so forth. I know where every scene is, what is taking place, who talks when, the color of the walls, the view out the window, etc… I can see details and I can see the big picture. Sometimes readers agree with my views, sometimes they don’t. Same with editors. I definitely think self editing is invaluable and everyone should be able to handle the basics of it. You can get so lost in it though, that you lose sight of what you were writing and the purpose of the story.
Like you, I have a hard time switching off my own internal editor, but it does make the first draft (once I’ve pushed my way to the end) a lot more polished.
informative post. I am lucky to have some english majors in my world – they do a great job of catching all my mistakes. thanks for good ideas on how to make my draft to them better.
Excellent post, Jeanne.
I find it imperative to take time away from my work (a few days to a few weeks) to see it with fresh eyes and more “distance.”
A number of you have mentioned the need for outside editors, and I totally agree. A good outside editor can take a raw draft and turn it into silver. They can take a polished draft and make it into gold. Self-editing for me thus goes into making a better draft manuscript (for that outside editor to fix). I would definitely not recommend going straight from self-editing to publishing on any longer length work.
I think knowing how an editor should think also provides a guideline for the author on how to process comments from an outside editor. Being able to keep your “entire book in your head” when reading an outside editor’s comments provides an excellent barometer of whether to listen to the editorial requests, to moderate them, or to provide an informed reason for leaving a passage unchanged.
Thanks for the book suggestions and informative article.
Again, not saying anything that someone hasn’t been said before me, but I love this post! I love the line, “You’re not the problem, the writing is. Fix it.” Too often I get too attached to something and my inner editor’s evil sidekick (lack of self confidence in disguise) just rants about how I’ll never make it as a writer. Not. Helpful. Thank you again for writing this post! I will definitely come back to it for reference and encouragement. :)
Oops!
Should be: hasn’t said*
Oh, definitely fire the sidekick. Even editors have to quiet the voices of doubt in order to get it done.
Insightful advice. Frequently my editing partners will say something’s off, and I’ll remember that little voice I ignored that said the same thing. Listen to the little voice no matter how much energy it takes. I should probably stick that advice somewhere highly visible and keep noticing it.
Yes, yes, yes. It’s something like deja vu. Someone in my critique group will point out an inconsistency, a poor choice of words, a rushed scene and a little voice says, “Oh yeah, I remember thinking that.” I’m working on trying to turn up the volume on that little voice earlier in the process.
very helpful indeed. As someone who’s very much in the process of self editing i’m trying to improve my craft more than anything. I want to be better at editing because it should help me become a better writer in the long run
Slowly but surely :)
Great tips
Matt (Turndog Millionaire)
Yeah, I think the reason there aren’t ‘editing’ classes at college is because it gets subsumed in the ‘writing’ classes.
I think this blog is becoming one of my favorites! There is always interesting information that helps me become a better writer. Thanks for all you do for the writing community!
“Writing is inherently an act born of hubris; editing is an act born of humility.”
Love this, Jeanne. As I’m now deep in revisions where I’m definitely getting well-acquainted with my humility, this post comes at just the right time. I also needed reminding to take a step back and let go of the emotion. It’s not an easy thing to do, but I think you’re right that we have a writer’s voice telling us when something kinda sucks…now let that go and fix it!
I’ve been editing the same manuscript for 3 years and I can say that no matter what, there is always something that can be improved. Time between finishing the draft and editing it also helps for an author to pick up on their own mistakes. I also believe that once a writer has eradicated any idea of their work being perfect, we become our own worst critics. That is when those gut feelings that something is wrong here or needs to be reworded there and just doesn’t make sense right here really kicks in.
Thanks for this! It’s really, really helpful. I’ve found that I can put myself in that editing spot–it’s not a problem to see the “big picture”–but knowing HOW to fix those issues is harder than identifying them. But it’s okay. It takes years to learn these things. I’m getting there.
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Learning to revise a sentence or paragraph when it trips you up is key, even though it can be one of the hardest things to do because (at least in my case) those passages tend to be filled with the prettiest or wittiest language. Guess what? If it can’t be understood, it’s not that pretty or witty. And if the writer has to double-read, the reader isn’t going to understand it on the first pass either, and that will disrupt their experience.
I think it’s also a good idea to try to come up with questions the reader will have (maybe should have) at certain points of the story. The problem with self-editing is that we DO know all the details of the world; we remember where Catherine put her locket and don’t realize that little tidbit never made it onto the page. I’ve also started making charts to track story and character arcs, so I can make sure everything gets in the book that needs to be and that the story doesn’t make sense only in my head.
Kristin, Yes, you’re right. Why do all the phrases we love soooo much have to end up on the cutting room floor? I think it comes down to being true to giving the reader what they need or want, not what we as writers need or want. That’s part of checking the ego at the door. Writing is communication, not self-identity (no matter how much a writer’s self-identity is bound up in their words).
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Keeping this post for reference. Thank you.
This is such a smart post, Jeanne, thanks. I can give a big Amen to what you said about humility. What you said about needing to hold the entire book in your head is also true for me. That’s one of my biggest challenges when writing the draft–because the story still holds so many options and all of those options are competing for a place in my head as well. I also think that moment you mentioned, when everything becomes clear, could be one of many–as we’re edging closer to the best incarnation for an idea. So we have to keep that in mind and be open to improvement even after hitting that mark. At least that’s been my experience. Thanks again, Jeanne, for a great post!
Teri — good point that the epiphany when it all becomes clear is just one of a series of revelations. For me, once I hit that big ‘aha’, when I start editing I have numerous smaller revelations as it becomes clear why little things that felt off weren’t working.
I would add one more book:
REAL REVISION
by Kate Messner
I didn’t know about that one–Thanks! One more book to be added to the need to read pile.
I’m printing this out and re-reading it constantly while I work on editing my novel. This is perfect! Thank you!
The main problem with self-editing is that you don’t know what you don’t know.
For example, if a book lacks narrative tension because the writer doesn’t understand a 3 or 5 act structure, it make no difference how many tricks or tips you apply, you just will not see the problem.
Gary
Gary, I agree, self-editing is no substitute for an outside editor; it is impossible to notice all our own literary foibles or to be aware of what we don’t know. But, every passage that a writer can delete or improve through self-editing is one less thing for an outside editor to have to fix. That means the outside editing job becomes far more efficient and effective. I also find that self-editing improves my writing–to learn about the larger writing skills (like a 3 or 5 act structure) requires stepping back from the words and seeing the story. That’s as much an editor as a writer.
This post really struck a cord with me as I’m currently editing my manuscript – for what I hope will be the last time. I totally agree: keeping the whole book in your head is a big step in the right direction. Personally, I’ve been doing it by writing the query/blurb, a couple of paragraphs to summarize what the book is about, and why it might, in fact, be interesting to the rest of the world. With those paragraphs in mind it was much easier to spot digressions and inconsistencies, the bits that didn’t fit into the bigger picture.
Thanks for the post, just what I needed to keep going!
Karen, Glad it was what you needed when you needed it. When I’m editing, I actually try to boil the book down to a single sentence–which lives as a sticky note at the top of my computer screen. As I edit, I constantly refer back to that sentence, and either refine the sentence or fix the passage that’s not fitting in.
This is terrific practical advise! I like the “Check your ego at the door”.
That’s hard work for certain but necessary.
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