The addiction to editing
This week I have been taking advantage of having a week off from my day job. This means I met my writing goal and then some, I have gotten a little more editing done than usual, and I have gotten most of my Christmas cards filled out. It has been a very productive week. I feel good about what I accomplished. The part I have been questioning all week is how well this book is coming together.
Every writer has their own process of how they draft and edit a book. For me, I have cork boards full of index cards. Those index cards have everything from research notes, ideas for the future of Savannah and Santiago, to character information, and the current outline. I use index cards for everything. Now some writers will tell you they can’t leave a scene behind until they have it all on paper, or until it is how they see it. I write a chapter or scenes and get as much as I can in that moment on paper. Savannah gives me the scenes or the chapters I am just the dictation specialist in many ways. The problem comes as I’m moving to the next chapter and I realize that I need more detail or I forgot to move someone or that the scene is stiff or maybe the dialogue needs to be more. Either way the area I had been in, I was satisfied with it until I moved on and realization hits that I should not have been happy at all. It is never perfect.
I have been working on book five for the past month and a half. I have a limited window during the week to write. Weekends can be a challenge just because I am trying to spend some time with my kids and I am working on book three’s edit on the weekends. Plus, I write these posts at some point during the weekend. The time I do have for drafting, I want to make the most of it. As I dove deeper into book five this week I began to see where I have dropped the ball. Some of the memories I am diving into are stiff and do not have the detail I want them to have. I worked on a large fight scene, one of the biggest I have ever written and there is dialogue missing that I didn’t even think of until I was on the next scene. There is also the thought I need to talk more about the magic we are seeing in this book. I am questioning if I have done enough character development with a few new faces. All of these things make me question if I am doing well with this book. I want to stop and start again or reread what I have written and fix it.
As a writer the desire to go back and fix every misstep is always there. It’s like an addiction nagging at you to stop and fix. You can feel that cord that is attached to you and that addiction as it pulls as you write more pages. You try talking yourself down. I will fix everything in the edit. Stop worrying, you’ll get to it. You need to get the entire book out before you can see what’s wrong. These are things I say with repetition on a weekly basis. Eventually, the need to go back is almost impossible to fight. So what do you do?
I’m going to break down how I deal with this addiction to consistently edit.
When I start drafting I have a very large stack of index cards. I begin my outline with each chapter having a card. I make notes about anything of importance to any of the books. If a new character comes along they get a card with their name, physical description and who they are. I might even throw in details about their personality. As I start drafting, I keep a few cards beside me and I label them with the book title and edit at the top. From there as I work, I start making notes, add dialogue to chapter twenty. Or maybe more detail in fight scene. I make note after note so I know where I need to go back and work more in.
Once I have the entire book out on paper I dive into my notes. I read each index card and start the edit. Now what I have learned with each book is make your notes clear. I have had a few notes that I just wrote a chapter or a page number and I have no clue what I was suppose to be fixing. When I make that mistake, I have to really pay attention to those pages when I get to them. I start at the beginning of the book reading every page aloud to myself as I go. I make corrections and additions and with each book, I add anywhere from twenty to fifty pages of details I missed when I was drafting. I cross off each task I complete as I go. If I miss one, I leave it until the next edit. Sometimes a task doesn’t get completed on the first or the second edit because I have no clue how to fix it. This is where having an editor, a friend, or beta readers come in. Those trusted individuals are the ones that can help you figure out how to fix what you have done or in some cases not done. They are also the people that point out where you went wrong and you didn’t even notice you had. Truthful, you will have a love hate relationship with them. You love them but sometimes hate their role they play just because they point out you’re not quite done yet. I usually give my editor, who is also my mom, a list of things that I still need to work on. She goes into every book with me telling her I need help with this or this chapter is not right. She and I go through the book one time together reading it and making corrections. We read the book and debate, discuss and sometimes argue about all the fine details of each book. Sometimes we think we have it right where it needs to be and then she goes, I've been thinking this is missing or this is quite right. This means we have to go back to that chapter and rework it or add more to it. She then goes through the book one more time without me leaving me notes in the margins. It is my job to then go through and fix whatever we have missed the first two times.
So does this make the book perfect? Do we catch every mistake? Does this lessen the addiction to editing? The answer to all three questions is no. I have never published a perfect book. No author has. It doesn’t matter if you go through a publishing house or do it yourself. There is no way to catch every mistake. That is a fact we all have to accept. The addiction to fix our mistakes is always going to be there. I feel any writer worth their weight strives for perfection because we want to put out the best piece of ourselves for you the reader. I could be alone in that assessment but I don’t think I am. The fact is, you have to get the entire draft out before you can do any editing. If you continue to go back to fixing everything you missed or messed up you will never finish drafting.
Here is the last key piece in this, sometimes you will break the rule and go back to fix a mistake. I break this rule for only one reason and that is minor fixes. For example, Savannah was talking to Santiago and Damian gets involved. He is supposed to move from behind her, to in front of Savannah and stand next to Santiago. I forgot to move Damian. He moved in my head but I was typing faster than my brain could process what I was putting on paper. I just forgot to move him. The first thought as I was working this scene was, well crap on toast! I guess I will go back and make that minor adjustment. It was something I could fix without delaying me from finishing the book. I limit myself to how many I am allowed to go back and fix. Most times it's no more than five or six times in an entire book I will go back to fix a mistake like that. This was one of those moments that it was going to bug me until moved Damian I could see where Damian was suppose to be and he wasn’t there. Savannah was pretty irritated with me too and gave me her own ass chewing for the mistake.
Accept that you will never have a perfectly written book but still strive for greatness. Write the book and ignore that craving to edit yourself as soon as there are words on the page. Accept that you will have several opportunities to edit just not yet. Be honest with yourself in the areas that you need to work on. If you can’t be honest with yourself neither can anyone else. Find someone who will be brutally honest with you to help make you a better writer. And most importantly keep going. Do not get discouraged. It is all a process. Until next time!
Every writer has their own process of how they draft and edit a book. For me, I have cork boards full of index cards. Those index cards have everything from research notes, ideas for the future of Savannah and Santiago, to character information, and the current outline. I use index cards for everything. Now some writers will tell you they can’t leave a scene behind until they have it all on paper, or until it is how they see it. I write a chapter or scenes and get as much as I can in that moment on paper. Savannah gives me the scenes or the chapters I am just the dictation specialist in many ways. The problem comes as I’m moving to the next chapter and I realize that I need more detail or I forgot to move someone or that the scene is stiff or maybe the dialogue needs to be more. Either way the area I had been in, I was satisfied with it until I moved on and realization hits that I should not have been happy at all. It is never perfect.
I have been working on book five for the past month and a half. I have a limited window during the week to write. Weekends can be a challenge just because I am trying to spend some time with my kids and I am working on book three’s edit on the weekends. Plus, I write these posts at some point during the weekend. The time I do have for drafting, I want to make the most of it. As I dove deeper into book five this week I began to see where I have dropped the ball. Some of the memories I am diving into are stiff and do not have the detail I want them to have. I worked on a large fight scene, one of the biggest I have ever written and there is dialogue missing that I didn’t even think of until I was on the next scene. There is also the thought I need to talk more about the magic we are seeing in this book. I am questioning if I have done enough character development with a few new faces. All of these things make me question if I am doing well with this book. I want to stop and start again or reread what I have written and fix it.
As a writer the desire to go back and fix every misstep is always there. It’s like an addiction nagging at you to stop and fix. You can feel that cord that is attached to you and that addiction as it pulls as you write more pages. You try talking yourself down. I will fix everything in the edit. Stop worrying, you’ll get to it. You need to get the entire book out before you can see what’s wrong. These are things I say with repetition on a weekly basis. Eventually, the need to go back is almost impossible to fight. So what do you do?
I’m going to break down how I deal with this addiction to consistently edit.
When I start drafting I have a very large stack of index cards. I begin my outline with each chapter having a card. I make notes about anything of importance to any of the books. If a new character comes along they get a card with their name, physical description and who they are. I might even throw in details about their personality. As I start drafting, I keep a few cards beside me and I label them with the book title and edit at the top. From there as I work, I start making notes, add dialogue to chapter twenty. Or maybe more detail in fight scene. I make note after note so I know where I need to go back and work more in.
Once I have the entire book out on paper I dive into my notes. I read each index card and start the edit. Now what I have learned with each book is make your notes clear. I have had a few notes that I just wrote a chapter or a page number and I have no clue what I was suppose to be fixing. When I make that mistake, I have to really pay attention to those pages when I get to them. I start at the beginning of the book reading every page aloud to myself as I go. I make corrections and additions and with each book, I add anywhere from twenty to fifty pages of details I missed when I was drafting. I cross off each task I complete as I go. If I miss one, I leave it until the next edit. Sometimes a task doesn’t get completed on the first or the second edit because I have no clue how to fix it. This is where having an editor, a friend, or beta readers come in. Those trusted individuals are the ones that can help you figure out how to fix what you have done or in some cases not done. They are also the people that point out where you went wrong and you didn’t even notice you had. Truthful, you will have a love hate relationship with them. You love them but sometimes hate their role they play just because they point out you’re not quite done yet. I usually give my editor, who is also my mom, a list of things that I still need to work on. She goes into every book with me telling her I need help with this or this chapter is not right. She and I go through the book one time together reading it and making corrections. We read the book and debate, discuss and sometimes argue about all the fine details of each book. Sometimes we think we have it right where it needs to be and then she goes, I've been thinking this is missing or this is quite right. This means we have to go back to that chapter and rework it or add more to it. She then goes through the book one more time without me leaving me notes in the margins. It is my job to then go through and fix whatever we have missed the first two times.
So does this make the book perfect? Do we catch every mistake? Does this lessen the addiction to editing? The answer to all three questions is no. I have never published a perfect book. No author has. It doesn’t matter if you go through a publishing house or do it yourself. There is no way to catch every mistake. That is a fact we all have to accept. The addiction to fix our mistakes is always going to be there. I feel any writer worth their weight strives for perfection because we want to put out the best piece of ourselves for you the reader. I could be alone in that assessment but I don’t think I am. The fact is, you have to get the entire draft out before you can do any editing. If you continue to go back to fixing everything you missed or messed up you will never finish drafting.
Here is the last key piece in this, sometimes you will break the rule and go back to fix a mistake. I break this rule for only one reason and that is minor fixes. For example, Savannah was talking to Santiago and Damian gets involved. He is supposed to move from behind her, to in front of Savannah and stand next to Santiago. I forgot to move Damian. He moved in my head but I was typing faster than my brain could process what I was putting on paper. I just forgot to move him. The first thought as I was working this scene was, well crap on toast! I guess I will go back and make that minor adjustment. It was something I could fix without delaying me from finishing the book. I limit myself to how many I am allowed to go back and fix. Most times it's no more than five or six times in an entire book I will go back to fix a mistake like that. This was one of those moments that it was going to bug me until moved Damian I could see where Damian was suppose to be and he wasn’t there. Savannah was pretty irritated with me too and gave me her own ass chewing for the mistake.
Accept that you will never have a perfectly written book but still strive for greatness. Write the book and ignore that craving to edit yourself as soon as there are words on the page. Accept that you will have several opportunities to edit just not yet. Be honest with yourself in the areas that you need to work on. If you can’t be honest with yourself neither can anyone else. Find someone who will be brutally honest with you to help make you a better writer. And most importantly keep going. Do not get discouraged. It is all a process. Until next time!
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