THE CRAFT, PART 5 – EDITING

Editing. Just the word seems to make writers gasp, pant, sigh, moan. We tend to feel like Paul Newman from “Cool Hand Luke”, digging dirt in one area and continually being forced to move the dirt to another and another location. At times, the process might just make us feel so attached to the piece that we never want to get done. Or, by contrast, end the process before it is complete and leave errors of both typography, grammar, and logic.

That being said, it is a necessary part of the craft of writing. If baking bread was simply laying out flour, sugar, salt, yeast, and water on the kitchen counter, everyone would be a baker. But, there is the mixing, the kneading, the rising, and finally the baking. Leave out a step and the entire thing is incomplete.

In prior posts, I have discussed my own process regarding editing. I work, shall we say, in reverse. My writing process is quicker, perhaps due to an urge to simply get the story on paper. I may have 50,000 words after the first draft but the revisions flesh out the character, plot elements, dialogue and description. Eventually I wind up between 65,000 and 70,000 words.

Most writers begin with an excess amount of words and have to scrupulously determine what to excise. In either case, the editing process means paying strict attention to character development, the logic of plot, and grammatical syntax. For me, this means a minimum of four total drafts as I focus on each component as I go through.

Again, there is no exact method for editing. One of my guidelines is if I’m still interested in the story, if I still find it fascinating after four or five drafts. At the very least, I know I started, and finished, with a good story.

The craft of writing is something that instills pride in a writer. Whether your motivations are literary or financial, knowing you have applied yourself to a tale that you desire to tell and have produced a worthy product is highly satisfying.