Becoming a Better Writer

 

I finished the “big” changes in my first round of edits on AS YOU TURN AWAY last night, and as I did, I was thinking about my writing, and the changes I’ve seen in it over the years.  I was thinking about how my understanding of not just writing, but telling stories has altered.  And how I’ve gone from purely wanting to dream up characters…to wanting to dream up characters and stories that IMPACT others.  And I thought about how, ten years ago, what I thought was “good” writing on my part would probably seem sub-par now – it’s so interesting to me, being able to look back and realize I’ve stood back and watched myself evolve as a writer.

Edits were another animal entirely though.  I knew my first draft was ugly in some ways.  I knew there were moments and scenes when I let the words flow and turned off my inner editor.  I knew I’d find bloated sentences and consistency errors.  I knew I’d have to rip out scenes I loved, and add new words.  And yet…did I HAVE to do all of this?  No.  I could have done a quick grammar and spell check and published AS YOU TURN AWAY as it was, but that wouldn’t have been my BEST.

And my readers deserve my best.

They deserve a story they will remember, with characters they can watch grow.  Scenes that will make them FEEL something.  A romance they can believe in.  Friendships they can cherish reading about.  That’s what my street team members, friends, family, and MOST importantly, strangers deserve, when they go into my book.  Not something I threw together.  But my VERY best.

So I turned my pride off, and my inner editor on, and I ripped seams and scenes out of chapters.  I shortened moments I adored, and got rid of some things that, on a second or fourth read through, felt awkward.  I changed details, names, and places.  I strengthened relationships, and moved around timelines.  I polished words until they shone.  I stared at some passages so long I hated them, but I kept working, kept tempering the words and the characters until the bones of the story felt stronger.

Then I worked some more.

Are my edits done?  Not yet.  I have one major component to work on adding.  I need to run a grammar and spell check.  I need to do another read-through for consistency, and look for over-used words or turns of phrase.  And then I’ll probably do some fiddling while beta readers are reading AYTA.  And then final edits and more tweaks once I received their critiques.

The truth is, I owe it to my readers AND to myself to be honest enough about my writing that I can admit when it needs fixing.  Because when I’m honest with myself?  That’s when I really started becoming a better writer.  And I hope I am ALWAYS learning and growing, so that I can always improve on my “best.”

 

Did this post resonate with you?  What is your editing process like?  (I bounced around from chapter to chapter, and I don’t really know why.)  Have you watched your writing grow over the years?

I hope you’ll consider subscribing to my feed, or adding my book to YOUR to-be-read!  Happy holidays, everyone!