3 Tips to Help You Edit Your Work
I'm embarrassed about my early days of writing. Grateful for the lessons learned and for my failures. But embarrassed.
The reason for my sense of embarrassment is simple: My work wasn't edited.
Flip to any given page of my first poetry collection and you'll see many errors. While some I pass off as "poetic intention." Others are too glaring to ignore.
And it wasn't edited due to the writing process I had established for myself.
Not until my time at Towson University, where I took my first workshops, did I learn the importance of editing. Professor Michael Downs urged us to treat our stories with enough seriousness to make it technically sound through the process of editing. (He then went on to use an anecdote about how one student spelled "Hemingway" as "Hemmingway," despite the student's proclamation that he was a fan of his work.)
After working as an editor for freelance, a full-time job, and for literary journals, there's been no better advice than what he offered up.
I've found a profound joy that comes with editing and reediting. It's like trying to focus the lens of a camera to snap the right picture that contains those smaller, more minuscule yet intimate details.
While some love the editing process. Others, such as myself, had to work themselves up to the task.
So, here's three things I've learned over the years about the importance of editing.
Write to Revise
The first draft is going to a mess. It's the act of getting each idea down onto the blank page, developing plot and dialogue that will propel the narrative forward. In a sense, it's a mental dump of your subconscious and will be far from perfect.
But finishing that first draft, no matter the length or form, is an accomplishment. Take time to celebrate this victory. Know that the real work is in how many times you're willing to write and rewrite that first draft.
It's this stage that separates those naturally talented individuals who can write a flawless paragraph on a whim from those who want to effectively communicate their idea. And, in general, the longer that struggle goes on, the more developed and better communicated that idea will be.
And be sure to remain flexible with your work.
If a scene or section of dialogue prevents the story from moving forward, then it doesn't belong in the story that you're trying to write.
A habit I picked up is to take those paragraphs, sentences, or dialogues and put them into a "graveyard" document. Every now and again, when I'm not working on a project, I'll visit the graveyard for inspiration.
One dead dialogue can make all the difference when starting a new project.
The Beginning Is Key
A story should be technically sound throughout its entirety. But, above all else, the beginning should be pristine as can be. Editors aren't going to read more than the first few pages of your work, especially if its a longer manuscript.
Each minute matters when there's a massive slush pile to get through. If your work has errors in the first few pages, it goes right into the rejection pile.
While some online magazines might be more forgiving, it won't matter if you make it to the later rounds, even if yours is more interesting.
But you won't make it to the later rounds unless your beginning is sound.
Keep the Pace and Don't Dance
This is a bit of two-fold advice, but these two tendencies go hand-in-hand with each other.
The first half is self-explanatory. Make sure the pace of your narrative is well-timed and consistent. This is an aspect of writing that, in most case, you can correct by going back and reading your work aloud. The narrative should be a smooth journey from start to finish. This will help keep the reader better engaged with your work.
And though pacing is one of the more difficult aspects of storytelling, it's best overcome by editing.
By reading your work aloud to check for the narrative pacing, you'll also catch areas that you're dancing around a topic, idea, or scene. This could be something as simple as back and forth dialogue for too long. Or it could be lengthy as describing how your character moves down the hall or across the room in minute detail.
While these are details that matter, they aren't always necessary. Sometimes, less is more. Try to nix those sentences or paragraphs and see how the story reads.
Then do it again.
