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sintreaties · 1 year

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May I ask you about your editing process, if you do not mind? How do I go from "a blonde haired woman" to "a woman whose hair looks like sunshine rays are threaded through it"

Although I’ll do my best to answer this ask, it's fair to say that my editing is currently the weakest part of my writing process. It is kind of a big problem, the biggest, in fact, given how editing is literally what makes or breaks a story.

The things that I'm about to explain are the same things that a lot of experienced writers would tell you in my place. The reason for that, very simply, is that they're perfectly logical and they work, yes, but... We'll see why it's not that easy.

Because this is quite a complex topic, this answer ended up being much longer than anticipated. I decided to divide this post into three parts, which you can read under the cut:

The Process

Purpose

Why It's Easier Said Than Done

I hope you'll find this somewhat helpful. Keep in mind that nothing I say here is an absolute rule, even I switch things up depending on the situation.

Part 1: The Process

Let's start by saying that editing is just another part of the writing process. Arguably, because it is the most important, you should do everything you can to ‘prepare the ground’ and make your life easier.

Here’s how I usually go about it:

1) Planning

In this part, you do everything you can to have a really good grasp of what you’re going to write. A few things that you should really focus on are:

Plot. Write down a timeline, an outline, or anything that you may come back to while you write. This will help you avoid plot holes and writer's block.

Characters. Make character sheets, write short introductions about them, make playlists and Pinterest boards — do anything you want, as long as you get to know them like the back of your hand.

Main Topics. Watch videos, read articles on the web, go to the library, or whatever, but do take notes of anything you might find hard to understand, unfamiliar or particularly relevant (like scientific cases, historical periods, different cultures, etc). This will really help you flesh out the kind of story you want.

Anything else. And I really mean it. Even if you might end up cutting it out, better to spend a few seconds deleting a paragraph than to waste hours and hours on research later.

This is crucial. I used to hate doing this stuff, but trust me, you'll thank yourself in the end.

2) Writing

Ah, the fun part! Time to put all that research to good use.

Your priority now is to finish the first draft. It doesn't matter if it gets ugly, messy or nonsensical. Trust the process. Editing will handle the rest.

Don't get hung up on details or tangents. If you find yourself struggling with a scene, a line or a character, you can always leave comments or write things (in brackets) so that you may come back to them later

3) Editing

Set the first draft aside. Ignore it for weeks or months — as much time as you can. You should forget as much as possible. Because your writing is not so familiar anymore, it will be much, much easier to spot what needs to be fixed.

More notes. So you're looking over the first draft again. Now that your eyes are fresh, take notes about what you believe needs to be reworked — everything from clunky dialogue to scenes to characterization to pacing. It's good to know from the start what will need more time and effort

Work in drafts. I usually use between three and six drafts. You can go about it however you want. For me, however, it's better to start with the big and move on to the small. You don't want to get distracted by grammar issues when you've got plot holes as big as the Grand Canyon.

Big stuff includes: plot, characterization, tension, everything that you left in brackets, key dialogues.

Small stuff includes: descriptions, subtext, phrasing, grammar, typos.

You can have as many drafts as you want, but if you find yourself growing tired, if it gets harder to catch and fix mistakes, set everything aside and give yourself time to forget about it for a bit.

Learn when to stop. Editing can be a never-ending process. The story will never be as good as it is in your head. It will never be perfect because perfection does not exist. Learn to settle on a final draft, otherwise you risk doing more harm than good.

Part 2: Purpose

At its core, editing is about purpose. Every element of the story, every word and character must be there for a reason. You need to decide what needs to stay, what needs reworking and what can be cut out altogether.

Clarity should always take priority. Do not be afraid to delete or change anything that impedes it, even if they might be your favorite elements. "Killing your darlings", it's called. A line might flow beautifully to you, but it's useless if the reader doesn't get it.

Learn to balance things out. You might be the kind of writer that focuses on characterization, or dialogue or (as in my case) introspection. These things are rarely enough on their own. George R.R. Martin is great at characterization, but his prose can be flat and repetitive and the way he writes about breasts and food is oddly specific. Stephen King can literally pull you into 1974 Maine, but he often goes on pointless tangents and his endings don't always hit the mark.

(Coincidentally, the fans of those incredibly successful authors will tell you that they both need better editors and that's why we should graciously learn from the critique they receive).

What I mean is that you don't have to give up what you enjoy writing. You simply have to make space for the other elements. Remember: if you're writing a story it's because you're expecting someone to read and appreciate it.

Let's take a look at your example now. Before touching that sentence, you need to ask yourself:

1) Who is this woman

2) Who’s describing her (is the narrator neutral? Is the POV relevant? A lover, an enemy and a secondary character should all give different descriptions)

3) What’s the situation in which she’s being described

If she’s a background character, someone we only see in passing (like a waiter in a restaurant scene, the cashier of the grocery store, etc) you have no reason to describe her in detail. Unless the more important characters — meaning, the narrative POV — have anything to remark about her, she’s just “a blonde woman”.

On the other hand, if this woman is the love interest of the main character or someone who is particularly relevant to the story, the other line you offered is certainly more fitting.

The secret to editing, in the end, is to know the story you’re writing. That’s why planning at the start is so important.

You need to have a good grasp of your characters, the tension of the single scenes, the subtext, the narration, how you want the readers to react and even your genre.

Once you know that a certain scene is more important than the others, it goes without saying but you will have to put more effort into it. If you’re writing a comedy, you’ll have to ensure that the tone is right all the time, otherwise the narration might sound flat or even obtain the opposite effect.

An easy, obvious way of giving relevance to an element of your story is to take away from other elements.

You want to write paragraph after paragraph to describe the battlefield of your epic fantasy's ending scene. That's cool. In that case, you might get away with saying that the king’s bedroom is large, lavish and warm, without getting into any details whatsoever.

Be careful about when you do this though. At best, it feels cheap and lazy because it takes away the reader's feeling of immersion.

At worst, it shows that you’ve gotten tired at a certain point (and God forgive me, but I’ve started to notice this a lot in my longest drafts).

Which brings us to the final point.

Part 3: Why It's Easier Said Than Done

Editing requires three main things: patience, time and enthusiasm. I intentionally left skills out, because without those three, I can assure you, you will not get to put skills into your work.

If discipline is what most writers struggle with, fatigue is the main obstacle that I face during the editing process. I get tired of reading and re-reading the same things, the story loses its magic, I just want to move on. Plus of course, I'm not a native speaker so there are instances in which my English sounds odd and I might not even realize it (even if the uniqueness of my speech can be used to my advantage sometimes).

Although I have still much to learn, these few things have been particularly helpful:

Alpha or Beta Readers. They don't know the story, which makes it easier for them to spot mistakes. One of the problems this presents, however, is that your opinions may vary. Make sure you go to someone who knows what they're doing — and no, that does not mean 'go to someone who will agree with everything you write'. Learn to take criticism when it's deserved.

'Read Aloud'. It's a Google Docs extension that does just what it says: it reads the text aloud. Although it's clunky and the robotic voice is completely devoid of pathos, it's very helpful when it comes to pacing and sentence length. Plus hearing your typos makes it easier to spot them.

Read Aloud — Literally. Flaubert used to do this all the time. The downside is, that with all the shit I write I risk growing hoarse, plus it's just plain embarrassing. This is a last resort for me.

Typing Assistants. Google Docs has a built-in typo detector but I also use the free version of Grammarly. Both of them can be pretty unreliable, Grammarly in particular can actually make things harder (as proved by the way it's trying to correct this post as I write it), but it's good to use them for one last spelling check.

Switching Between Projects. I only started to do this recently but it's been a game-changer. Focusing on only one story can be more effective, but working on multiple projects prevents taste fatigue and lets you clear your head. Pick no more than two or three stories at a time — unless you want to drown in plot bunnies.

Change Font and Screen. I swear it works. Using the Google Docs app on my phone instead of the web version helps with the tiredness. The change of font might give you a sense of estrangement, without having to set your work aside for weeks.

As I mentioned, some experienced writers will tell you these things because they are true. The challenge remains in trying to find what works for you.

That being said, I'd still like to go pro merely for the chance to have a personal editor.

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