SELF-EDITING
Self-editing is the hardest thing a writer does.
You've struggled years to get those 300 pages of a manuscript
before you write "The End" and you now think you
have a novel. After those years of struggle, you can't bear the
thought of letting a single precious word go. Usually that is what
you need to do to create a working story. Once you write "the
end" on your manuscript, self-editing begins.
The key to self-editing is training your eye to
recognize the fluff. You do this by reading other peoples'
stories. Buy and read the big name authors in whatever genre you're
writing. Analyze the elements of their stories -- the character's
goals, the
conflict, the
point-of-view. If you can't do it just by reading, go to
your keyboard and type the first scene of your favorite author's
book. Note the economy of words in each scene. Then re-read your
own novel and start trimming the fat!
If you don't have the patience to analyze books --
and just why would you think you could be a writer if you aren't a
reader? -- tune your eye to the conflict in the movies you watch.
Look at the way the screenwriter creates conflict in
each scene. Note how long each scene lasts. A well-crafted
movie tells you a world about what the characters are experiencing
in a few moments and often with very few words.
Get over the idea that each and every word you
write is pure gold. It isn't. The truth is that for beginning
writers, most of the writing should be thrown away. There may be
gold nuggets, but they're generally buried in tons of silt. You
should ruthlessly cut the parts of each scene that don't advance your character's
goal. If you're three chapters into your novel before the
real action starts, throw away the first two chapters and rework
the opening paragraph of the third so that the story starts on
page one.
Do this with your whole story, scene by scene. If
it doesn't work, discard it. After you've discarded the scenes
that don't work, prune the remaining scenes paragraph by
paragraph. You may not be able to do it the first time you write a
scene, or the second, or the third, but this is the test of a true
writer. If you can't, or won't, do the hard work to make your
novel the best it can be, then maybe you're not meant to be a published
writer.
For many beginners, the first readers are their
fellow writers in a writers' groups. When they tell you that a
scene isn't working, listen. They represent not only their own
point of view, they represent a substantial number of potential
readers. Boring to them? It will bore other people. Too wordy for
them? Too wordy for other readers as well. Vague or confusing to
them? Ditto for other readers.
 A
good book to help you clean up your scenes is Self-Editing
For Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave
King.
 Another essential book for writers is Strunk and White --
The Elements of Style.
Read those two books; apply them. Clean up your
prose. But, if you can't edit yourself, then turn your work over
to someone who can. Very few manuscripts make it into print
without ruthless editing. Even this article was edited by another
writer, and it is much better for that second set of eyes.
More Articles By Roger Paulding
On Writing
Fashioning a Scene
Conflict
The
Character's Mind
Short Story by Roger Paulding
Making Waves
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Roger Paulding, author of The Pickled Dog Caper, scheduled
for a Fall 2005 release by Panther Creek Press
Editing Services. I've been a writer,
crafting sales and marketing materials, fiction, non-fiction, and
technical writing. As such, I've spent a great deal of time editing
other writers, catching spelling, syntax, and grammar glitches
before they make it into print. If you're a writer with a manuscript
in need of a line-by-line going over to get it ready for
publication, then contact me about editing services. You'll find my
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No Preaching: Never fall into a preaching
mode in your stories. That is a deadly trap, sure to alienate your
reader. How can you tell when you're preaching? Look at your
dialogue. If a character engages in a long, contrived diatribe with
the seeming purpose of educating another character, you're
preaching. Stop it. Let the character's conscious choices in the
face of obstacles deliver the message.
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