The Famous Mr. Edit

Enough, already!

As an author, you may find yourself suffering from a terrible syndrome that reveals its ugly head over and over. Just when you thought it was safe to wade into your next story….CHOMP! It gets you, biting from beneath—you find yourself in the jaws of the editor’s chair again. Why can’t you just write? Should you just write?

Maybe it is time to coin a new term (unless someone has already beaten me to the punch)—Attention Hyperactive Disorder—just in case you thought you were acting AHD-ly. You may have an overactive compulsion to edit and re-edit your work. Only you can say when this obsession has gone too far, but there is something you may need to know, and that is…all the very best writers seem to suffer from this compulsion. Feel better?

Yeah, I know, I know! But I do it all the time. I’m doing it again, currently. This may be my fifth edit—I’ve lost count—it may be more. I used to think it a waste of time (mainly due to the…how do I say this nicely…’nagging’ of others to ‘just get it out there!’) However, I don’t consider it a waste of time anymore—not after reading of those who suffered the same disease and yet became famous as published authors. They went the extra mile, too.

There are, to be honest, two ways one may look at this. First, you might take the approach that the editors of publishing companies get paid to do that for you, so why not save your time and write new material while they are doing their job? Well, there are those editors who feel that way, to be sure—the ‘how dare you edit FOR me’ line of reasoning. But I also think you will find this kind to be few and far between. Author Algis Budrys, in his excellent work, Writing to The Point, A Complete Guide to Selling Fiction, verifies that some editors feel that the writer should stick to writing and let the editor do the editing, i.e. decide what is good and what isn’t, what needs to be rewritten and what doesn’t. Evidently there are editors who feel you may be very good at putting your creativity on paper, but not at deciding which portions of it are worth keeping.

So be it. That may be true. I have read some fascinating and intriguing works of fiction that had all the main elements captured on paper—complete with grammatical errors, poor punctuation and lousy sentence structure. Still, the promise and potential were intact and I could see the “movie” in my head. The author had captured it and captured me as the reader. Well done, I say.

Now, speaking as an “editor”…reading these was also very painful at times, especially if the errors were every few sentences. I have an eye for many details in the writings of others that I often do not have in my own. I ‘know’ what I meant as opposed to what I said, so to edit my own work may not be 100% productive. The intent comes through stronger than the reality, quite often. Maybe you have experienced that also. That is when I have been blessed to have very able volunteers, recruited friends and even strangers who edit and critique in return for a chance to read a new and unreleased novel. (A thick skin and a willing heart are what an author needs if he or she wishes to have a truly ‘clean’ manuscript). In these cases, I would say that letting the editor do his or her job is not outside the realm of reason. But I hasten to add that there is also another voice inside me that argues an opposing view.

This second voice (I know what you’re thinking and it doesn’t hurt me—I have been accused of being crazy many times before, I assure you—and by folks who know me much better than you) says that I should now go on from finding all the mis-spellings, duplicate words and so forth and now streamline the sentence structure. Oy! What a pain.

But, the voice is right, in my opinion. The more I polish, the more professional I appear to be; the more acquainted with my native language I show myself to be. The easier I make his job! Why is that important? Not for the reason you may be thinking.

My line of reasoning is that it allows the editor to read through from end to end without the typical editing distractions that would make him less likely to become hopelessly engrossed in the tale I have attempted to weave. In other words, I want to bait the hook, lure the fish, hook him and reel him in—and not stop until he is in the boat, on dry land, then in the pan! Isn’t that the goal for a fisherma…er, writer?

What I do not want is for him to be thinking, “Oops, another punctuation error. And here is a repeated word.” The longer I can get him to read without thinking like an editor, the better for me AND him. I want to entertain him, to entice and charm and capture! I want my manuscript on his desk and not in his wastebasket. Ultimately, I want him to be suddenly and unexpectedly finishing the book and be thinking, “Wow! Where did the time go? That was amazing!”

In short, I wish to treat the editor no differently than I treat the reading audience. If I can convince him that he is just an entertained reader for that hour or so, I have won. That is why I edit and re-edit, until there is no more edit left in me. Maybe now you can understand my obsession and the reasoning behind it—and feel better about your own.

Do what you may, but as for me and my pen, we shall edit the word.

Further Thoughts: How many rewrites is enough? Hmmmm,......you tell me. Read the link below and decide for yourself. My first novel has been two official rewrites so far and 4 or more strong tweaks after that. And still in testing phase at this time. They say you are truly done when you can't stand to look at it anymore.

Link: http://www.latterdayauthors.com/fiction/dgw+edits.htm