Well although the rain is unrelenting and my garden looks like a rain forest, life has improved immesurably on last week and to celebrate I’ve bought sunflowers!
At last, dare I say it, I believe I’m in a position to start the first big edit on my new novel.
I’ve been thinking a fair bit about the job of editing; it was something we discussed last week at my writers group -Wear Valley Writers – and since then I have honed my thoughts into six major areas which I intend to cover in my next six blog posts
I. How to Begin Editing your Novel
2. Editing The Characters In Your Novel
3. Editing Story Arc and Continuity
4. Editing the scenes in your novel
5. How to edit your novel at the micro level
6 How to know when your novel is finished
I don’t claim to have the definitive word on editing, of course not, but I have done enough editing now to know how to go about it, what works for me and what a writer’s major concerns should be. I believe that the art of editing a novel is not dissimilar to the art of editing short stories and even bears some similarities to the editing of poetry, so hopefully the posts will be of interest to new writers whatever their chosen form.
When I am about to begin on my first big edit of a novel I am always excited but fearful and this time its no different. It’s exciting to know I have 80,000 words to play with, some of which I know will be good but it is also scary (especially as I wrote this so quickly) wondering what is not so good and will it all work? And how much more is there to do?
Learning how to edit your own work is a key part of becoming a writer. I expect my first edit to show that I have a lot of work still to do. Why? Because nothing is perfect, far from it, and I want this novel to be the best it possible can be before I even think of sending it to my agent.
Avril
Good scheme, this. It is so generous of you to share your edtiting process. I look forward to reading it. Will we also see extracts from the Danny Beck novel? That would be an extra treat.
I feel editing one own work is a journey of self discovery. ‘Killing your little darlings’ is the least of it.. We have to be bold. The process involves dismantling the ego ( and a writer’s ego is notoriously fragile). It involves making one’s own writing’strange’ to oneself. It involves holding in check one’s fear of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. (Best tip here is to keep a copy of every draft in case you want to fish the baby out of the drain.) It involves thinking of one’s reader so much more assiduously than in the first heady stages of writing.
But editing is not just about honing, pruning, cutting back. It’s about celebrating your own writing, knowing where it triumphs. It’s about laughing at the funny parts, crying at the sad parts and being your first outside reader.
wx
Wendy
I agree that editing is so much a journey of self discovery. It is also, as you say, about making our writing strange to ourselves – in some ways that’s the hardest part – learning to read our own work as the reader does. I know that this is something I have had to work very hard on. I feel with my last two novels I’ve learnt a lot about this process – so I hope to share my mistakes and what I’ve learned, warts and all! I will definitely be including extracts from my Danny Beck novel and will welcome comments or questions.
A x
I love editing my novels and will be fascinated to see how you approach the process – differently in many ways to me, I have no doubt, but I’m sure there will also be plenty of areas of agreement.
I’ve been painting for much longer than writing, and know how to ‘edit’ my paintings, so I thought I’d look at your six points and see how they would apply to the visual arts.
1. How to begin editing. Begin by standing back. Literally. With a painting, this is easy. Place it on an easel in the longest part of your house, and walk as far away as you can. A little trickier with a novel. I would say begin by taking a break and doing something else for at least a week or two. You need the distance before you can start.
2. Editing the characters. Do they have that spark that shows their personality, or do they merely look vaguely human? Is each distinct from the others? Then there are the technical details – have you painted a Roman Centurion wearing bri-nylon socks? Plenty of similar problems to be dealt with in a novel.
3. Editing the story arc and continuity. Is the eye led through the painting on a journey? If not, it’ll be boring and won’t hold the attention. Exactly the same as in writing.
4. Editing the scenes. Does each section of the painting hold its integrity on close inspection?
5. The micro level. Small scale details; the precision of a shadow, a blade of grass, a strand of hair, a fold in a piece of clothing. The way the light hits the tiniest object. Reflections of colour. You need to get in very close for all of this, and be hyper-critical. The tiniest details will make or break the integrity of a scene.
6. How to know when you’ve finished. This is the hardest part. In paintings, the trick is to stop before you think you’ve finished, because depending on the medium, there may be no going back. In writing, so long as you’ve regularly kept drafts, you can backtrack. Many is the watercolour I’ve held under a tap to attempt a rescue, and many is the oil painting I’ve attacked with a blunt instrument to attempt to peel back the layers. Writers have it easy!
Cathy – thank you for your really interesting and thought provoking comment. I am fascinated by the similarities you draw between editing a novel and a painting. They certainly exist, and I have sympathy with the view that writers have it easy. My first love, long ago, was painting and I recognise the attempts at rescuing the overworked watercolour only too well. It is of course possible to work a novel or any piece of writing to death and so knowing when to stop is equally important for the writer, but of course keeping those drafts does give the writer a let out clause. However, as far as I can remember I have never gone back to a previous draft that was substantially different. Once altered the text tends to stay that way, so knowing when the work is finished is critical. I think the easiest part of editing for me is at the micro level and I often get stuck here, with the detail, so this time I have promised myself that the big picture will be foremost in my mind and I will talk more about this in my next post. Look forward to your further comments
Avril