Last week in class we did an editing exercise whereby students brought in a first draft of a chapter or story and swapped with their classmates for editing.
My main note about editing is that it's a very personal thing and I wanted to show students that we won't always agree with every piece of criticism we receive. When I studied at UEA on the Creative Writing MA there, Malcolm Bradbury told us, '80% of what you hear about your work will not be useful. 20% will. Find the 20%' I guess the relevant percentage depends on the critic, how experienced they are and how sympathetic to your work. What matters is that you listen to the criticism and give it time to filter through, trust your gut.
One of the best editing tips I can give is the importance of printing out the early draft and finding somewhere comfortable to work (like a cosy armchair is good!) and get out the red pen, scribbling on your own work as if it was somebody else's. This gets you into the editing frame of mind. It's like having somebody else's work in front of you and you can be harsh as you like. (Note to readers: do NOT be harsh on yourself when writing the first draft; I'll write on that shortly. That's totally different; there you've got to let rip and not let the fear of getting it wrong stop you)
Here's my list of Points to consider when editing your work:
• Have you allowed enough time for the work to ‘settle’ and for you to gain objectivity?
• Have you printed up the work and are you working with a pen in a comfortable place? Many writers feel that scribbling on the manuscript is far better than editing on-screen. It’s a personal thing, but do try it this way… it can give a real objectivity – the feeling that you are editing someone else’s work.
• Have you looked at the story as a whole and thought about what is working and what is not? Do you need to be thinking about a story-edit rather than a line by line edit?
• If it is a story-edit, consider whether every scene drives your main narrative or your sub-plot/s forward? Are your characters developing in every scene? Is there a satisfactory and consistent structure here?
• Do you feel satisfied with your characterisation? This links to plotting – how is character demonstrated through plot – do yours change during the story/what do they learn and grow?
• Is the Point of View consistent or if not consistent is there a structure to the Point of View?
• Are there scenes that need to be taken out altogether and are there any missing scenes?
• Have you asked another person to read your work and give detailed feedback? Have you asked another person to do the same? Feedback is subjective.
• When editing ‘line by line’, look out for dead description (‘hoopdedoodle’) but keep vibrant strong description that shows clear and original observation.
• Are there passages that would make the reader put the book down? This includes dull description, scenes that take us nowhere, language that is imprecise and tells us little, points where the plot slows?
• How’s the dialogue? If you read it aloud, do you believe that people would really say that? Are the voices differentiated, not only by their choice of words but also by the subjects they focus on in what they say?
• Have you cut out every cliché? Look out for phrases you have heard a million times before, unless you are making a point about a character who speaks in clichés (and even then, watch it…)
• Are you showing and not telling?
• Have you taken a look at Robert J. Ray’s ‘Operation Ratio’ (from ‘The Weekend Novelist’) and checked out how often you use strong versus weak verbs/concrete versus abstract nouns? Have you read the Elmore Leonard essay and taken out the unnecessary adverbs, speaking verbs other than ‘said’, exclamation marks etc?
• And most importantly of all – what does your gut tell you about each sentence as you read it? Is it the best and strongest sentence you can write? Would you feel comfortable in the hands of this writer if you read this in a book?
This week's exercise? If you have a work in progress and you've been avoiding editing it, why not try being your own armchair editor? The first person to e-mail me a short extract (no more than 1000 words) from their recently edited work will receive constructive criticism (and a little more editing?) here...
Don't forget to sign up to be informed when I post, if you want to be sure to be the first to hear about the exercises. Also, on my main website you can sign up for my free newsletter 'Creativity Coaching' and also receive a copy of my article '20 inspirational and motivational tips for creative artists'.
Tomorrow in class we're talking about two book's, Ian McEwans's 'Saturday' and Kurt Vonnegut's latest 'A Man without a Country'; I'll be writing about these over on Stubborn World later in the week...
Build your Creative Vision this Spring and make 2007 the year your Writing Dreams become Reality.
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