I Am the Edinator: I'll Be Back!

Editing used to be the worst element of writing I could imagine. It was the plastic surgeon commenting on the beautiful baby whom I'd just borne. My living, breathing progeny needed no readjustment- least of all from me, the glad parent of a bouncing baby story.

But now...

Now my stories need editing. I write them, push them into the world of the page, let them squall on the sheet as I shush them goodnight and lull them to sleep....sleep...

Babies grow as they sleep. So do stories. If you are a parent of substance, you do what is necessary to necessitate growth. It's not always easy. Sometimes it breaks your heart. But grow your baby must. And ergo it is your duty to face the hardness, and the love, that is guiding growth.

To really appreciate your writing, you need to sept outside it. That takes time. Take time to let your story rest, let it cry itself to sleep. Wean it, so to speak, from the bosom of your ego so that it might be able at some point to stand on its own legs without you. This is the hardest part- to distance yourself from your creation. Do it. You'll have to, so that you can begin to judge its best points from its worst. You must judge. Otherwise all you've noted is your stream-of-consciousness, which allows you an egotistical thrill, but little else.

I've had to overcome that myself. I've had to move past a horror of self-editing, to the joy of it. Haven't you ever read a story, a book, and thought "if I had written this I would have"....

Well, what makes you different than that author? You need to practice stepping back from your creation and thinking "wait- I would have written that this way..." and then doing it. The trick, is to self-edit AFTER you've finished, not before. If you get caught up in editing yourself at the same time you're writing, then you could easily fall into the self-defeating loop of self-criticism. Almost like an expectant mother stopping her labor to ensure that her child makes A's in 4th grade.

Editing sucks. And it's necessary. Ergo: suck it up and do it.

Now I face self-editing not as a blight on the pleasure of creation, but as the necessity of creative growth, as the power that helps a seedling grow into a tree. I know now, after years of writing, that letting a story rest is the key to letting it grow. Walk away. Give yourself time to let the glow of creation mellow/ripen into the power of craft. You'll see the mistakes you made. You'll understand more of the logic of conversation, the progression of character, the organic coalescence of motive and action. Those are big words for this: you'll see where your writing sucked, and you'll start to fix it.

Know that editing does not mean making shorter. It means making better. Shorter might be better. Longer might be better. The story's truth, it's logical fulfillment according to the rules you've set forth as absolute, is the rule. The rest...is words.

Editing your work is the wonderful kiss of love for your story. Love it. Edit it.