Image by John Conde from Pixabay
I was actually doing some editing on a friend’s short story over the weekend, which caused me to open a document I only look at once a year or so. Basically whenever I finish a project and am going to start the editing process, this is the document I chose to look at. It acts as a sort of guide for me, reminding me of some key things that I didn’t worry about in the writing of the book or short story. It allows me to also be a little dispassionate as I work my way through the list.
The thing is, the list started off simply enough. It was things like:
Removing adverbs where possible.
Removing the word That as much as you can.
Those are the easy ones.
What I found is sometimes I have a habbit of using the same word or phrase too much in rapid succession. These crutch words/phrases sometimes change from project to project. But no matter what, once I spot an offender I add it to the list. These include things like:
So, Began to, each and every, looked, that being the case, at the end of the day, in order to, made a decision.
And my personal favorite: He said aloud.
How else might he say it? Because saying the thing, most of the time, means you spoke the words aloud.
That’s not even close to the full list
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Since I don’t edit while I’m writing (or I try not to), when it is finally time to go through the work it sometimes is an eye opening opportunity. You get those paragraphs where you are sure this author has no idea what they are doing. There is no flow, no rythm, and no good feeling to be found.
“This guy can’t even write!”
Then you realize “this guy” is you!
Luckily, there are also those times when you read a passage and have to give yourself a bit of props (not too much, don’t want the writer’s ego to get too inflated).
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I have a couple of drafts that need me to put on my editor’s hat, if only to get them moving along again. But I’ll let you in on a secret: I don’t like editing. I mean, I don’t hate it, but having to stick to some kind of rules (even if they are my own) is no fun. Writing without any guardrails is fun. Filling a blank page with words and words and words… that’s fun. Editing is about chopping words., cutting sentences, and generally making things tighter in the draft.
Addition is always better than subtraction.
But I also know each pass is making the prose a little better. Each rephrasing of a 10 word sentence into a seven word sentence is a good thing. You should be cutting 10% of your drafts and sometimes that means you really have to go looking deep in the weeds to find it.
It’s there. Don’t fool yourself.
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John McGuire is the writer of the sci-fi novel: The Echo Effect.
He is also the creator/author of the steampunk comic The Gilded Age. If you would like to purchase a copy, go here!
Click here to join John’s mailing list and receive preview chapters of upcoming novels, behind the scenes looks at new comics, and free short stories.
His other prose appears in The Dark That Follows, Hollow Empire, Tales from Vigilante City, Beyond the Gate, and Machina Obscurum – A Collection of Small Shadows.
He can also be found at www.johnrmcguire.com
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