Getting It Write

I know, I know…it’s a terrible pun; but sometimes you need to throw down your corny ideas to get those juices flowing. When I teach kids to write, I insist they write down all their stupid ideas because, as often as not, the good ideas are lurking behind them.

So, there you are, with a whole lot of not-quite-perfect ideas scrambled across your page. This is the step that many novice writers hate and most experienced writers cherish – the rewrite.

A lot of people talk about the editing process, but it is actually two separate steps – revision and editing. Other people can edit for you, but only you can revise.

Revision starts with looking at your work as a whole – the pace of action, the cliffhangers at the end of a chapter, the development of characters, the voices – all the myriad bits of ideas that weave into a good story or article. It is the process where you pull at it, like a seamstress looking for loose seams, and then stitch it back together so that it is more colorful, more vibrant and more memorable.

Pacing is critical. In articles I’ve written, I make sure the pacing is served by a variety of paragraph lengths and quotes. In book-length fiction manuscripts, I create tables, lists and plot lines of what happens when, as well as how often there is tension or a pause for reflection. If the spacing is unwieldy, I cut or stretch out. Sometimes a poorly developed character is indicated when there are few pauses for reflection; sometimes, when there’s too much thoughtful information, it might be a situation that my daughter, Heather, once described as “Really good, for something that’s that boring.”

Think about the structure you want. For example, will it serve your writing to have everything evenly paced, or will you create your movement with planned unevenness? I like my chapters about the same length. Some writers always make the chapters uneven to create tension. Either is fine, but it’s best to make it a decision rather than an accident.

When you are asked to offer a critique for someone else, be sure to note those parts that intrigued, delighted or pleased you. When we are up to our necks in the struggle, it helps to know what was done well (so we can do more of it) as well as what needs work. Often, rather than making a negative judgment, it is more helpful to simply ask a question. That avoids unpleasantness and gets the author thinking about where the clarity lapsed.

The very last stage is the edit. This is the tidy-up for spelling, grammar and those awkward sentences. Take the time to do it well. Editors are busy people who are devoted to language. You can really irritate an editor with poor spelling, punctuation or grammar.

As one editor said, thrusting an error-ridden, written-over manuscript at me, “Don’t they want to get published?”

Good writers don’t write, they rewrite. Go forth and do likewise.

f & f
Susan