Hey, all! Today I get to share something about writing! So to start off today's post I'm going to share a music video, which I tend to do quite often because I LOVE music :D
"Edit" by Regina Spektor
I posted this song for two reasons:
1. I feel just like this girl laying on her work in the music video after all the editing I did last last week, lol
2. The lyrics. Here are the ones in particular that I'm speaking off:
"You can write, but you can't edit..."
This was my biggest fear. Yes, I can get something on paper, but can I edit? And guess what? I found out I can!
Last week I just did a huge edit on my work "The Crimson Hunt" I got rid of a lot of stuff and added several scenes that should have made it in the first draft. Now the story reads so much better and I feel really accomplished.
The trick to editing? Kill your little darlings!
I know as writers we have all heard this before, but it's true. Those words on the paper or computer screen are just that words. Kill, Kill, Kill to make your manuscript better.
I've learned a lot since starting this writing journey and editing is one of them. I finally feel comfortable with it and don't sweat if I have to hit the delete button on an entire scene and rewrite. That is a huge relief.
My question for you is: What's your editing process? Do you write your first draft, rewrite the entire thing, then edit? Or do you just edit from the start?
Laterz,
8 comments:
I have a bad habit of editing as I write, and I'm trying not to do that as I write my current WIP. I wrote about five chapters over the last few weeks and then had a big editing party yesterday, and it was great! I love editing because the words are already there and it's so much less scary than blank pages staring at me, waiting for me to fill them. I haven't had to kill any darlings yet, but I did have to insert an entire new chapter to improve the flow. Onward and upward! :)
I have a Word doc where I save deleted scenes -- ones that I like, even though ultimately they're not essential for the story. Maybe they'll make for a short story someday. :-)
I usually edit as I write the first chapter, just to give the book a nice foundation. After that, I write the first draft and leave it "as is" for a few weeks. When I come back, I can read the MS with fresh eyes and then begin the editing process. :)
"Kill, kill, kill!!!" LOL you're so right. I used to write my books through once, then go back through and edit them. Now I have changed tactics. I edit as I go so I don't repeat the same mistakes throughout the book..but I always save every first draft, unless it's terribly embarrassing. Then I delete it and, yes, kill it!!!
I write mostly on paper so editing as I write isn't an option. It's so easy to want to hit that darn backspace key, lol
I do this too!
I totally do this too. Sometimes it's good to just put it away for a while and come back with fresh eyes!
It was hard at first to separate myself from the work to do the "killing" lol! But it has to be done for the good of the work =D
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