Create, then edit

Editing my novel Eyemind reminded me that writing is a two stage process.  There's the first exciting flush of creativity, where we discover our story and write it down, then there is the long editing process.

The creative splurge comes from the right brain, the part of our brain that makes unexpected connections between things. It often surprises me with what it throws up.  Editing comes from the logical left brain, and is the process of imposing order on that creative splurge.  

With Eyemind, I re-wrote the first chapter so that it started with a line of dialogue in the middle of the first meeting of my heroine, Keri, with her new employer.  The idea was a good one, but when I read the text through yesterday I realised I hadn't told the reader where she was.  I had sacrificed setting for pace.  So now I've added some of the setting back in and anchored her in the Governor's Palace in Altius.  

If I think about how I've grown most as a writer in the last five years it would be as an editor.  I've learned to question every piece of text, with the result that when I do put work out I'm confident that it's the best it can be at that time.