Learning to edit
Something else we can learn from our apprenticeship is how to edit our work. Editing is the second half of the writing process. When we've finished capturing our ideas and characters and got them out of our heads and down on the page then we have to shape our words.
We have to learn the other half of our craft, how to edit our work. Twenty or thirty years ago a writer submitting a creative but badly edited story might have got taken on. But not any more. We have to rigorously edit our own work before we submit it today.
Does our story start in the right place? Have we cut out all those "writing yourself in" backstory paragraphs before the action starts? Is our main character's challenge/conflict right up front? Do we know why we're going on this journey with this character?
Do all our sub-plots add some understanding to the main conflict? And do we resolve all those conflicts at the end of the piece? Have we described our setting enough to make it come alive for the reader, or too much and we're slowing the action down?
Can you tell your main characters apart? Is their dialogue distinctive? What's their vocabulary - and yours - like? Do they, or you, use general or abstract words, cliches, mixed metaphors? Is their dialogue consistent with their class/education?
Examine every aspect of your story with an objective outsider's eye. Be your own professional editor and you'll greatly increase your chances of selling your work.
We have to learn the other half of our craft, how to edit our work. Twenty or thirty years ago a writer submitting a creative but badly edited story might have got taken on. But not any more. We have to rigorously edit our own work before we submit it today.
Does our story start in the right place? Have we cut out all those "writing yourself in" backstory paragraphs before the action starts? Is our main character's challenge/conflict right up front? Do we know why we're going on this journey with this character?
Do all our sub-plots add some understanding to the main conflict? And do we resolve all those conflicts at the end of the piece? Have we described our setting enough to make it come alive for the reader, or too much and we're slowing the action down?
Can you tell your main characters apart? Is their dialogue distinctive? What's their vocabulary - and yours - like? Do they, or you, use general or abstract words, cliches, mixed metaphors? Is their dialogue consistent with their class/education?
Examine every aspect of your story with an objective outsider's eye. Be your own professional editor and you'll greatly increase your chances of selling your work.
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