Editing is hard! I used to think writing the first draft of a novel or story was the hard part. While it’s not easy, when I’m struggling with a scene I do have the piece of mind of knowing it’s okay if it isn’t perfect. I can fix it when I edit. And so with that in mind, I leave little [FIX THIS] notations throughout the manuscript and keep on going.
Then I finish the first draft.
I’m in that position right now with my current projects. When I wrote my first book ten years ago I didn’t have to worry about editing it, but that wasn’t because it was perfect. In fact, quite the opposite was true. After finishing the book and taking some time away from the project, I could see it with fresh eyes and those eyes told me the book had too many flaws. While some might have been depressed by that prospect, I don’t regret having written that book. When reading it over I could see so clearly where I went wrong. Why the book was weak. I took heart from the fact that I could now see those faults.
My second finished book was my first NaNoWriMo book. There was a lot wrong with the book, but there was also a lot right with it. Given that I decided to do NaNoWriMo only the day before it started, and that I wrote that book without an outline, I’m very happy with the main story arc. It took me a while to figure out how I could fix the book, though, and when I did I was already working on my third book. Rather than stop the momentum on the new book, I decided to keep going and to come back to my second book at another time. That book will require some major rewriting, but it is fixable.
But my third book … well, I am very happy with this book and very excited about it. I believe it’s important to take a little time away from a project after the first draft is finished. It is much easier to look at your own writing critically and to see its flaws when you come to it with fresh eyes, so I took one month away from that book and wrote a shorter story. Like my book, I’m very happy with how this story turned out. I’m editing it now and plan to submit it by the end of January. At that time I’ll also delve into the edits for book #3, which will be the first book I will try to have published.
Which takes me back to the sentiment I expressed above – editing is hard! There is no hiding from awkward prose when you edit. No hiding from characterization that falls flat. It is exacting, often intimidating work. But my god, when you get it right the feeling is amazing!
And so I press on.
