On Editing: They Are All Just Ideas

One ideal that has helped me a great deal while editing is to treat the entire bulk of the source material as just ideas.

That first draft? Written in wet and sloppy clay, not stone.

Everything is subject to change. You have to. It is far too easy to treat your first draft as 'dammit done' and leave it there. You can't. You need to say 'this is the idea in the roughest form' and take it from there.

I have found ideas out of place, great things scattered throughout the trash, dialog that repeats ideas later or vice versa, narrative that should have been dialog, and just a mess of other things that when sorted through and polished up, tell a great story.

We protect our first words much too fiercely. Those are often the most wrong. So we end up being defensive about our mistakes and stick with them.

I will pull every sentence in a section apart and place it on its own, and consider it in the entire scene. What does this say? Does it add to or subtract from the scene? Do we even need to know? It is telling instead of showing? Does it build up a scene or carelessly let off steam? Is this line strong, or weak?

There is a clear difference when I get done a scene's edits. Before, it is almost a random collection of ideas. After, it is focused and tight. It clicks. It sings. There is a clear build to the narrative and dialog. The descriptions flow. The scene setups feel atmospheric. You get a feel for being there. The dialog builds character and tension. Things are good.

Treating all text as ideas also helps my workflow speed. I can speed through edits if I don't have to fight over every word or idea. I can rearrange much easier. I can restate things clearly and make them focus on the action, and with the mood I want. I am not sitting there with blinders on with my focus on one sentences, as I am looking at them all (within a 400-500 word scene).

This is one of those 'humbling experiences' about working with an editor, and now that I am editing I can see how difficult this can be for the writer.

But if we can't see other points of view or admit we aren't perfect, we will stay where we are. We will never get better. We will never learn. We will forever ship first drafts, and we will continue to write them.

We need to open ourselves up. We need to read others. We need to study. We need to improve. We need to learn and revise.

We need to edit our errant perceptions and realize the weakness of first words.