Writing: A Grand Adventure - Step Four

Step Four: Editing, Rewriting, and Massaging Your Story

A few things to think about when you are working through this step:

1) All writers need editors. Even the best writers need editors.

2) Ask others to read your work. This is what I like to call 'content editing'.

Does the story make sense?
Are there continuity issues?
Are there areas that drag and have to be read repeatedly?
Does the reader want more or less explanation or description of something?
Would the reader ever recommend this story to a friend?

If the content isn't right, there is no reason to correct the grammar. Get the content right and then focus on the technical aspects of the work.

3) Have a grammar editor. This person will help with grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

4) It is okay to pull out whole sections and start over. In fact, sometimes it is best.

I like to think of the Manuscript Chapters of Persuasion when I think of this part of writing. Jane Austen wrote Persuasion. She got all the way to the end and then decided to remove the last several chapters of the story and rewrite them. The original chapters are known as the Manuscript Chapters of Persuasion and the rewritten ending is the ending we all know and love from the published book.

The original chapters do make sense and lead the hero and heroine together. However, the way that the hero and heroine come together in the original chapters is through a lot of arranging and maneuvering by the supporting characters.

In the published version it is the incredible letter that Captain Wentworth writes to Anne (following her private conversation on love) that sets the ending in motion. The changed scenes put the choice in the hero and heroine's hands and thus makes the ending stronger. (I think.)

I actually think this is one of the few flaws of the new book Mockingjay. Suzanne should have rewritten the ending - first off to actually write the ending - not summarize it - and to put the fate of the characters in the characters hands for them to decide.

But, I have digressed again. Next point.

5) It is okay to write something that doesn't turn out right. Sometimes the best lessons are learned from practicing the writing process rather than the result.

I like to use the example of Louisa May Alcott's first story The Inheritance, which was written in 1849 but not published until 1997. I eagerly sought a copy and finally found one in a used book store. Upon reading it, I learned this valuable lesson because, well, to be frank, The Inheritance is not written very well. The characters all exist on the surface, the writing is merely readable, and the ending is predictable.

But, for the writer who would write an American classic, Little Women, writing The Inheritance was more about the practice of writing and improving rather than result. I have no idea how Miss Alcott saw it (certainly as she wrote that first story she didn't think of it as practice), but as a reader and fellow writer, I can see it no other way. If she hadn't tried and failed on her first stories she might not have learned how to improve.

Practice, practice, practice, to improve, improve, improve.

6) It is a well known edict among writers that writers never actually finish a story, they just abandon it.

Tools for Editing, Rewriting, and Massaging Your Story

1) New Perspective

2) Content Editors

3) Grammar Editor

As I mentioned in the first section, writing is like the instructions on the shampoo bottle. Lather, rinse, and repeat. So plan, write, let it sit, edit, abandon, plan, write, let it sit, edit, abandon, etc.

Happy Writing Everyone!