Editing is hard.
To write effectively, the scribe must learn how to turn down the inner critic and turn up the emotions, the passion. This is where our most powerful writing comes from.
With editing we have to reverse that… partially. When it comes to our emotions, we turn down the attachment to the effort of work, yet still be open enough to feel as a reader. Critics who are cynical and jaded before walking into a movie will walk out hating the movie. The movie itself becomes superfluous to the entire “Everything sucks,” feedback loop.
To edit, the mind should be open, not locked tight, or completely unhinged, either. One must be vigilant and aloof enough to spot the typos, but still tear up when an important character is killed off in the fourth act (assuming, of course, that the writer nailed the scene).
The other part of editing that makes it so difficult is that there are so many aspects to it. Here is an incomplete list of some of the details editors need to focus on:
- Spelling and Grammar
- Punctuation
- Using the Right Word
- Sentence Structure
- Unintentional Word Repetition
- Passive Voice
- Tense
- POV (Point of View)
- Semantic Logic (“Do you understand the words coming out of my mouth?”)
- Dialogue (Does it sound the way people talk?)
- Colloquial Narrator (Does the narrator sound too much like how the writer talks?)
- Do all the characters have their own voices?
- Does the story start in the right place?
- Is it the right scene, but the writer has focused on the wrong elements?
- Plot
- Continuity
- Anachronisms
- Story Arcs
- Building Tension
- Foreshadowing
- Do the dramatic moments have the right punch?
- Character Depth
- Character Development (changes through the story)
- Use of Cliches
- Plagiarism
- Archetypes
- Settings
- World Building
- Themes
- A Satisfying Ending
- What drives the story? Characters? Plot?
- Has the writer done his/her research carefully?
- Genre
- Market and Demographics
- Is the story unique?
Whenever a fellow writer approaches me about critiquing their work, I lean forward, look them in the eyes and say, “I’d be more than happy to do that, but I must ask one question. How deep down the rabbit hole do you want to go?”
Most seem a bit taken aback by the intensity I give to the question. But, I find it important to give them a glimpse past the weeds of spelling and punctuation and into the depths of the cavern beckoning them. Some tell me that they are not ready for that kind of spelunking. And that is okay.
You may not be ready to show your work to anyone with literary “night-vision”, let alone a small army of us. And that’s okay. Keep writing and keep editing what you have written.
Soon, you will be ready to see just how far the rabbit hole goes.
