In prepping for a stint at the Kachemak Bay Writers Conference
next month, I came across this from author Katherine Paterson: “I wish for
every writer in the world an editor like Virginia Buckley.”
I was among the lucky ones; Virginia Buckley edited my first two novels. As Paterson notes, she had
a gift for seeing beyond a messy draft to a real story. Guided by her gentle
prodding, revision was easy. One of my deep regrets as a writer was letting an
agent convince me that I needed to cast my nets beyond her shores. I would have
learned much more, much quicker, had I stuck with Virginia .
These days, editors like Virginia Buckley and the venerable
Maxwell Perkins (check out Susan Bell’s The Artful Edit to learn more about how he helped Fitzgerald shape The Great Gatsby) are hard to come by.
Editors are busier than ever. So are agents.
If you have the money – a few thousand dollars or so - you
can hire a freelance editor. If your concept of publishing is to throw your
book at the wall and see if it sticks, you can forego editing altogether.
For the rest of us, here are five editing strategies:
·
As Bell
explains in her book, there are two types of editing. She calls them macro and
micro; micro is often called line editing. Once a draft is finished, it’s
tempting to jump straight to micro-editing: clarifying sentences, correcting
language, fixing discrepancies, adjusting the balance between showing and
telling. But most drafts are best served if the writer first takes the
macro-view, finding and fixing problems with intention, theme, structure,
foreshadowing, character, and continuity of tone.
·
Editing is not mopping the corners. It’s probing
the entire structure, from the ground up. Treat your book like a house constructed
by a well-meaning faulty builder. Search from foundation to rafters to find the
weaknesses. Trust me: they’re there.
·
Editing happens in rounds, each one circling
closer to the book’s truest and finest form. Don’t think you can do it once and
be done.
·
When editing, don’t be the writer. Be the
reader. Get distance from your manuscript. Though you’ve worked hard on your
draft and you’re dying to move forward, don’t do it. Wait. Wait several weeks
if you can. Then come at the book in the most objective way you can find. For
me, this entails uploading my manuscript on my e-reader. That way, it looks
like a book. When the waiting is over, I read with pen in hand, jotting notes
in a simple lined, spiral notebook. Because I can’t fix as I go, I avoid
micro-editing too soon. I write in longhand so I can get wild and messy on the
page, bracketing, drawing lines and arrows to connect ideas, circling important
points, writing in the margins. When I’ve finished re-reading, I have several
pages of notes to guide my revision.
·
Engage trusted readers. Not your family, not
your friends. No one who’s worried about hurting your feelings. Your trusted
readers should be smart and tough. They’ll be fallible – but so are you. Either
address or dismiss each comment they make. For every comment you dismiss, you
should be able to articulate why.