Editing

Editing, one word that holds so much meaning to writers. I know, I know, it's tedious, its boring, and frankly you don't want to do it, but it has to be done.

Today we're going to get down to the nitty-gritty of editing. Or my version of editing which isn't very nitty-gritty at all :p
Now, call my crazy, but for the most part I actually enjoy editing *gasp* Yes, I do enjoy the tedious work of going through my stories and combing them for mistakes. Why? Because I can see how far I've gotten. When I'm editing and changing certain scenes I can automatically tell my mood from that day, was I writing because I wanted to or because I needed to? Did I actually enjoy this scene or was I just trying to get to the next one? I can tell all those things just by my writing style. How? Because I edit all the time.

I see things all the time telling writers not to edit until their stories are completely done. I hate it when they say that! I feel obligated to edit as I'm writing, because sometimes the story isn't going to get any further until you go back and re-read what you've already written to remember why you're writing this thing in the first place. Sometimes you need to add that 1,000 word scene that makes or breaks the story.

I was watching a documentary on the Disney Pixar movie Frozen a while ago and was startled to hear that the song 'Do you want to build a snowman?' was almost cut from the movie! What?! But they kept coming back to it because the story didn't work without it. That 2.5 minutes of song made or broke the whole movie according to this documentary. That simple sentence hinged on the existence of one of the biggest movies Disney had ever made. And they didn't know they needed it until they looked back at what they had! Sometimes writing is like that, you need to look at what you've done in order to get any farther.

Editing may be a pain but it's totally necessary in good writing so I'm going to give you some tips that might make it a little easier to drop the black pen and pick up the red one.

1. Edit when you can't think of anything to write.
When I was writing a story last Christmas I knew I could finish it, I knew that it was going to come together but it just wasn't working for me that day. But instead of ignoring it and saying 'oh woe is me' I sat down and edited what I had to make the beginning of my story stronger. Eventually after enough editing that light bulb popped on in my head again and I was able to finish.

2. Edit as you go. 
Like I said earlier: I hate it when people say you need to wait until the story is done to edit it. I agree punctuation and spelling can wait until you write 'the end' but the actual meat of the story needs to be molded and crafted as much as possible in order for it to reach its full potential. Even if you look at a hunk of the scene you just wrote you're probably going to be able to find something that needs fixing, or is that just me?

3. Think of yourself as a reader not a writer when you're editing. 
We writers pride ourselves on our intellectual standards. But readers, especially child readers, aren't going to want to read a story full of words that sound like the alphabet threw up! Make sure your words are correctly gauged toward your audience. Read your story through other eyes, what do you want to know? Is something hard to understand? Does something else need to be added to make the you know what's going on? Remember your reader unfortunately didn't make this world they don't know whats going to happen. That's your job.

4. Don't beat yourself up. 
I do this all. The. Time. When I edit I'm picking out my mistakes, which results in me thinking Oh my gosh, no wonder I'm not published yet. This is horrible. Which results in me not wanting to write because its "just going to be a mess I'll have to fix anyway." Then REALLY wanting to write, then having to edit said writing and the cycle continues. We writers have to find that balance of yes this needs fixed, and you are not a horrible writer because that needs fixed. We're going to have so many critics in life. We don't need to be one of them.

I saw a quote on Pinterest I love "Write without fear, edit without mercy." I don't remember who said it, but I saw this almost a year ago and it resonates with me so deeply. Am I really editing without mercy? Am I really doing the best I can to make the story the best I can be? Probably not, while I love editing, I really do stink at it. My essays I have to write for school have proven that. But I'm trying to do better, and that's really the best I can do.

Do any of you guys have any editing tips or tricks? I'd love to hear them!

-Libby

"This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another." Zachariah 7:9