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They Should Teach Us These Things
Nov. 26th, 2007 01:31 amThe problem is that I need an editor. I need someone who can read through a whole draft and say, "okay, I liked this, but this, this and this need to go." They never teach us how to edit in school. It's not the same as proofreading. It's one thing to turn in draft after draft with little corrections in, it's another thing entirely to take a big old novel draft and hack whole pages or scenes out of it.
What works? What doesn't work? Am I supposed to be able to figure this out on my own? I'm just the writer, I'm just jotting down the words and steering my characters through their own story. No one ever taught me to rein in my ideas, to really cut things down. I mean, I can trim--anyone can trim, it's mostly instinct. But trimming isn't enough. And I think this is part of the reason I've been so reluctant to actually attempt to get things published, because I never know when the fucking manuscript is done. No one ever told me how to recognize when something is as done as it's going to be. People say that art is never really complete, and they say that to talk about paintings, book, and so on, and I believe it--but there's a difference between artistic doneness and business doneness, and business doneness is the one that we have to be able to recognize. But I don't know where the end is! How are you supposed to run a race if no one tells you where the finish line is?
Penta has been sitting there--a complete draft--somewhat trimmed and picked at for years now, and I haven't been able to do anything with it because I don't fucking know how. I want it published, but I don't know what to do. Rewriting isn't enough either.
How do other writers do this? The only writers I know are professional writers with editors who tell them what to take out or change or add. Having someone do that inevitably causes arguments, but a first draft and usually a second draft are usually unpublishable, and if the editor is good, he or she is going to get you to that beautiful, clean as the driven snow third draft which is publishable. That's their job. They are unattached to the baby you've created--the manuscript--so they are free to gut it and point out what, from a logical standpoint, needs to change.
There's also the matter of finding an editor who meshes with you, but that's not the point.
I know first time authors can go out and get agents, and then it's their job to put you in contact with publishers and therefore, editors, but you can't very well present a crap-draft to an agent. Or maybe you can--I don't know enough about the agent-editor-publisher world to know whether agents will accept first-draft manuscripts or just an idea, but I have a feeling they don't. And publishers certainly don't want a first draft, because it means the manuscript is unfinished.
Which means that you either need an editor or you need to be able to self-edit, and self-edit well.
But they never teach us how to edit properly, so how the fuck am I supposed to do it? It's a damn catch-22.
I'm never gonna publish anything unless I figure out how to edit, and quickly.
What works? What doesn't work? Am I supposed to be able to figure this out on my own? I'm just the writer, I'm just jotting down the words and steering my characters through their own story. No one ever taught me to rein in my ideas, to really cut things down. I mean, I can trim--anyone can trim, it's mostly instinct. But trimming isn't enough. And I think this is part of the reason I've been so reluctant to actually attempt to get things published, because I never know when the fucking manuscript is done. No one ever told me how to recognize when something is as done as it's going to be. People say that art is never really complete, and they say that to talk about paintings, book, and so on, and I believe it--but there's a difference between artistic doneness and business doneness, and business doneness is the one that we have to be able to recognize. But I don't know where the end is! How are you supposed to run a race if no one tells you where the finish line is?
Penta has been sitting there--a complete draft--somewhat trimmed and picked at for years now, and I haven't been able to do anything with it because I don't fucking know how. I want it published, but I don't know what to do. Rewriting isn't enough either.
How do other writers do this? The only writers I know are professional writers with editors who tell them what to take out or change or add. Having someone do that inevitably causes arguments, but a first draft and usually a second draft are usually unpublishable, and if the editor is good, he or she is going to get you to that beautiful, clean as the driven snow third draft which is publishable. That's their job. They are unattached to the baby you've created--the manuscript--so they are free to gut it and point out what, from a logical standpoint, needs to change.
There's also the matter of finding an editor who meshes with you, but that's not the point.
I know first time authors can go out and get agents, and then it's their job to put you in contact with publishers and therefore, editors, but you can't very well present a crap-draft to an agent. Or maybe you can--I don't know enough about the agent-editor-publisher world to know whether agents will accept first-draft manuscripts or just an idea, but I have a feeling they don't. And publishers certainly don't want a first draft, because it means the manuscript is unfinished.
Which means that you either need an editor or you need to be able to self-edit, and self-edit well.
But they never teach us how to edit properly, so how the fuck am I supposed to do it? It's a damn catch-22.
I'm never gonna publish anything unless I figure out how to edit, and quickly.
