Writing a book to get to the position of hoping it is a manuscript, the final draft. Is one thing. Re-reading it is the hardest task. Your effort plain to see. Is it good enough? Will an agent like it or bin it? Would a reader laugh out loud? How clumsy and unpolished is it?
These are the hardest questions. They question your very purpose, your faith in what you are doing, your ambition, your reason. At first, I hated re-reading I was always unsure and often made changes I had to undo because I was reacting too quickly before acknowledging the import and purpose of that text to the narrative. I have got better at re-reading and editing. It isn’t such a chore and the polishing of the script. Removing typos, clumsy phrasing, repeated words or phrases, syntax and spelling corrections all make the reading easier. I can see some of my errors now and have got better at removing elements that do not add anything. The redundant words on the page that delay the reader’s understanding or dilute it.
I remember listening to another writer who said they hated drafting their manuscript, that was the hardest and least inspiring part of being a writer – for me it’s the opposite. She enjoyed the editing, the refining and moulding of the story to find its meaning. I view the editing as a necessary task but one I am more comfortable with now. I also now regret some of the earlier submissions I made and I am more confident (without grounds so far) of what I now offer in a submission.
Part of the dilemma is when should you stop editing? If the manuscript is picked up by an agent and a publisher they will edit from a far more authoritative position and with practised professionalism, probably viewing authors as ‘bloody amateurs’.
I think for me part of the problem is that writing is like playing a piece of your own music. It is always interpreted, changed and varied. It isn’t a fixed article like a photograph, it is an evolving understanding of its possibilities, the techniques required and improved to play better or to express it differently. I can see that ownership and understanding of my writing improving with each edit but when to stop? So what comes first the Writing or the Editing?
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