Devoted to publishing, publishers and to those who craft the written word

"As someone who is damn near addicted to the high of writing, editing is such a bore. When you’re done writing, you can convince yourself that you’re brilliant – being high does that to a person. Editing drags you back down to earth and says, in fact, that you aren’t. You can be brilliant, but it will take work. It’s real work, the kind that keeps you thinking in detail about the intricacies of plot, character development, level of detail, setting, show-don’t-tell, and structural word usage."

That's novelist Mur Lafferty explaining how she beats the urge to write without editing. Editing is a crucial skill that we all--especially the flighty, easily-distracted guy writing this sentence right now--need to re-learn.

The Internet simply makes it too easy to publish. We need to learn how to edit before we send our work to a magazine editor, agent, or any kind of reader. That's why I picked Lafferty as our special guest.

Her essay, "My Albatross," lays out the basics of novel editing in the clearest form I've ever seen. Read her essay and learn.

This week, she's sharing some of her wisdom in my deceptively simple feature, Five Easy Questions. In the spirit of Jack Nicholson’s mad piano player, I run a weekly set of quality interviews with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web publishing.

Jason Boog:
I loved your essay about editing a manuscript. I don't want to make you repeat the whole essay or anything, but I would like to know--What are the three most helpful strategies you use while re-writing your novels? Could you explain them? Continue reading...

 

Mur Lafferty:
1- Give myself time after writing the book to let it be new to my eyes.

2- Take copious notes of spellings, major events, and even clothes changes to keep things consistent throughout the book.

3- Don't be afraid to cut it down. Tightening prose is one of the best things you can do while editing.