I've been blogging about how to make writing more literary. One of the most important differences between inferior fiction and amazing fiction that kicks off a future with diehard followers is the editing process. Your first draft can be absolute trash, but as long as the editing takes as long and as much effort (on your part and someone else's) as it needs to, you can still end up with a brilliant and meaningful final copy. Your writing process can involve outlines, pages of background and characterization, or just a lot of pantsing. The key is in editing, and some of that may likely involve scrapping the moments, characters, entire scenes, or long chapters into which you've poured your heart. Sometimes, your final best work involves shooting your darlings, those bits that are just too precious, too detailed, too inessential to stay.
So you have a draft. You may love this draft or hate this draft. It can be anything from short poetry to an autobiography to literary (non)fiction to the wildest sci-fi romp. That draft is done. Now what? Don't even think about looking at your commas or other fine editing at this stage. The first step is to take a careful look at the structure and major characters, themselves. If you can afford to have a freelance editor who does this kind of story editing, all the better. Even Stephen King needs an editor, and he's a master. If you have a publisher breathing down your neck, great. They may have someone to pitch it. You may also have friends or a writer's group to look over. Or you may be doing it all yourself. I don't recommend the last option, but sometimes, there's no choice.
Regardless of whether you now have a pile of editors' or other readers' comments, you really need distance from the text, as much as you can afford to give yourself. If it's a few days or even a week, fine. If you can give yourself a whole month or more, even better. When you've just carefully crafted that cherubic/charming/witty/scathing/etc cast of side characters, what you see as amazing dialogue, a brilliant series of scenes, and a whole book that just feels wonderful to you, you're too close. It's like investigating the murder of your best friend. There won't be any emotional distance, and you're not ready.
Because when you start giving your manuscript a really close look at your story editing, you need to see it with fresh eyes. You need to see each scene, each character, each description with a clinical eye. What purpose does each aspect of the story serve when it comes to building up the main character's story arc, the critical subplots, the overall plot, or the 3- 7- or 12-act structure, whatever you're using? If nothing, it can't stay.
If there's a beautifully written, breathtaking scene that you poured your heart into that doesn't contribute substantially to the symphony that is your piece, it needs to go. If there's a clever, witty side character that draws too much attention from the protagonist's main growth, you may want to keep him/her/it/them for another story. You don't have to simply erase. You can always keep a running side document where you keep your best cuts. It may inspire you later.
But if you've got 30 characters in a 100 page book with very little characterization or possibly a breathtakingly purple (florid, overly descriptive) background with uninteresting foreground characters, something, probably a lot of somethings, need to go. It's at this stage you're finding your balance and the voice of your narrative. I don't care how much you love that scene/dialogue/character/set. If it doesn't perform a critical role in the overall story or distracts in any way, it's time to break up with it for the sake of keeping the narrative compelling. If it becomes too precious, too specific, and slows down your story, it just can't stay.
Editing can be such a hard part of writing. You get feedback that may feel like a gut punch or leave you reeling, wondering how you'll achieve what the reader wants. Trimming back scenes and characters you love can feel like you're parting with your best friends. It has to be done to make your final product what it needs to be to keep the reader glued.
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