Liam Livings
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Rules for writing - separating editing and writing

5/6/2013

10 Comments

 
The thing about rules is, they’re there to be broken. This is the first in a series of posts about how rules for writing do, and don’t work for me, and whether they work for you too.

I like to think about writing in the same way as another creative pursuit I love, cooking. Cooking has plenty of tips and rules. How many different ‘ultimate recipes’ have you seen for basics like a sponge cake, Yorkshire pudding, shepherd’s pie? Each one very different from the last.  

Picture
There are many different ways of getting to the final dish, each one with its own benefits and disadvantages, each one giving a slightly different result, each one works better for different people.

Leila Aboulela, (born in Cairo and grew up in Khartoum. Two of her novels have been longlisted for the prestigious Orange Prize) said, ‘Put your work aside for a time in order to gain some distance and then read it again. You are very likely to find that it needs changes in some places, edits in others, or certain sections have to be further developed. Draft and re-draft. Give this editorial phase time effort and patience.’

While writing Best Friends Perfect, at first, I tried to edit as I was writing. This didn’t work for me. I found myself conflicted between writing and editing:
  • After editing a section, I returned to writing and completely forgot where the story was going
  • After editing, I found it hard to just write, and found myself micro editing rather than getting words on the page
  • While editing if I was a bit stuck, I’d just nip to the end of document and start writing, completely abandoning the edit, and having to work out what I was trying to fix the next time I returned to that (still unresolved) bit of editing
  • In short it was a mess


It was like starting to make a cake, leaving to buy the sugar, returning to continue whisking, then stopping to buy the grease proof paper, then returning to the cake mix.

For the second book, I did the vomit-words-on-the-page school of first drafts. No going back, no checking if I’d changed the name of the MC’s mum, what colour hair the boyfriend had, just on and on and on. Like a road trip, no stopping for detours.



Picture
Then, I left a couple of months between finishing the first draft and starting the first edit. I put on my editor hat (metaphorically, although maybe I should get myself one...) printed out the manuscript, took a pen and note pad and marked where it didn’t work, with some ideas for how to fix it in the note pad, and moved on to the next bit to fix.

This allowed me to stop thinking about it as ‘my story’ and instead, think about it as a reader would – that’s confusing, why would that character do that, where did the dog go from chapter 3...

The time between the two different stages, gave my brain chance to put itself into a different gear, a different mode, and to work much better at each of the two different stages.  

Do you edit as you write, write as you edit, mixing it up as you go? Or do you like to separate the two, like I now do? What’s the best writing rule you’ve heard or read about?  

Until next time

Liam x
10 Comments
HJ
5/6/2013 03:02:14 am

I agree with your approach of leaving your work to settle for a while, and then going back to it fresh.

While getting the words down, I think it is a good idea to jot thoughts down as they occur, too, either on a separate piece of paper/in another document or in square brackets/other marked text so that you can easily find them again. Otherwise that flash of brilliance either blocks what you're writing because you're fighting to remember it, or you forget it. Picking those up and expanding them once you've finished the section you were working on is not editing but is part of the process of original writing and so is allowed!

Similarly, thoughts may occur during the period after you finish drafting but before you start editing - again, jot them down but don't be tempted to go back into the work until it's time.

Reply
Liam Livings
5/6/2013 06:39:22 pm

Hi HJ, I think that's a very sensible idea, jotting thoughts down as they come up, or they're easily lost.
Thanks Liam

Reply
Elin link
5/6/2013 03:57:51 am

Best advice ever - from Alex Beecroft, no less - "Just finish it!"
But one thing I do if I notice a scary error is use Word's review panel to leave a comment about it to remind myself that it's something to address in edits. Like the time I had 4 completely different characters called Pollock, or the time all my characters had names beginning with S, or the time a sensible historical turned into a fantasy parody half way through. Now I just try to get the job done and worry about making sense of it later. :)

Reply
Liam Livings
5/6/2013 06:41:04 pm

Hi Elin, I've been given that advice too, 'finish it!' Also very useful.
The review/edit functions in Word are useful aren't they? Sounds like you had some challenges to work through there. ;)

Reply
Clare London link
5/6/2013 06:45:31 am

Excellent advice! and I agree so much with the mulling-over time. There's no substitute for taking calendar time out before you start to edit. I find I have to step right away for some days, then I can read it - as you say - like a reader, not the author.

My equivalent of Elin's review panel is a splodge of yellow highlight :). It's easily found when I go back to the MS and remember there's something wrong with that part.

Reply
Liam Livings
5/6/2013 06:42:48 pm

Hi Clare, Thanks! The time between the two stages definitely helps me put my different head/hat on between writer and reader, as you say.
Highlighter - how retro of you!
Liam

Reply
Jayden Brooks
5/6/2013 07:07:36 am

I needed to read this today. It's been a brutal week. I've been questioning every comma, dialogue structure, floating body parts, and so much more. I've worked myself into a mess. I haven't touched my MS all week. The idea of editing had been an overwhelming concept. My brains version of the boogeyman.

I'm feeling a little more confident after reading your post. Thank you!

Reply
Liam Livings
5/6/2013 06:44:37 pm

Hi Jayden, I'm glad it came at a helpful time for you.
I think we've all felt like the editing is overwhelming, but hopefully with time it's all much more manageable.
Glad this has helped!
Liam

Reply
Becky Black link
13/6/2013 04:57:59 am

I have to keep the writing and editing apart,like you. Trying to edit in the middle just brings me to a halt. Also, it works against the story still being flexible and in progress. It's like adding varnish to part of a painting when you're still actually painting other parts of the canvas. It makes it harder for me to decide to deviate from something if I've written and polished that bit. I get too married to it, because I've done more work on it than just drafting. So I might resist pursuing something later on that seems like a good idea, but that I know means that earlier part will have to be changed again. It's like the editing "fixes" the writing. Not in the sense of making it better, but in the sense of sticking it in place. I need to have everything be up for grabs when I come to the editing phase. And I need that emotional distance from the story too, to become more objective.

Everyone has their own way of course and I've done the "write a chapter, edit a chapter, write the next chapter" thing, back when I wrote fanfic. But as soon as I first did it the other way, writing straight though, I found it very hard to go back. It killed my momentum.

Reply
Liam Livings
13/6/2013 11:27:46 pm

Hi Becky, I like that analogy of 'fixing' the writing like varnishing a painting. I'm all about the emotional distance too, or it's too close to start cutting it about.
Agree about the momentum, there's something satisfying about storming on through the first draft until the final fullstop, which you lose if you write, edit, write, edit as you said you used to on fanfic.
Liam

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    Liam Livings

    Gay romance & gay fiction author

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