Editing Your First Draft? Don't Forget Audience and Purpose!

Anne-Mhairi Simpson had an interesting post about what to expect from your first draft, and I wanted to comment on her experience. One paragraph in particular jumped out at me:

Now, if you’ve ever wondered about this, chances are you will have come across a huge amount of advice regarding the quality of your first draft and 99% of it will say exactly the same thing: that your first draft is 100% guaranteed to be a complete crock and you will need to do drastic re-writing and editing, including filling in numerous plot holes and wholesale murder of little darlings before you should even think about letting that beast see the light of day.

Perhaps it's irresponsible of me to say this, but some people don't need to tear apart their first draft in order to get to something good. Some authors will make a pass through to check for technical errors, and then call it good. Others will tweak and fiddle and agonize until they have something that's been revised so many times it bears absolutely no resemblance to the original.  Some people are never satisfied with their work, even if they started with something fantastic, and other writers will be pleased far too quickly by far too little. Editing too much can be just as detrimental to your novel as too little editing.

In an effort to smooth out the prose, fix all the grammar, remove passive voice, and expunge florid description, you may remove the very thing that makes the manuscript unique. When you "kill your darlings," don't kill yourself in the process. Your quirks contribute to your style, and sometimes a work is interesting for the reasons it "fails".

Different genres have different rules and expectations. When you edit your manuscript, consider what your audience wants to see, not simply what blogs call "good writing." As Anna-Mhairi discovered, what fails in one genre might be the strength in another genre. She went too far in one direction and lost the spark her readers loved up to that point. I think the primary lesson from her experience is to always let audience and purpose be your guide while editing. It's more important to find a style that works than it is to blindly follow writing advice.

Self-Doubt: The Root of All Evil

Authors love feedback. And once a work is published, reviews are the main source of feedback. This would be fine, except for two facts. Fact 1, authors should never read reviews. Fact 2, it's not a a two-way street, and no matter what the reviewer says or doesn't say, responding is never, ever a good idea. It's called The Author's Big Mistake and it carries that name for a reason.

I never break the second rule, unless it's to thank somebody for taking the time to read and write a review. But I never remember the first rule. I knew an author who claimed he never read reviews because if you believe the good things, you have to believe the bad. I don't disagree with the logic. The problem is, as a writer, I'm often plagued with doubt.

Sometimes I'm plagued with so much doubt that by the time a book is published, I can barely stand to think about it. Usually once a book goes on sale, I never revisit it, never re-read it, never remember the good times I had writing it. I know deep down inside it sucks, nobody's going to buy it, and if they do, they'll hate it. I should have worked harder on the prose, I should have tightened the plot, maybe it needed another round of edits.

I've never received a review as harsh as the ones I give myself for every single book, and I find it very difficult to talk about my work, much less claim it under my own name. Because then everybody will know I've successfully published one hundred titles under two pseudonyms, and every single one is "terrible".

Opening the Door: Stephen King On Writing and Feedback

Wednesday is book review day at Triumphal Writing, and I was slated to review Stephen King's seminal On Writing, but I can't.  First off I haven't finished it yet, and secondly I can't review it once and then put it away.  There's too much in it to talk about, and I couldn't really "review" it anyway.  Am I to assign a mark and a stamp of approval for such a book, Haley's writing Bible?

No, I won't review it, but I will draw on some wisdom from it as we continue to address the issue of feedback and constructive criticism this week.  Yesterday Haley listed five suggestions on giving and receiving feedback, something writers are (or should be) always engaged in.  Do you want to hear what Stephen King says on the matter?  Well, ok, I'll tell you.   Then, afterwards, you should go to the library or bookstore or amazon or however you acquire books, and read the whole thing for yourself.  Or come back here where we'll surely talk about it again. 

Pitching and Catching: The Five Rules of Constructive Criticism

If you're immersed in a community of writers--whether they're students, bloggers, or novelists--you will provably ask for feedback. And chances are good, you'll be asked to provide feedback on somebody else's work. Students participate in workshops, creative writers not only participate in workshops, but may also seek feedback from friends and colleagues or a network of trusted "beta readers." No man is an island, and very few people write in a vacuum where outside opinions are never sought or requested. But giving and receiving feedback can also be hugely stressful for both parties involved. So here are five suggestions to make the experience less frightening all around.

1. Be Specific

"Your introduction is nice."

"I like the ending."

"The story is interesting, yeah."

"Good job!"

"Interesting argument."

"The ending was a little weak but overall everything else was okay."

I've seen vague comments like that more times than I can count. At times they were directed at me and my work, at times at my students' work, and sadly, I've even been responsible for vague feedback once or twice. If you don't know what to say or you're worried about hurting somebody's feelings, simple comments with vaguely reassuring words like nice and interesting seem like the safest route. And that might be the case, but it isn't the most helpful route. 


Nice is an empty word, more or less meaningless. Nobody wants to be called nice. That's no better than saying "I know nothing else about you but I'm expected to say something here." You should offer concrete feedback, referring often to the work itself in order to explain your reaction and thoughts. The introduction shouldn't be nice, it should be witty, engaging, intriguing, exciting, confusing, fun, anything but nice. If the introduction fails on some level, it'll never improve if you don't explain where it falls short.

Embracing Feedback and Criticism: What's the Use?

As a writer, a teacher, a student, and an editor I've had to deal with both giving and receiving feedback and criticism, and it has never been fun, easy, or always helpful. This is a shame, because feedback and criticism are some of the most important weights writers need to help build their writing muscle. This week Triumphal Writing will be looking at the feedback process, how to make the most of poor feedback, how to give good feedback and how to deal with criticism in general. I'm reading On Writing by Stephen King now, and one thing that has struck me so far (among many things. I'll probably mention this book in every post I write for the next year) was what he learned about feedback when he worked as a teenager writing sports articles for the local paper: "Write with the door closed, rewrite with it open." Think about that minute.

Editing 101: Make Your Darling Bleed

Writers of all sorts often find it necessary to "kill their darlings" by removing well-written passages that don't contribute to the plot, trimming sentences, cutting entire chapters, or scrapping the whole thing and starting over again. I've heard the "kill your darlings" advice countless times in the past decade, and I'm only now beginning to fully grasp it. As a writer, a part of you must remain objective and focused. Objectively, does everything in the work contribute to the purpose of the work? Are you focused on your assertion, your structure, and your goal? Your love for something you created is irrelevant. If it's not working, your love alone will not save it. Sometimes, as they say, you have to be cruel to be kind. I'm finalizing Put the Body on the Slab: The Anatomy of College Writing this week. We're pushing up the release date, and I've been working hard to make sure it's presentable. After the second draft, I was pleased with the content, but not happy with the work. Despite Jasie's reassurances, I didn't feel like it was the best it could be or the best I was capable of. I set it aside for a little while and focused on other projects, but a few nights ago I knew it was time to return. I wasn't going to kill my darling, but I knew I would have to make it bleed red.

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I chose these two pages at random. It could have been any two pages because no sentence was spared my wrath. If the sentence was passive, I made it active. If a sentence contained my favorite filler words, especially just, I deleted them. If it began with And, But, or Because, I rewrote it. Honestly, it wasn't a hardship. I love revising sentences and dealing with other level two issues. How you say it is as important as what you say. Ninety percent of the sentences I revised were grammatically correct and contained necessary information (the other ten percent was just crap). I didn't change the content, I didn't cut any content, and I didn't focus on structure. Yet, I trimmed approximately one thousand words, and the book is better for it. The prose is tight and it flows well.

It's not easy or quick. As a process, it takes time, patience, and attention to detail. The manuscript is only 15,000 words, but I spent an entire night working on it. At least seven solid hours without a break or distraction. Not everybody has seven solid hours to spend on this sort of project--but I do and that's why I'm happy to spend the time on your work as well. I consider myself to be a good writer. I make a living as a writer, I enjoy writing, I teach writing, and it's my number one passion, my only true hobby. But I'll never be so good that I can just churn out a single draft and declare it satisfactory. Very few writers are that brilliant. Even grammatically correct sentences may need more work. Editing isn't about fixing mistakes, catching typos, or destroying the work you love. It's not about "killing darlings" at all, as a matter of fact. It's about elevating your work to the highest standard.