Even in the best of circumstances, the novel writer faces
what seems like an insurmountable list of challenges.
For example, suppose that a writer is able to consistently
write 2,000 words per day, never gets writer’s block, and always knows exactly
what he or she wants to write. That
writer is, of course, fictitious, and by even creating such a hypothetical
person I have already demonstrated that I am a writer of fantasy. I have also demonstrated my own personal
fantasy, and what is likely to be the fantasy of many aspiring writers. For me, the hypothetical writer described
above sounds like a superhero on the level of Captain America; perhaps he or
she would wear some kind of jumpsuit and cape with a quill and inkwell
emblazoned on it.
Now, I am aware that there may be writers out there who have
a prolific word output and incredible personal discipline, but even they
probably do not live up to their own expectations. For them, the superhero Sir Writesalot might
have different qualities than he does for me.
Nevertheless, the average writer does very well to produce 1,000 words
per day and only have writer’s block on a semi-annual basis.
Let us return to the example of my hypothetical writer, who
shall hereinafter be referred to as “Sir Writesalot.” His supernatural abilities are seldom found in
the real world, and unless you happen to be Jack Kerouac in a
Benzedrine-induced craze, you will not likely be able write your manuscript
more quickly than the Cloaked Wizard of Wordcraft.
That’s what the narrators call him, by the way—the Cloaked
Wizard of Wordcraft.
Sir Writesalot is the writer in the best of circumstances,
and like any superhero, he still has his nemeses. That’s right, you guessed it. They are all on that seemingly insurmountable
list of challenges, the very list of enemies that haunt Sir Writesalot’s
nightmares and cause his hypothetical girlfriend to worry incessantly about
him. Who are these dastardly supervillians,
you ask?
First, there is the Editor, a villain so powerful that not
even Kerouac himself could escape it. The
Editor isn’t even a person, which is part of what makes it so terrible. It is a virus that takes over the writer’s
mind and forces him to…
To…
Improve his writing.
[A woman screams in
the background.]
The Editor is the villain that our noble Sir Writesalot must
face off against in his first major motion picture. One might think that a person with
supernatural writing abilities would not need to edit, but the truth is that
while writing and editing are intrinsically linked, they are not the same. No matter how great a writer one is, the
writing can always be improved. This
causes tremendous self-doubt for Sir Writesalot, and his girlfriend doesn’t
understand why he has to do this. However, by the end of the film he has managed
to edit his manuscript and it is now so good that even the Editor virus cannot
force him to change it again and so the virus dies.
This is also an example of fantasy. In reality, a writer editing his or her own
work will never be satisfied. At some
point, however, the average writer will find a stopping point. Even Kerouac found a stopping point after
picking apart his manuscript for On the
Road for a very long time.
The Cloaked Wizard of Wordcraft, of course, is actually able
to be satisfied with his writing.
Because, you know, he’s a superhero.
However, as the movie ends, the audience learns that the virus is not
dead, but dormant. Dramatic music plays
to indicate the imminent disaster—and then the movie ends, set up for a
multi-million dollar blockbuster sequel.
In all seriousness, editing is the first and most
challenging obstacle for the writer. It is one challenge that never really gets
crossed off the list. The reason for
this is clear. Pick up any writing and
style guide and you will see what seems like an endless list of things to
correct, and you realize that you have committed nearly every one of the
egregious mistakes. These mistakes seem
like the hydra (Captain America reference noted), since for every one you notice and correct you manage to find
two more.
Because of the many and various ways one can err when
writing, editing is an exhaustive and painstaking process. It involves so much more than fixing
punctuation, syntax, and spelling errors.
It is, in a way, interrogating the work.
Are there expository clumps? Do
the characters behave in believable ways?
Does the dialogue sound real? Are there too many adjectives and
adverbs? Is the plot sufficiently
unified? Is there extraneous information
that bogs down the whole work and must be removed? On and on the questions go, and if you happen
to read writing advice on a regular basis, your list of necessary corrections
continues to multiply.
You might think that actually writing the novel, short
story, or whatever, is the hardest part of being a writer. I certainly acknowledge that a completed
draft is a huge feat, and it is worthy of celebration. However, in terms of difficulty, writing
feels more like spending money, whereas editing is more like budgeting and
investing. A cautious spender, like a
good writer, puts a lot of thought and effort into what they purchase. Budgeting and investing, on the other hand,
are far more challenging and stressful than the actual spending of money. I have never met a person who truly had
trouble being able to spend money, but I have met several who struggled to
budget and invest it properly.
Writing might be the first hurdle in your adventure, but it
is akin to the beginning of the superhero movie wherein the protagonist acquires
his powers and flexes them for the first time. The real challenge is yet to
come. It will never truly be defeated,
sort of like Superman’s kryptonite, and it will arise to thwart the hero as he
faces the other challenges on the list.
Orson Scott Card says that “Writing is a solitary art” (1). This is true of the superhero as well. He or she, in the end, must defeat the enemy
alone. But along the way, there is
support—a mentor, a friend, a main squeeze, etc. To overcome your own personal case of the
editing virus and to weather the rest of the challenges on the list of
obstacles, you will need community. It
can be done.
And at the end of the process, when you finally feel like
you can stop picking at your writing, you will feel like a superhero.
What will happen to
our brave hero next? Join us next time
for more adventures—same bat time, same bat channel!
***
Work Cited:
Card, Orson Scott. Characters
and Viewpoint. Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer’s Digest Books, 2010.
***
Feel free to share
your thoughts on the writing and editing process in the comments.
