There’s no greater joy in life than editing someone else’s work.
I read that somewhere once, and I have to admit, the red-pen high is hard to beat, especially when some unwary friend or colleague asks for it. If there are sweeter words in the English language than, “Will you edit my letter/essay/paper?” I’d be hard pressed to come up with them. Why the poor innocents don’t run screaming from the room when the shark-like grin stretches across my face and I start gleefully rubbing my hands together, I’ll never understand. Maybe it’s only the masochists who ask?
But if editing someone else’s work can be a joy forever, it doesn’t come close to the satisfaction I get from editing my own. That’s what I’m doing right now, as a matter of fact. And I do mean right now. My ink-jet printer is chuffing out pages for the slaughter, even as we speak. Having finished Mandy’s Eyes this past weekend, I’m now ready to slash and burn. And I’ll do it with a smile.
We’re talking literary liposuction, people, sucking the fat out of every overblown paragraph.
I’ll hunt down every really, very, and just. Lop off adjectives like they were heads, and I was the Queen of Hearts with PMS. Kick the passive voice clear into next week and cut redundancies off at the knees.
Not that editing is all take and no give. I have a habit of skimping on the details, especially when it comes to background information or how somebody is dressed or how they got from point A to point B. Did Mandy walk, amble, sprint, or wander … and what was she wearing when she did? I’ve got to tell you, I hate writing that stuff. Dialogue? I’m all over dialogue. Unfortunately, dialogue does not a novel make. (Or does it? An interesting concept I’ll have to explore some other time.)
Anyway, what I’m trying to say is, editing is fun.
The trick is knowing when to stop. I’m fairly sure I could edit my stuff indefinitely, which would more or less turn writing into an exercise in futility.
But, as the Good Book says, “There’s a time for every purpose under heaven.” And this is the time to slash and burn.
Terrific post, Kathy. And not just cuz editing’s a joy.