The Hardest Thing About Editing

authorrussellpennwright

stephenking

As the editing of my new novel is progressing, I found myself erasing a lot of pages totally. The hardest thing to do is letting go of a smart joke or a great scene, as I thought it was when first writing it.

I was distraught about having to erase 2 pages earlier because as I discovered it was a total useless scene about the supporting character that didn’t push the story forward. I found myself having erased nearly 20 pages over that last couple of days, either by changing the lines of dialogue, shortening the scene, and or deleting even an entire dramatic scene. And, my novel is just getting shorter and shorter.

Letting go of these scenes were difficult to do, but they do not advance the story so they were rather useless, therefore, had to be erased.

I need to listen to a soothing song, I think. All this editing is making me anxious.

11 thoughts on “The Hardest Thing About Editing”

      2. Sometimes, I find myself reading a book and it becomes very stagnant and I find myself yawning. If it is something like a Dan Brown novel which definitely requires a lot of reader intro to a subject, then it is all good. But, it it’s like a martial arts novel, you will find yourself kind of writing gibberish if you are not selective on word omissions.

        The pace has to be fast.

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      4. There aren’t many. Most are graphic novels and or Asian novels translated in English. A martial arts novel is very difficult to write in paper. I found this out when I wrote my first novel because when you write someone kicking someone on the face, you really have not many options to explore. Sometimes you just have to be direct. But being too direct, can get too monotonous. It is like a balancing act. See-saw battle. I believe this is why not many writers write in the genre. It is always a challenge.

        Many times if a writer is not careful, he finds himself lecturing more than showing, which bores readers. In the martial arts genre, you can’t teach Muay Thai for example, you have to show Muay Thai. Writing it can be a little more challenging.

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      7. Good luck lol not me…😅
        I choose the most simple way. To challenge yourself- you have to work hard lol and here u see a very lazy person. If there’s a word “work” – I’m gone 😂😂
        For example I never visit workshops, cuz when I see the word “work” – I feel I have to do something there…and I hate the idea to come up with any kind of “writing” (creative or no) so quickly or sit like a dummy without any thoughts in my head (bcz most of the time I don’t have any). I think my ideas scared of work-shops as well…or team-work 😂

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