posted
Is there such a thing as over-editing? This thought just crossed my mind as I was going through my story. If you overdo it on something, will it necessarily make it worse?
Just some random thoughts that cross a sleepy mind.
posted
Yes. A lot of people find that when a scene has been edited too much it tends to lose a hard-to-define quality, making it feel "dead" in some fashion. If this happens, the only option is to rewrite from scratch without reference to the overedited version. You'll find some of the good bits creeping back in from the older drafts...
Posts: 626 | Registered: Jun 2003
|
posted
Assuming that I have read part of the story you’re talking about, I agree with Jules. Try rewriting from scratch; no one is saying you can’t go back to the original. However I do have a couple of additional thoughts. First do only one scene at a time, one POV at a time. Another suggestion came to me after I sent my critique back to you. Try this- get your writing space ready, hide the rewrites, get something your really like to eat or drink and turn on your TV, put it on the outdoor channel- to some hunting show, one where they kill something furry, and watch it, really get into it- then run to your writing space and rapid write your first scene. Whatever you do don’t think , just write. I think this will give you the final kick in the butt that will throw you right into your protagonist- your almost there now, but I think getting deeper into him will give depth to your story and the enjoyment of writing back to you. By the way my husband watches hunting all the time, most of the shows try to put the watcher in the POV of the hunter,they are a great tool. Heck how else would I know what a Havalena smells like or of seen a buck’s lip curl? A fresh look at a good idea is better than a hacked over rewrite.
[This message has been edited by Kickle (edited July 07, 2004).]
posted
That all depends on what you mean by editing.
If you're talking about editing--cutting needless words, correcting misspellings and grammatical errors--then the answer is no.
If you're talking about revision--substantially changing the scene--then the answer is yes, and the only way to fix is, as Jules noted, is to rewrite the new scene as if it were a first draft.
[This message has been edited by Balthasar (edited July 07, 2004).]
posted
I'm going to add one point to Balthasar's list of things that count as editing, namely adding in words that you accidentally left out.
But he is essentially correct. You cannot overedit things, you can only edit them badly (cutting important words, "correcting" already proper spellings, nonsensifing sentences because you're trying to work with grammatical rules you don't fully understand, and adding in words that you were right to leave out in the first place).
Obviously, any amount of mis-editing will be a bad thing. Conversely, any amount of editing will improve the clarity and precision of your prose (there is a point at which the benefits are far too small to be worth the effort, though).
Revision is the problem, particularly modern, "cut'n paste" revision. A small amount can introduce greater clarity into a scene. But very much will destroy anyone's writing. Revisions are a delicate process, and once you start moving too many things about you should probably just re-write from scratch.
In the old days, text was developed in a series of "drafts", with every character of every version rekeyed (or hand-written) onto the page. In a very real sense, every single draft was a complete re-write.
I'm glad that we have computers, but don't let yourself fall into the trap of thinking that cut'n paste means you never have to completely rekey anything. Your final draft should be a "fair copy", it shouldn't be a white-out smeared collage of previous drafts. And don't kid yourself that electronic cutting and pasting doesn't leave marks on the text, because I assure you that it most certainly does.
posted
Good point. I'm currently working on a second draft that's almost entirely rekeyed. It's letting me make some changes that I simply wouldn't have bothered with if I had been cut&paste editing it. For instance I've changed most of my secondary characters substantially, varied from the original story's structure, switched to a different POV style (the first draft was all from the protagonist's POV, I'm using a few different characters' viewpoints now). Posts: 626 | Registered: Jun 2003
|
posted
I've often thought about making a commitment to re-keying each "draft" of a story, saving on-screen changes only for editorial polishing. I haven't, mostly because I know it's a delusion on my part of believing the older way is the better way. (I'd write on an old Underwood if I could find one in excellent condition.)
I have, however, made a commitment to re-keying entire scenes after a certain point. It certainly makes the scene flow better.
posted
I have an old Underwood in excellent condition. And a Royal. And an Oliver and ... did I mention that I collect vintage typewriters? I write on a computer. My hands give out after about half a page on an old typewriter.
(And Royals have smoother action; the Underwood was cheaper, that's why you see so many of them.)
Years ago I wrote story (actually wrote it out) and then typed it into the computer. I saved it to disk, made several revisions to the soft copy, printed several hard copies and then proceeded to misplace the disk during my gypsy travels and moves!!
I have now started re-typing based on the most recent hard copy and it is unbelievable how different I want to write things, changing entire scenes, adding scenes, deleting scenes.
It is definitly an eye-opening experience.
[This message has been edited by Robyn_Hood (edited July 08, 2004).]
posted
You can even overedit stylistically. If you're never satisfied and have to keep changing the structure of your sentences, you'll deaden your natural voice and it'll end up sounding somehow awkward and false.
That doesn't mean you should avoid changing sentences if they really stand out to you as needing a fix, but it does mean that you should avoid becoming hyperaware of how everything sounds and constantly trying to "fix" it (which will only make it worse).
posted
Yeah, when you get to the point where it's really hard to make the prose "better", sometimes you start to settle for more erudite/literary/like-my-favorite-author/etc.
A lot of times, the prose is fine but the structure or plot or POV or some other thing just isn't working. Prose can be polished to no end, but sometimes the prose isn't the problem with your story. And in that case, working on the prose isn't going to help. It's like losing a main structural wall and trying to patch over it with some spackle (of course, I know certain people that do this kind of thing, and I don't mean figuratively).
Printer-friendly view of this topic
