The Brutality of Editing

You write it, you edit it, then you cut it.

Photo by SEO Galaxy on Unsplash

In Hollywood, there’s a phrase I think most people are familiar with. It’s “Left on the cutting room floor.” Not only do scenes get cut and then not seen when the film reaches the theatre, but sometimes whole roles are left behind. Actors can spend weeks on a shoot and discover that their entire role will never be seen. That must be a combo of both depressing and infuriating.

A similar but slightly less well-known idea exists in writing. It’s called “Kill your darlings.” Like leaving film on the cutting room floor, killing your darlings means leaving plot lines, characters, scenes, and chapters in your virtual recycle bin.

In both cases, the reason for doing this is to keep the story moving forward. This can be challenging, however, because of the work you did on it. That’s part of the brutality of editing to keep your story cohesive, moving, and entertaining.

Editing three times

To all intents and purposes, I edit anything I write (save blogs like this) three times. This in and of itself is part of the brutality of editing. That’s especially true when you are dividing your time between ongoing writing and the different levels of editing.

Some writers edit as they go. They’ll realize that something they just wrote needs to be altered. Or, due to something they wrote recently they need to go back to an earlier section or chapter and edit it. They’ll pause what they’re doing and edit.

This has led to more authors and would-be authors than I care to count never completing a work. Nothing will stall or stay progress like not getting to the end before changing what you already have. In my opinion, that way lies madness.

Editing shouldn’t be started before you finish. Making notes about something you need to go back and redo or undo is the best way to avoid stalling progress. Done is better than perfect.

For me, when I get to editing, it’s a three-part process. Editing three times, in my world, looks like this:

Edit 1

I’ve completed the book. Now that it’s finished, I will go back and read through it. As I do my read-through, I will make…