I would rather create a story than edit it. That's likely the lament of every writer. Creativity makes the heart sing and the blood pump joyously. It's all about discovery and what-ifs. Possibilities abound.
On the other hand, after the writing is done, self-editing is a must--and drudgery, the recalling of rules of punctuation and grammar, examining word combinations to avoid alliterations or finding you've created unintentional, erroneous imagery for the reader. It's about double checking time lines and time frames, historic facts, spellings, et. al. In other words: self-editing is work.
Managing that "work" is a matter of trial and error until a "system" evolves that works for you--and likely only you. After all, we don't all write in the same genre or choose the same subject matter. (Life would be very dull if we did.) So, embrace your individuality and creativity but sit down, have a conversation with yourself, and come to terms with self-editing. And, yes, I dare to say it: become creative in the method of how you systematically self-edit. What you'll likely discover is that the negativity you associate with self-editing eases (as well as frustrations) and you turn out better copy in far less time.
Persevere and write on.
No comments:
Post a Comment