The Catholic Writers Guild

Time for another round of beginning editing skills. Recall our basic premise:

The first draft gets the story out of my head and onto paper. The revisions get my story off the paper and into the reader’s head.

In previous columns we’ve explored ways to write clearly and accurately. Today, we just want to keep the reader awake.

Please Do Not Bore Your Readers By Writing Too Much.

Your first draft has every right to wackiness. Way too many words here; long, detailed descriptions there; and over in another corner, quick ideas jotted down that still need fleshing out. That’s what a first draft is for. Just get out as much you can, quick as you can.

When you go back to revise, it’s time to snip, snip, snip. Here are three problems to look for:

1. Way too many ideas. You are an expert on your topic. You know too much. You want to say it all, and say it now. Pare back to only the most important ideas for this particular message. There will be a chance to write again another day. Keep your readers awake and interested, and they’ll keep flipping pages or clicking posts to find out what you have to say next.

2. Asides on every side. There are so many connections, so many interesting observations, and it is sorely tempting to share them ALL with the reader. Backspace is your friend. Give yourself some strict rules:

• If the message is not about me, I’m not going to put in asides about me.
• If my main idea is important, I’m not going to distract my reader with side comments.
• If my story needs to be fast and flowing right now, no parenthetical quips from the narrator.

Asides are like overgrown shrubbery along a sidewalk. They slow down the reader and make it hard to see the main message. Snip away until your reader can move quickly and comfortably through your work.

3. Too much fun. You write because you love your topic. This is a hazard for every genre:

Fiction: You spend hours daydreaming about your imaginary world. Why wouldn’t the reader want to know exactly how the magical sword was forged, molecule by molecule?

Non-fiction: You have 1,001 great ways to prove your point, and surely the reader needs at least 999, right?

Humor: If you have a fall-on-the-ground funny scene, won’t the readers still be belly-laughing three pages into the joke?

Writing is cooperative. You write because you can’t help yourself, but you also write for an audience. Many of your readers want your basic idea, and then they want to move on. Write for those readers.

But what about the reader who shares your undying passion for the details?

Well, he wants to use his imagination, too. Let him do a little daydreaming of his own about the making of the sword, the proving of the point, the many permutations of the joke. Leave room in the universe for fan-fic (and fan non-fic). Plus, all those cuttings will make interesting blog posts, volume 2, or “deleted scenes”, for the reader who just can’t get enough.