Category Archives: how.to.write

So, okay, editing is important, and in my last post about writing I covered some tactics for “how” to edit your work, but I didn’t even touch the “what.”  When you’re editing… what do you cut?  How can you be sure what to cut?  It’s scary, no?  Okay, listen, I come bearing very comforting good news about this– we’re all natural born editors.  Let’s do a quick example, based on actual real life.  Warning: things are gonna get META for a second! Continue reading →

Editing is basically the undesirable step-child of writing; ugly, uncouth, a little more violent than you’d like, and rarely discussed in polite company.  When you write, you have to love your ideas, but when you edit, you can’t love everything or you won’t be able to brush away the clutter to reveal a landscape of clear, strong thoughts.

I am revising my screenplay right now.  To do it well, I have to be able to read a scene and say things to myself like “Nothing interesting happens in this scene.  Whoever wrote this scene was a very boring person.  Good thing I’m here to clean up the mess.”  I couldn’t be that honest if my ego were sitting in my lap, sobbing and choking out the phrase “I THOUGHT WE WERE SPECIAL.”

Continue reading →