(deep) editing

Word count:
Project:

Copy-pasted from Jeri Smith-Ready's blog, because I'm rapidly beginning to fall in love with her/it:

What's with all the different colors? I once took an online workshop with author/trainer/psychologist Margie Lawson called Deep Editing. Part of the process is to break down the different elements of one's writing: dialogue, actions, description, interior thoughts, and visceral gut feelings. Each one gets its own color, so you can look at a page at a glance and figure out what's missing. (You can also work on each element separately--I do this especially with actions, which tend to be repetitive in early drafts.)

Whoo! Sounds like it might be fun to try. I realized tonight that printing, for all that is enormously uneconomic, might be the only way to disconnect enough to actually accomplish all that editing is. Also, highlighters.

I also realized that, while maybe it's practice and maybe it's just me being a snob, I don't DO the stupid ideas and random babble/exposition that most people seem to talk about cutting out of the first draft. I'm sure there's enough to warrant a smackdown from a great editor, but I know when what I'm writing is stupid, and I either cut it or don't do it. Maybe being such a minimalist has something to do with it; it feels like a lot of that trash is melodrama and I tend to avoid that like I'm allergic.

Or maybe I'm just too close to see them.

Either way, I don't seem to struggle with it. However, when I really go through poD before sending it out, a lot of those dramatic exploratory scenes are going to have to justify themselves hardcore or get axed.

...

Or maybe you actually have to FINISH something before seeing them.

Hmm.