I recently submitted the manuscript for my latest novel, BLACK HEART : ORIGIN, to my editor. I got it back, with the usual mass of comments and suggestions. Of course, I didn’t agree with all of them, but as I read through the ones that I considered valid, it occurred to me that I had actually thought of almost all of them myself at some point in the writing process. I’d thought of them, but then I’d somehow internally justified them (without really thinking about why) and left them in.
Now, having considered the editor’s comments (and having received similar comments from other readers), the question arises: If I had the instinct that there was a problem with this scene, or line, or character’s behaviour, why didn’t I remove it or fix it in the first place?
My guess is that a lot of writers do the same thing, for a number of reasons. Being so familiar with what you’ve written, you have a tendency to skim over mistakes without truly thinking about them. Also, like an incumbent politician who keeps getting re-elected, your questionable scenes gain a kind of ‘correctness’, just from having been there for a while.
Mental fatigue, and even laziness are factors as well. You may have looked at a scene countless times, and just don’t want to deal with it anymore.
What’s the lesson here? I think it’s important to pay attention to your instincts as you’re writing and revising. If they tell you there’s a problem, don’t gloss over it and pretend it’s not there. Either fix it then and there, or at least make a note so that you can come back and deal with it later. Be brutal, and get it right – don’t settle for ‘good enough’. ‘Kill your darlings’, as the saying goes.
By identifying more of the problems ahead of time, I’m hoping that tapping into my literary instincts I can drastically reduce the amount of red ink on my future manuscripts.
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