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About the author and blogger ...

Anne Goodwin’s drive to understand what makes people tick led to a career in clinical psychology. That same curiosity now powers her fiction.
A prize-winning short-story writer, she has published three novels and a short story collection with small independent press, Inspired Quill. Her debut novel, Sugar and Snails, was shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize.
Away from her desk, Anne guides book-loving walkers through the Derbyshire landscape that inspired Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.
Subscribers to her newsletter can download a free e-book of award-winning short stories.

TELL ME MORE

Relishing the cuts.

27/1/2015

26 Comments

 
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By the end of this week, I’m hoping to have completed the first round of my publisher’s edits of my forthcoming novel, Sugar and Snails. I’ve blogged before about the joys of collaborative editing but, I must confess, I haven’t always relished having someone else take a scalpel to my treasured words. However much we understand intellectually that the external perspective is vital, it can be difficult emotionally to accept that our darlings must be killed.

This time, however, I’m delighted to see paragraphs scored through, sometimes entire scenes. I’m not saying that I agree 100% with my editor’s suggestions, but I do welcome the prospect of cuts. Given that I’d pared the prose down as much as I could before submitting, and a bit more on signing the contract, I am a little surprised that I’m so sanguine about additional extractions. I can’t believe it’s because, after so many years of writing, I’ve achieved a Zen-like state of acceptance; so what else could be going on?

Firstly, it’s so much more containing working on a publisher’s edits, as opposed to, say, those suggested by a critique service, as useful as those can often be. By dint of accepting the manuscript, they’ve already demonstrated their commitment to taking something good make it better. Secondly, Sara Slack, my editor from Inspired Quill, makes the process such fun: not only picking out what she thinks doesn’t work, but highlighting what does, with occasional comments on her experience as a reader that make me smile or laugh out loud. Thirdly, I’ve noticed from my experience as a book blogger that it is all too common for debut novels, even from the major publishers, to contain too much that’s surplus to requirements. I want to avoid that mistake if I can.

I think these conditions combine to contradict the unconscious assumption – and it has to be unconscious, because who among us would admit to such deep vulnerability? – that the invitation to cut means the writing is crap. In fact, when you think about it, it’s actually the reverse: an indication that the passages around it are strong enough without the scaffolding to keep it up.

Emma Darwin wrote recently about the need to dismantle the scaffolding we use to get from one scene to another. I think I’ve learnt to avoid showing how a character moves physically between scenes, but I might fail to recognise some of the psychological manoeuvrings as mere scaffolding. I’ve also noticed that, because I want to illustrate the continuity of ideas and themes across the novel, I’ve thrown in too many reminders of previous scenes. But I’m happy to let these go and allow the reader to pick these up for themselves, or not, depending upon their own unique reading of the novel.

For Charli’s flash fiction challenge to write a 99-word story on what happens at 2 a.m., I’ve played with the theme of my debut novel and cuts:

I crouch on the stairs, hunched over my laptop. My fingers fly across the keys, pausing intermittently to press the Stanley knife to my arm.

The scene refused to let me sleep. At two a.m., I got up and made coffee.

The blade glints, reflecting the streetlight. I picture a ruby spot cloning itself over and over, beads on a rosary spreading out to form a line. I imagine the brassy taste, the searing pain.

An owl hoots. I click save and shut down my computer. My sleeve is smeared with blood. In the real world, I call 999.

I confirm, for the fainthearted, that no limbs were harmed in writing this story, and I value my sleep too much to get up in the night to write. But I clearly remember sitting with a Stanley knife beside me when I wrote my self-harm scene. And there has been occasion when my characters have got too real. How about you?

Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
26 Comments
Helen link
27/1/2015 01:07:22 pm

"an indication that the passages around it are strong enough without the scaffolding to keep it up" - beautifully expressed. With one of my editing hats on, I edit mothers' stories of their early days and weeks with their babies, and so often I can take out whole passages of explanation or apology because the really meaty story, and the really honest expression, stands perfectly without it. I love being able to show a writer how her (usually) work can sing so much clearer for itself when passages of white noise are removed.
(If I was editing this comment, I'd probably have stern words to say about mixed metaphors).
I also confess that when editing my own work, if a whole paragraph has to go I quite often save it into a separate "scraps" document, so it doesn't feel so irrevocable, and the work doesn't feel wasted. Perhaps a sentimental over-attachment!

Reply
Norah Colvin link
27/1/2015 10:37:20 pm

You never know when that paragraph may be needed again! It's so easy to do now with electronic writing tools! :)

Reply
Annecdotist
28/1/2015 02:44:38 am

Maybe sometimes too easy, Norah.

Annecdotist
28/1/2015 02:43:56 am

Thanks, Helen, good to have that sentiment endorsed from an editor's point of view.
I don't keep anything I've cut from short stories, but I do keep the various drafts of my novels, often both in paper and virtual formats, which can get a bit confusing if they had not properly labelled. Not always so easy to let go!

Reply
Charli Mills link
27/1/2015 02:13:19 pm

I'm really excited for you in the process of edits. My greatest angst comes from not knowing which cut to make -- am I cutting scaffolding or my arm? With an editor/publisher, there is a team-like atmosphere that lends confidence to the right cuts. When I think of scaffolding being to obvious in a book, I think of a title I've seen (but not read) for improving craft called, "He Stood, She Sat." In the beginning we might need those constructs, but each revision should require them less and less.

Your flash fiction reads like the "Fight Club" of writers, how we can beat ourselves up in the process, cutting darlings, carving an arm. Of course, metaphorically it may feel as such. Don't write if it actually leads to self-harm! If anything, I think writing calls us to self-care because we do have to confront many difficulties throughout the process. Great post and flash, Anne!

Reply
Norah Colvin link
27/1/2015 10:40:32 pm

He stood. She sat. Sounds like my sort of book: Dick ran. Dora ran. Dick and Dora ran. No, I don't really mean that sort of book! :)

Reply
Annecdotist
28/1/2015 02:55:12 am

Another slant your post about children's learning to read – how can we expect them to be inspired with such books. We had "here is Janet"", here is John"

Annecdotist
28/1/2015 02:53:25 am

I do agree, Charli, it can be very hard, especially on your own to distinguish cutting scaffolding from cutting an arm and, even with an experienced editor, we can never be 100 percent sure that they cuts are right – indeed, they couldn't be for every reader, some will want more and others less.
Great title for a book on editing. I do leave in some of these basic movements, if only to break up dialogue, but something I'll be conscious of when going back to my text. Thanks for sharing.
And absolutely, self-care is vital for the writer. There have to be limits to how much we are going to inhabit our characters. After all, that's what our imagination is for.

Reply
Bec
27/1/2015 02:30:48 pm

Hi Anne, a very visceral and candid reflection on your editing process! I'm glad the stanley knife was only with you as a prop :)

As a non-writer, it is fascinating to learn from you about the process of editing - though I enjoy reading, it's easy oftentimes to think of novels as being these effortless gems of the author's brilliance, rather than being the outcome of brilliance, toil, and considered thought.

I very much enjoyed your FF too, very atmospheric and ominous. Good luck with your (word) cuts!

Bec

Reply
Norah Colvin
27/1/2015 10:41:19 pm

Hi Bec. Lovely to see you over here, sharing the love around! :)

Reply
Annecdotist
28/1/2015 02:59:46 am

Thank you, Bec, and a lovely surprise to see you here. I'm glad you find the process interesting as someone looking in from the outside. I imagine that most writers - I certainly did - started off like you, thinking you just had to get the words down, unaware of how much work goes into quality control.

Reply
Sarah link
27/1/2015 03:13:42 pm

Love how you worked cutting into both your flash and your writing/editing. Is the self-harm scene in your Sugar and Snails or your WIP? I'm intrigued.

"However much we understand intellectually that the external perspective is vital, it can be difficult emotionally to accept that our darlings must be killed." So true. Though I'm not going through this at the moment. ;-)

Reply
Annecdotist
28/1/2015 03:05:17 am

Thank you, Sarah, glad you liked that line. I'm afraid the self harm scene comes in the first chapter, and I do hope it doesn't put people off. But I don't think it's as gruesome as some of the novels I've reviewed lately!

Reply
Norah Colvin
27/1/2015 10:48:49 pm

Great piece of flash Anne, but I'm especially pleased that no limbs were harmed in the process! And no writer, either, by the sound of it. I wonder do you (not you, specifically) get to a stage where you have worked so hard at something that acceptance of change is seen as necessary to complete the process. I know I have felt that at times, but other times I have put things away because I am not ready to "kill my darlings" and let the project survive independently of them. As you say, it is different with the suggestions coming from a publisher who is committed to your story than from an independent reader whose opinion may not be as "valuable" to the publication process. It must be getting more and more exciting as the publication date draws near.

Reply
Annecdotist
28/1/2015 03:11:35 am

That's a useful perspective, Norah. Certainly, I've often felt unready to incorporate other person's perspective until I've given myself time to think it through. And I am finding with some of these edits, I agree on the need to change a passage that's flagged up, but not necessarily on the actual changes suggested. That's a process I really enjoy, because it's fully collaborative: I'm taking forward the changes in my own way (so it's true to my style of writing etc) but wouldn't have got there without the editor pointing it out.

Reply
geoff link
29/1/2015 09:56:16 am

Was it Gaiman who said something along the lines that when a reader makes a criticism it is almost always worth listening to but when the same reader suggests a change it is almost always worth ignoring. Others can tell you where something doesn't work but only you know your book well enough to know how to correct it (sorry, you can edit that last sentence out!).

Annecdotist
30/1/2015 08:14:54 am

Not sure who said it originally, Geoff, but it's often repeated and very wise. Unfortunately, some critiquers – even experts – don't know how to hold back from making suggestions on how they would write it and some/most novice writers don't know or don't want to know that no-one knows better than them HOW to make the identified change. (Now, wasn't that what Dr Spock used to say to mothers? You know more than you think.)
And as if I'd ever edit your comment!

Kate Evans link
28/1/2015 01:15:33 am

Thanks for this post and looking forward to reading your novel. There are some useful tips here on what to look for in editing. I would have loved to have had a professional editor for my debut novel, though I did work hard myself and sought a lot of feedback from fellow writers. So far no-one has said it is overly flabby. Indeed there's been some comment that maybe I dismantled a bit too much of the scaffolding! Can characters ever become too real? I live with mine all the time.

Reply
Annecdotist
28/1/2015 03:16:41 am

Thanks, Kate, and helpful to point out the value of self-editing and peer feedback. I'm finding with these edits that I'm becoming more self-critical (I think in a good way) and chopping several bits that my editor has passed over as okay (although, who knows, they might have come out in the next round). I also think that editing has the potential to be an infinite process – I've heard some quite famous writers say that they still want to change stuff even after it's been published (but of course can't) – and the comes a point when we have to say enough is enough and let it takes its chances out of the world.

Reply
Kate Evans link
28/1/2015 03:26:43 am

I think it behoves us as writers to become better at analysing our own work, though, personally, I think there's a danger that editing comes in too early and squashes creativity. Reading published and unpublished work, being part of a peer review group and being a creative writing tutor has helped me to become a better editor of my own work. I agree, editing can become infinite. When I was writing my non-fiction book in 2013 and getting caught up in getting it 'right', a far more experienced academic writer said to me, there's always the next book or next article, this is just expressing where you are in this moment. I find that helpful for both non-fiction and fiction writing.

Annecdotist
30/1/2015 08:20:16 am

Thankfully these additional points, Kate. (somehow, I thought I'd replied to this already, maybe it was just on twitter or I've put it on the wrong post – that's what comes of a blogging overdose).
Anyway, I totally agree, editing for others' work feeds into our own. But we've got to let it go sometime – fortunately deadlines do help.

geoff link
29/1/2015 09:59:17 am

when I paid for a professional edit it gave me a lot of confidence that, once I had made the changes the remainder worked to the standard I wanted it to. Before I kept nibbling away and often edited just to change the way I said something without actually changing what was being said. I even found I'd reverted to a form of words I deleted a few drafts before.

Reply
Annecdotist
30/1/2015 08:22:31 am

Glad that worked for you, Geoff. Sometimes tinkering is no help at all, but some radical cuts can help to make the rest stand up for itself.

Reply
Charli Mills link
29/1/2015 12:21:40 pm

The discussion is as useful as the post! Geoff offers some wisdom that actually helps me with my current process. My reluctance to change passages is less about killing darlings and more about creating freaks! I worry that in my need to change something that I alter the story for the worse. But as Geoff says, we each know our story best and that's what I need to stand on when I do make edits. It would be great if edits were like wielding a Stanley knife because that's a tool that comes with instruction. Revision comes from experience and includes making mistakes. Does it ever stop being a learning process?

Reply
Annecdotist
30/1/2015 08:27:01 am

I agree, Charli, I'm loving this discussion and it's really stretching my thinking.
Not to put a dampener on your point, but, while the story IS steady ground, mine is often pretty uneven, and it can be hard to pick out what are the most useful features. But, though it can feel unsteady, it is fun learning as we go along.

Reply
Ava link
10/2/2015 10:10:07 am

"a Zen-like state of acceptance" My goal for 2015! :D

Reply



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