Be Your Own Editor

“I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again.”
—Oscar Wilde

I’ve been there, Oscar. I’ve been there. The question is: Were you more confident in that comma at the end of the day?

“If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.”
—Elmore Leonard, author of The Hot Kid

The Hot Kid is Leonard’s fortieth novel, so he’s done a little rewriting over the years. What does “sounds like writing” mean? A hint: watch Tom Cruise act. Apologies to any Cruise groupies out there, but to me, his acting “looks like acting” every moment he’s on-screen. You can see the process at work. That’s what happens when it “sounds like writing.”

“I can’t write five words but that I change seven.”
—Dorothy Parker

Jeez, I expected something wittier from Dorothy Parker. But her point is that you should never think of the first words you put on the page as the final draft, or even close. Don’t sit and stare at your blank computer screen, fearing that you’ve got nothing but a vague idea of what you want to write. Just write something, and keep rewriting it, and that something will turn into something. If you keep it in your head, it’ll never have the chance.

“The waste paper basket is the writer’s best friend.”
—Isaac Bashevis Singer

Unfortunately, it’s also the agent’s best friend. Which makes all that rewriting really, really important.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 9th, 2007 at 5:10 pm and is filed under Quotations on Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.