The Three Editors

     

     Last week I talked about Writer's Block and ways that you can overcome it. Here's the next step: editing. Now I know that some writers love to edit, and that they just ache for that red pen and heavy hand. I, however, am not that way. I love writing my first draft and the immediacy of it, but not the editing afterwards. When I'm writing my first draft, I'm not thinking about perfect everything--about if I accidentally skipped over something, or if I misspelled a word here or there. I'm thinking about the closeness of my characters, their vulnerabilities...the deepening plot. I'm not worrying about editing. But what kind of editor are you? Here are the top three kinds of editors:

1.) The Do it Later Editor

    This is who I am. I write and I don't think about the editing too much. I don't worry about the second draft until I'm to it. What's the good thing about Do it Later? Well, Do it Later gets things done, and usually pretty quickly. But this editor-type can be bad, too. What if you get through the whole thing and then realize that you switched tenses somewhere in the middle? Yeah, I did that. Then you have to go back through the ENTIRE thing and change every little spot where you said said instead of says. I'm not going to lie, it's a pain in the butt. Is finishing early worth going through slush?

2.) The Picky Editor

     This is the editor who takes four years to complete the first draft...but the first draft is usually more polished than the fifth draft of Do it Later's manuscript. Picky Editor writes a chapter, then edits it. Thoroughly. Like I said, this can be a good thing. When Picky Editor finishes their first draft, they have something that is very neat and polished. They have something presentable...something that Do it Later may not have for a few more drafts. But is it worth the time? It's up to you.

3.) The Cool and Collected Editor

     Cool and Collected Editor is the happy medium of editing-styles. He gets things done in a reasonable amount of time, and turns out a moderately-polished manuscript, too. Some may see this as a lukewarm writing style, but what's better than being the happy medium? You don't have a crappy draft to tear and shred through, yet you don't have a billion years into it, either.


So, who are you?

-Elysia Regina