SPACE COAST WRITERS' GUILD

Topic: Smith and Rusch - Editing your work!

Bill Allen - 2/27/2008 11:05:59 AM What do people think about Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch's radical views on editing? (In case you weren't at this year's conference, they suggested that writers not edit their work before sending it out, under the assumption that the writer will edit his/her voice out of the story.) I was somewhat concerned because, although this may work fine for two obviously seasoned writers, it is not the kind of seed you want to plant in the mind of a novice writer who doesn't know how to write concisely. Hell, I edited this posting and it's still pretty windy!

2/27/2008 7:59:34 PM - John White My guess is that they're at the same level as Stuart Woods and need little editing on their work. Us literary challenged need to keep editing our chaos until the cows come home.

3/2/2008 6:33:15 AM - June I am most certainly NOT at a level of writing to send out anything before editing. I am usually embarrassed about all of the mistakes I made after editing!

3/2/2008 1:45:23 PM - Valerie Allen I wouldn't try it. Part of your job as an author is to write properly, as well as tell a good story. You shouldn't expect someone else to do your work. Your book should represent the best you have to offer. This includes writing and editing.

3/5/2008 6:20:46 AM - Louise Nottingham In HS, 30+ years ago, almost all the girls and most of the boys in my area took typing. I took a VocEd 1 year secretary program and I also worked a few years as a secretary. Rule #1 (at least then) if possible, do NOT proof your own work. If you typed it, you will most likely miss the error when re-reading it. Rule #2 (at least then) if you have to proof your own work, read it from the back to the front. Typing errors will more likely be found. AND FINALLY, I read somewhere, and I tend to agree with, with fiction, but it away for a week or three, don't do anything with it, then go back and read it, slowly. For me I find that this is when the re-writes begin. More so than if I am re-reading what I wrote yesterday. If I wait, I will usually find a spot or three where I have left out the whole thought and just put in a fragment!

3/29/2008 9:50:00 AM - Athena Sasso If I heard that advice, I would get up and walk out of the talk.

3/29/2008 2:53:32 PM - Buster451 If we all wrote it write the first there wouldn't be anyneed for editing.

4/2/2008 1:22:16 PM - Judy Mammay I think PART of what they said was in the interpretation, and/or their use of terms. Even though they said they don't EDIT, they DO read through it and MAKE NOTES in the margins, or come back to a section to make notes if something needs changing to gel with what they have written in later chapters...isn't THAT considered editing? I think they were more likely trying to get us unstuck from rewriting the same story over and over to 'perfection' rather than really meaning 'send in garbage.'

4/15/2008 9:42:44 AM - Athena Sasso I understand (only too well) the trap of editing something for the fifteenth time instead of moving on to the next chapter. I've heard one should blow through the first draft of story or novel without editing and then come back to do the hard work. A genius might get away with submitting an untidy manuscript, but most of us-and most of the people who get published-are not geniuses and so must make up for it by paying attention to the details.