So Polished You Could Shave In its Reflection…

Too Polished?

I have a problem I can’t recall if I have spoken about before. It has to do with the order in which I edit things. I have a tendency to write a scene, edit that scene, write the next scene, repeat. If I hit a road bump I go back to where I was last confident. Usually, the start or very close to it. It results in a novel that has a chapter 1 which could be edited as much as 10-12 times when the last chapter has been edited perhaps once.

Chapter 1: It could be published tomorrow.

Chapter 5: Still cruising.

Chapter 10: that was a pothole…

Chapter 12: Little wobble.

Chapter 15: Duct tape and hope.

Chapter 18: They won’t notice that right?

Chapter 22: Panic and desperation. (Okay I think it’s never that bad.)

Like many people I think writer write from the beginning because that I where stories start form right? (Ignore in medias res and all that, it’s still your chosen start.) I know I am not the only one because I’ve seen this in published works too.

I’ve been trying to edit backwards, or at least starting repeatedly from the middle. I want to get into the guts where things aren’t working at a deeper level than line edit. When we are on polish # 12, you aren’t fixing big things you are rewriting lines, taking a word out here and there and that can be important but it’s not where people lose the hook.

Characters that don’t pay out.

Setups are forgotten.

Action happens without sufficiently believable motivation, or entire character personalities switch without noticing it.

Pacing issues.

What do we do?

Try starting at the end.

Read your last chapter with what you think the book did. Make notes to yourself about the things which you believe had to have the emotional impact and weight for the last chapter to pay off. What do you think you achieved? A strong ending can forgive a weak start. The opposite is never true. Do it twice. Write those notes at the front of your manuscript that you need the manuscript to deliver on, and then start to read and edit your way forward from the front. Or even the middle.

Don’t polish lines. That isn’t relevant if you have to delete a scene later anyway.  Focus on structure and purpose.

Do the same thing with a scene you think is strongly impactful in the middle. A plot twist, or a character change of heart or a revelation. Did you build up to it? Edit that chapter alone 1-3 times. Make notes and then go backward for what sections and scenes might need tweaking that influence that pivotal moment. Make notes going forward how this should change the character.

By changing where we start our edit we can have a piece that is more completely polished, and we can break out of old habits to find new ways of seeing our works.