Yesterday we spent about an hour and a half editing one paragraph.
One. Paragraph.
Still, it’s absolutely worth it, and it’s bound to get quicker as we get to the parts with less exposition and more action. And I have to say, editing is a fascinating process. You can really take a whole paragraph apart into individual bits, and then reassemble it in a totally new way. The result has all the same highlights as the original, but works a thousand times better.
And then there’s cutting. I’ve been working in the university’s Writing Center for two years now, and I’ve always emphasised the importance of cutting what you don’t need. Applying this principle to fiction is sometimes painful, but often also a relief. Some sentences or sentence parts not only do not work, they ruin everything around them by screwing up the structure, rhythm, even the mental associations of the rest of the paragraph. You kick them out, and suddenly everything flows.
And when you’re tired, you play some Might & Magic VII.
