“Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.”
― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.
Stephen King gives good advice when it comes to editing. As most writers say, the first draft has to only be written. Then, it can be perfected and made readable with the aid of ruthless editing. It can be painful to get rid of some of your best lines, or scenes, or in some cases, even entire characters, but everything becomes secondary to telling a good story, to having a plot without many holes. A story which works, which is consistent, and which pulls at the heartstrings of the reader. So, sacrifices must be made.
That is where editing comes in.
When you’re writing, make sure you manage to hook the reader with your first line. It could be an atmospheric scene, it could be sudden action, it could be something out of the blue happening, something which goes against the rules of reality or the norm. Make sure you get the reader invested. This is crucial.
Then, make sure you hold the reader’s attention with the second paragraph. Do not wander. Do not meander. Make sure you get the reader invested in your characters. Be it due to the plot, or due to some other reason, but have them stay interested. This is the setup. This is where you draw them in, where you shape the conflict which will be the overreaching arch of the entire book, which gets resolved at the end. It can be external or internal, or even a combination of both. Once you have done this successfully, you can relax a little and play around. You get a little leeway, since the reader has been invested.
Make sure you stay in character, and your characters stay consistent. Don’t let them be cardboard caricatures. Give them all distinct personalities. Now onto the finer aspects of grammar and vocabulary.
Well, Stephen King abhors adverbs, but sometimes they can be necessary evils. There is nothing inherently wrong with them per se, but often, when you use adverbs, you end up telling more than showing the story. Thus, make sure you don’t end up narrating the story; instead, build it up before the reader scene by scene. Let them imagine it in their minds eye, rising from the depths of their imagination like the Black Pearl rising from the inky depths of the ocean.
Further, do not use complicated vocabulary when simpler words will do – unless the meaning of the new-fangled word can be derived from reading the sentence, or if it is a character trait. You don’t want your reader reaching for the dictionary and losing steam in the midst of the story.
Make sure you keep the clutter to a minimum and keep a steady pace so that the reader wants to keep on turning the pages, forgetting reality and submerging in the world of stories.
Write, edit, read.
It’s that easy, it’s that hard.
