This week’s post from Naturist Fiction comes a day late. It wasn’t until I logged into my computer when I realised just what day it was. Somehow, Monday had vanished. I’m getting old and forgetful. Well, the getting old is real enough, but I’ve always been a forgetful kind of person, one who is easily distracted, especially when I’m busy with writing. Or as in the present, busy with the editing process of a book. When I’m not editing, I am either on the beach by the ocean wearing as little as possible, and sometimes nothing at all. It’s hot here in Ecuador.
I had originally planned to write about short story project, however it’s not the time for that blog post. I do want to confirm that I wrote a short story which my wife enjoyed and which will be included in the anthology. Well I guess it could be time for that post, but that’s not where my head is at. Editing is where I’m at. Now, that statement actually is an understatement. Trying to describe editing is like an all-encompassing obsession or possession.
A good example, perhaps, is in order to describe editing from my experience, especially as experienced at the present time. I turn on my laptop -for me editing on my tablet or phone is a hopeless task- and open the current document being edited. Then, with it ready, I get distracted. It doesn’t take much to distract me. Still, the pull to the document soon has me focus despite my wanting to do something else. Several hours later, I resurface. The ocean tide has its turn to make demands on me. Yet, even while walking along the beach with my wife, typically a ten kilometre walk, the editing questions intrude.
I’m not complaining. Editing is vital to ensure that what was intended actually gets written in a manner that would allow a reader to more easily immerse themselves in the story. Editing allows a story to appear as an authentic and realistic tale, regardless of the genre. And for authors of Naturist Fiction such as Paul and Will, what emerges is art.
Well, sir, you produce quite some art yourself. I hope you allow me this comment. If not, you will have to delete it (and I will put it up again).
Editing is indeed a necessity.
I will take that threat seriously, Paul. Your comment won’t be deleted. Thanks! 😉
Ah. I sometimes wonder if the edit version is as good as the original. The short story I submitted had no preconceived direction, except the location and an act of murder as dictated by the compiler of the book. As I wrote this, the plot and characters exposed themselves. The re read and editing does help in tying up loose ends and making thoughts flow easily, and. Of course those typos!! Well. I guess I just answered my first sentenced!
Yes, those typos as well as those incomplete thoughts we assume were fully written.
Thanks, Robert, for sharing your kind words and your thoughts on editing. I agree that it can be easy to get distracted! Sometimes I think it’s a miracle that anything anywhere ever gets done, what with so much out there to distract or thwart. Here’s to more of your productivity from the tropics!
It is a miracle, indeed. Thanks, Will.
You remind me of a one-time writing teacher who said, “A good poem is not simply written, it is revised into existence.” Allen Ginsberg famously said, “First draft, best draft.” And any writer who has made reference to it has said, “Worst advice on writing ever given.” And that is also why W.H. Auden said, “After the first draft, I always feel like a carpenter.” Yet it is the discipline of revision that makes of one’s “cobbled together carpentry” a piece of a cabinet-maker’s artistry.
I totally understand about the editing process but in my case it is for my cartoons. I often edit them once the panels are done and the original script is modified slightly to better accommodate the drawings. As for my short story the editing process will be done by my spouse. Will be interesting to see what changes will be done. I look forward to your short story blog.