On editing
I love a good edit. I’ve heard not all writers do, but I can’t imagine it. The second draft—after an editor gets involved—is my favorite part of the whole process. The first draft is pure psychological torture, because you’re going from nothing to something. The second draft is going from something to something better. You’re not making a thing from scratch. You’re fixing, tweaking, correcting, comparing. How can I seamlessly address this question my editor had? Is this the best lede I can come up with? Can I make my scenes or characters more vivid? Is there a stronger structure I could be using? I live for this problem solving, even as parts of it can be frustrating. (HOW can my editor be confused about this obvious thing I know inside and out? I whine—and then I fix it, because if they’re confused, readers will be too.)
I’m very lucky in the freelance world because I work with the same editors over and over again, and I trust them completely. I also (mostly) get paid enough to not worry about spending too much time on a feature. (One day I will finally manage to track my time on a project and realize I’ve been making 50 cents an hour, but for now I’m content to live in my delusion.) So when I open the first round of edits and see a wall of pure red, my heart sings. The red means my editor cares just as much as I do. The red means we’re going to make it better, together.
Don’t get me wrong. I also love hearing, “it’s great, not much to change!” after I file a first draft. But that mostly happens for quick-turnaround, shorter pieces, not the long ones where structure and pacing really matter. When I write a first draft of one of those, I have often done so much reporting and learned so much about a topic that I can’t see the story clearly. I can’t see what’s most interesting, or what doesn’t fit. (I think a lot of journalists experience this, but science journalists most of all.) I can’t see what readers won’t know, or which tangents I will never be able to make them care about. I need an editor to gently but confidently guide me back to the path, and to help me finish clearing it.
I’ve spent the last five days up to my elbows in a second draft, and I’m very tired. But it’s the tired at the top of a mountain, not the tired of not wanting to get out of bed. I still have several more rounds of editing to go before you’ll get to read the story. By the time it’s published it will have gone through two story editors and at least one copy editor. I will be even more exhausted. But the story will be the best version of itself. Bring on the track changes.