For Those Who Want to Write

As an undergrad, I was an editor for my university newspaper. Then, while pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing, I was Associate Non-Fiction Editor of our school’s literary magazine. I’ve ghostwritten for clients and edited a lot of writing over the years.

Here’s the #1 issue I see: OVERWRITING.

While editing the stories in The Collective Heart, the main thing I did was cut stuff out. What was left was a cleaner, more concise version of the story they were telling.

Here are the five steps I follow to end up with a (relatively) clean piece:

Step 1:

I write all the stuff I want to say about something in whatever way it lands on the page. This is a brain dump and not the time to care about spelling, grammar, structure, etc.

Step 2:

I shuffle it all around, copying and pasting until it resembles something that makes sense.

Step 3:

(This is the big one.) I cut as much as I can. I ask myself: Am I restating what I’ve already said? Am I trusting that my reader is a bright human being who doesn’t need me to spell every little detail out? What words can I remove and still say the same thing?

Credit here goes to David Long because if I can do this to even a tiny extent, it’s because I witnessed him do it expertly in our MFA workshop.

Step 4:

I read it out loud. I’ve always been able to hear how it should sound better than seeing it on a page. While I’m reading, I’m asking myself:

• Have I already said that?
• Is there a way to say this more succinctly?
• How would I say it if I were talking to someone?

I repeat Step 4 until it feels close enough (see Step 5).

Step 5:

I recognize that it will never be perfect, but I shoot for about 80% before sending it out into the world. My business is to write the thing, not to worry about how people will respond.

Here’s a real-time example:

Above, I wrote: “What was left was a cleaner…” That’s the edited version. The original sentence started with: “The result was that what was left was a cleaner…” Who needs all those extra words? ????????‍♀️

Do you have a specific process for writing? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.