You know what’s amazing? Suddenly, now that I’m officially in the revision stage, it feels good to cut words, scenes, even entire chapters from my book.
Months ago, I lamented doing away with pieces of this travel memoir I had worked hard to create. But now that I’ve declared it my task to cut everything that’s unnecessary, doing so feels… freeing.
Maybe it’s because I know these cuts are improving my book. Or because these revisions represent a light at the end of the tunnel. Whatever the reason, I’m enjoying it!
Anybody else enjoying cutting and trimming?
Only in the fact that I know it makes it a stronger piece. I really like reworking flash fiction for this effect.
Heh heh… I love cutting. After all, I’m a copy editor. It’s kinda sadistic, but I enjoy being handed a story 12 inches too long and being told “trim it!”
Wordiness and redundancy are bad. Cutting is good. Sounds like you’ve got the right attitude.
At first, I was NOT a fan of cutting out anything. Then I realized that to trim is to make a story tighter. A tight story is one that can hold water and the reader’s attention. I like editing and seeing where the story is really going, what’s the meat and potatoes of the story and what’s garnish. A little garnish is good, but too much and you lose sight of what’s really important.
Jen
A love of revision really shows a maturity level with writing so enjoy it!
It feels good to cut stuff out, for precisely the reason you mentioned – I love making my work stronger. After a bit of distance from the work, it’s much easier to be objective, to tell what’s good from what’s really not. Good luck with the revisions!