Yesterday I blogged about my difficulties with one of my characters and speaking in her voice. That is part one of my difficulties with editing Fate, and this is part two: the Edit Monster.
I think everyone has their own Edit Monster. Mine has wrinkly orange skin and bronze-colored plates like a stegosaurus. He's reasonably well-trained and never nips at me. Edit Monsters certainly do tend to have their own qualities. Mine, like any child, loves eating out. Meaning that if I'm editing a friend's story, it will bleed. Lots. And when I edit my own, it bleeds lots too, but later on I find that the Edit Monster hid the brussell sprouts under the napkin and put way too much ketchup on its meatloaf. After the whole process, yes, I've cut out a great deal, but suddenly it seems as though I have a thousand words more than when I started editing. Um, doesn't that kind of defy the point?
Personally, I've always been a prolific writer. I volunteer to do the single twenty-page essay because I know that if I try to do the 3-seven-page essays, I'll end up doing 3-twelve-page essays. It's a gift, and sometimes it's a curse. I know I'm not alone. Sammy, over at Access Approved, finished her first novel at over 200 pages. Mine doesn't get that far.
So what I want to know is... what type of writer are you? Does editing sometimes seem add to your work instead of fine-tuning it? And, most importantly, what does your Edit Monster look like?
Cheers!
