Editing and Underwear

I can only hope this post did not come up on some weird internet search. But I believe in the comparison.

I hate spending money on underwear. I know some women love it, but for me anything frilly, fancy, and sexy means scratchy, impractical, and uncomfortable. Basically, I want my undies to be functional and disappear from sight and my mind when I put them on. In conclusion, my idea of good underwear means if they are doing a good job I shouldn’t know they are there.

Same with editing. I’m in the midst of editing my newest book, Chimera. I won’t say how much I detest editing again. Oops. :-)

Editing, if done expertly, should never make itself known. Doing a good job means no one knows you spent hours doing it. It’s sad contemplating all of that toil is never noticed unless you miss something, much the same as a trying on a million bras only to discover it shows through your garment, but that’s the way it is.

And that goes for over editing as well. Yes, I believe one shouldn’t use too many words such as “was,” but sometimes, as Freud would say, a was is just a was. Even though it’s subtle, “was walking,” is slightly different than “walked,” especially when using first person.

Ditto for fancy verbs, again, especially using first person narration. Since you are writing as if inside a person’s head think very carefully before using too many interesting words. Would a normal person say “I galumphed over to the closet?” Probably not, and that verb would be distracting to the reader.

Just like underwear, functional practicality wins over lacy and racy. Usually. The mark of a good writer is knowing when to pull a surprise out of the drawer. Heh heh.