Anything Goes : Writing is easy. Editing is hard. by Tim Ferguson

So funny, I mean odd-funny, not funny-funny - my process is totally different. Writing is torture. Editing is the fun part because I get to clean up the mess I made in my first draft - but that's just me.

You're in a gifted minority, Shawn!

I guess I'll take that as a compliment - as should you with this one - the piece you shot on your website - very witty stuff. Clean. Straight to the jokes. Good onya!

Yes, it's a compliment!

I love editing myself too. Ripping apart whole acts, rewriting characters, it's all good fun. My scripts rarely ever end up the way I initially plan.

Whenever I leave a script alone for four or five weeks to work on another project, I can come back to it and edit it as if it were someone else's. Editing is an art and it does take a lot of practice.

I agree with leaving it alone. I juggle rewriting a few. When I come back to the first one, I have a fresh point of view.

Comedy, now that is terrifying to me, just tried it last summer and wow, if you don't hear the laughter then that is exquisite torture. I like the bit in cheeky monkey about how even Shakespeare wrote some crap plays. That tickles me. I am currently doing final edits on a play I started writing years ago, just could never find it finished. You know where you do the final edit, after all the workshopping, the critical feedback, the torture of self doubt and you put it away thinking its ready. It was just never one that I came back to and felt, yes, it is actually ready. Maybe this time. Maybe if I say FINAL edits a few more times. I am also reminded of the first play I ever wrote, in college. I remember giving it to my lecturer and asking if she would read it for me, and I certainly remember the vicious critique. What did she know anyway! I put my precious masterpiece away and years later took it out and re-read it. You know what's coming now don't you...oh the embarrassment of even having dared ask someone to read that dross. I was roaring with laughter, and when I re-read the lecturers comments I realised the diplomacy she had had to muster.

I do a lot of my own editing, but still have an editor on staff. She catches all my goofs and makes my work look so much better. Not to mention she loves reading my stories. I am so happy to have met her.

I see first drafts as blueprints for what is to come. Maybe that's why I like the editing process more. And... when I was just starting out writing as a profession, in the stone-age, I had a boyfriend whose father was a film director. Very high tone British man who left a legacy of amazing movies behind. I was in London staying with them, I think for the first time, and he said something to me that became one of those crucial life lessons. It was simple - he said, "You will find that a red marker will become your best friend." He was right, and even as a young pup I knew in that moment that he was right. I got lucky early with advice like that.

True that. Funny how so many think writers just make things happen on the first draft.

@ Debbie--I used to think I did, but now I realize I do a heck of a lot of re-writing. All for the best.

I've been a "professional" writer for a long time. I was on location and responded to an important prospect via my smart phone. There were THREE typos in my response and the job involved RESEARCH, WRITING AND EDITING!! I'm such an idiot! Lost the client. Learned an invaluable lesson about not taking the process for granted. Learn from my mistakes! Don't use your smart phone!!

lol @Kathy. Good writing = painful editing. I always tell my authors, you know you've done a good job editing when you hurl at the thought of re-reading your work. lol. The last thing I ever want to do is read a book that rolls off the press after spending months editing both the manuscript and the layout. @JR, lol we've all been there. I remember sending an important email to a person I wanted to impress badly...crafted brilliantly (if I do say), and I re-read the email about 7 times. Just as I hit the send button, I noticed a spelling error in the subject line. Too late. Sigh.

I want to hurl whenever I have to look at the 3rd draft of anything I write. I want to hurl less when I am rewriting the first draft, but once I get to the 3rd draft - I'm not sure I want to hurl because I've been brilliant - I've just gotten sick of myself.

I read this today - "If it can be cut out, then cut it out. Everything nonessential that you can eliminate strengthens what's left."

@Debbie- yes, by the time I get a proof copy, I'm sick of looking at it, but oh, of course there HAD to be SOMETHING that needed to be fixed. I am happiest when I get nice reviews from folks I don't know, and sales are good. Then I know I've done my job.

There always is something. Just when you think it's perfect, as soon as you open the freshly printed copy, you are bound to find something. But if you've done the due diligence in editing, the reader will forgive one or two errors.

And they do happen...

I have seen sooo many films that get made not because the script is perfect, but because the connections are "perfect." That being said, it's a finicky business. :)