We’re all familiar with the concept of “writer’s block” – that disease that infects writers who can’t seem to put pen to paper or finger to keyboard. I don’t really believe in writer’s block. I mean, I believe that it’s a phrase that people use to describe their inability to write, but I think it’s mostly an excuse for not writing. I’ve said before, the act of writing is the easy part of this process. Just write. If it’s lousy, it’ll get fixed or deleted in the editing process, but please, write something. And if you aren’t writing, but you’re genuinely researching, you are still engaged in the process. And I don’t mean the sort of research that is really procrastination. By genuinely researching, I mean reading a book, scouring the internet for a vital pieces of information, visiting locations that are vital to telling your story, or holed up in a library somewhere looking at rare documents.
Writer’s block typically doesn’t involve sitting for hours staring a blank screen, suffering from lack of inspiration. Writer’s block is cleaning the house, checking email, looking at Facebook, tweeting, watching TV, taking up a new and useless hobby, and doing other things when you should normally write. People who teach writing always say, “Make a specific time to write,” and that’s great advice, because otherwise you don’t even know when you’re not getting the job done. For me, every day that I don’t write is a day I fell off the wagon – and there are plenty. If I can get just 30 minutes done, I’m happy. If I’m correct (and in my column, I am) and writer’s block doesn’t exist, there is still more serious ailment lurking out there. Editor’s block.
Unlike the hypochondriac’s writer’s block, editor’s block is a serious and very real problem. The distinction is that the editing process is supposed to produce something nearer to a finished product. So, while the initial draft can be a Trumpian stream of consciousness making little to no sense. Editing requires the quality of the prose and the ideas contained within to be compelling and tell a great story.
The pressure is real and I was feeling it. Friends were asking, “Hey, how’s the editing coming?” And I was responding as if I was lying about about going to church. “Um, great. It’s going so well.” At some point there’s supposed to a final product, so I could only play that charade for so long before everyone wondered, “Where’s that book you were writing?” Kind of like when Peter Brady got fired from his job, but pretended to go to work anyway. (Confession: I spent way too much time researching that reference, even watching some of the episode on YouTube.)
So how do you cure this inability to edit and revise and produce something for the masses? Whiskey. Wait, no, that’s not it. The saying is “write drunk, edit sober.” The cure is to sit down and look at that work like it isn’t yours. We’ve all been there, reading a novel and wanted to drive across the country, knock on the author’s door and ask them why they didn’t do something different. Well, this is YOUR CHANCE to actually get to make that change that could make the book so much better. Ever wanted to get Scarlett and Rhett together forever? Or have the Old Man bring in that giant fish and be crowned a folk hero in his village? This is your chance to send Tom Joad to Wall Street success! (Sorry! Spoilers!)
For me, I have a character in my novel who, half way in, I decided was going to be a double agent. It was not in my outline and that was my first mistake. At the time I thought, “Ooooh, this is clever. No one will see it coming because I didn’t even plan it! Mua ha ha ha ha!” Except, it introduced serious problems in execution. The character’s motivation wasn’t developed (because they didn’t have any), and unless they were successful, they’d have to be less skilled at being a villain. Ultimately, a character who had potential to be interesting and strong became an inept cliché. So I’m excited about going back and fixing this miscarriage of writing.
Have you ever wished an author had spent more time on a character? Or just written the whole damned book about that person instead? When I started this book, I had an idea for a character that would be so cool I would spin him off into his own series later. Except, that character didn’t end up being that interesting. But another character really developed into someone that needs his due. So he’s getting a bigger backstory and a splash of color even if he doesn’t get a spinoff.
I wish I was like Cormack McCarthy, pecking the first draft out on a typewriter so deliberately and perfectly that it doesn’t need much work. But I’m not. Now, if I’m being honest, writing this blog post was a form of avoiding editing, so if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to lock away the whiskey and get back to work.
When Jonathan Kile isn't using Oxford Commas and drinking chai tea, he encourages you to check out his adventure thriller, The Grandfather Clock, which is currently the #1 Free Adventure/Suspense eBook for Amazon Kindle. The sequel, The Napoleon Bloom, will be out in 2016 2017. He promises. Jonathan gets his email at jkilewrites@gmail.com.
This article appears in Nov 17-24, 2016.