How to Get Distance on Your Writing
- hbkiser
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
Longtime readers know I'm big on giving the advice to get distance on our work to be an effective self-editor. So why do we all — myself most definitely included — find this process so difficult? Why do we need constant reminders of what we already know? And exactly how are we supposed to get distance without the benefit of time?
I recently had a conversation with an excellent editor about an approach I was taking with a particular piece. Guess what I learned? Nothing I didn't already know! Nothing I don't urge (beg, plead, jump on pianos for attention) my clients and writer friends to do!
Surprise — she was exactly right. Her comments were precisely what the piece needed. I know and preach these techniques backwards, sideways, better than the back of my hand...so why hadn't I applied them in my own work? "There's a reason," my astute editor commented, "why the saying 'the cobbler's children have no shoes' exists."
Ah. 💡
In that spirit, let me gently remind you of what you already know to do: manufacture that distance in any way possible.
Here's one way. It is most effective if you are already unhappy with the section or know that something's just not right but I can't put my finger on it," but it will work for most any piece.
Pretend you are editing someone else's work. Give them a name, or even a full backstory if it helps (but don't do this if you are prone to shiny object syndrome!) I'll call them OP here for "other person."
Look at each paragraph in isolation. Literally remove them from your document and paste them into a blank page. If you write really long paragraphs, you can break them up for this exercise if that's easier to manage.
Read OP's paragraph. What is its function? Is it achieving that? Is it compelling? Clear? Tight? Interesting? Do I want to keep reading? Can I cut or replace anything (words, phrases, punctuation, entire sentences) and still keep OP's intended meaning? Can I cut or replace anything to make OP's intended meaning sound better/be more specific? Don't edit yet; just mark the paragraph as KEEP, EDIT, or CUT.
Take each subsequent paragraph and look at them in turn, by themselves on an otherwise blank page, asking the same questions and marking them with one of the three choices
Put the paragraphs back together. For every paragraph marked CUT, use the strikethrough feature in your software. This preserves the words for now (helpful for those of us who delete too quickly or want previous versions for reference) but takes them out of the reading. For every paragraph marked EDIT, go forth young Padawan. Edit with abandon, focusing closely on all the ways in which OP's paragraph hasn't earned its KEEP. Feel free to use the strikethrough feature here as well!
Copy the passage onto a new blank page, and delete everything you've struck through. Read it again.
Better now, huh?
This sounds like a lot of work, and in a sense, it is. But how much work are you saving by not spinning your wheels?
