The Writer's E-Zine Home

Writers' Village University - F2K: Free Fiction Writing Course - ePress-online
Writers' Village University Membership Information

Fiction Corner

Alison Hawke

A little red pen is a dangerous thing

My articles for t-zero start out in life as a scrawl of pen in a slightly battered notebook. I do a lot of writing in my "office," the sociology section of the local Borders book store where I can scribble undisturbed. I've never seen anyone actually buy a book from that section. It's quiet, peaceful and in the middle of an excellent reference library.

When I get back home, the scrawl gets typed up into Microsoft Word 95 ®. The article gets its first rewrite at this point; that's one reason I try to write everything in longhand first.

The second rewrite comes after I've printed the text and attacked it with a red pen. After that rewrite, I either print it again, or read it out loud. I like to leave the writing alone for a day at this point, so my next attack is not coloured so much by my closeness to the words. This is my editing process.

But what is editing? Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was a French aircraft designer and writer who said "You know you have achieved perfection in design not when you have nothing more to add, but when you have nothing more to take away." I think this is an excellent description of editing. Every word must justify its position and add something to the whole. If its loss would barely be noticed, the word, or sentence, or paragraphs could probably be deleted.

When I'm working on my writing, I put on a series of several editorial hats. Line editing is what I do when I type the article up, checking each word as it goes by. I do this again when I have the printout in front of me. It can be a vicious job and has cost me a lot of good sentences and paragraphs. Copy editing is a task shared between me and my word processor. I type, it underlines every typo and misspelling, and a few words that are spelt correctly too. Headline editing is something I gladly leave to the better qualified. A headline editor writes the "teaser," the two or three sentences that persuaded you to look at the article.

You have to use some sharp tools, a couple of blunt instruments and a lot of patience to turn a piece of writing from a plain, dull lump into a faceted diamond. The two books that have helped me most in my editing are "Self Editing for Fiction Writers" by Renni Browne and Dave King, and "On Writing Well" by William Zinsser. Both are well worth a look.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have an essay to prune.

Drabble of the Month

Thank you to all who sent in drabbles about The Game. This month's winner is Alan Girling.

Twister by Alan Girling First spin. Right hand red. Janet crouched modestly in her tartan skirt, blonde hair falling across her face. She placed her hand. Left foot yellow, my turn. I stepped gently, hoping. "Not so close, we'll get tangled too soon", she said. "So?" "I've got good balance." Right foot blue. She brought her leg around. Left hand green. I squatted, our faces side by side. "Okay?" I asked. "Perfect." Left hand blue. She reached. Face to face. She parted her hair. Was now the time? She closed her eyes. Right foot red. I slipped, falling to the vinyl. "Again?" I asked.

The theme for June is identity (due May 10th), the theme for July is incompatible (due June 10th) and the theme for August is observers (due July 10th). If you have any ideas for drabble themes, please email me.

PLEASE read the drabble submission guidelines before sending in your entry. Only one entry per person per month.

Email your drabbles to me at drabble@technologist.com.