You’ve heard that good prose is economical? Making it that way means wasting a lot of perfectly useful material
I’m doing a second revise on a scene. When I revised the first time I was aiming to make it as vivid as possible. Now, I’m more aware of the nuances I have in my novel; its themes, exactly what vibes I want in each scene. And I see that some of what I’ve written draws the reader’s attention to the wrong thing.
At its simplest, this is like when you decide to write about a prowling monster, then eventually cut everything except its shadow and what makes the reader scared of it – because you’ve realised that’s the effect you want. What I am talking about here is a level of editing that examines language and themes for these qualities. And I’m amazed how much material I’m paring away.
Here are examples.
• A detail in a scene that dilutes the clarity of the message.
• Too much imagery, with different ideas, when one or two would be more powerful.
• Too many themes jostling for position, when it might be better to let one take centre stage and deliver full impact.
And here’s the crucial thing; if I wanted a slightly different emphasis the cut sections would stay and others would go.
It’s like the difference between a top chef and a good chef. The top chef will use far less of a piece of meat because they want to get the texture and flavour just so. Chefs who are not so precise will not discard so much because they want to avoid the waste.
(With writing it’s easier. If you chuck meat away you waste money. With words, the time you took to write them is already spent. Don’t leave something in the book simply because it took you all afternoon to write.)
Of course, you don’t want to hack away so much that the scenes look bare and the world looks unpopulated. And I’m not saying you can’t mix your themes, images and so on. But the hallmark of a mature artist is they will get rid of what is seemingly usable material – so that the finished piece has the right focus and intensity.
This kind of editing often needs a pass of its own. It’s a bit like murdering darlings (find more about that here and here) – but these passages are not precious, self-indulgent or inappropriate. They are valid parts of the book’s world – but they might highlight the wrong thing.
A lot of the novice writing I see lacks this focus. Really good writing keeps tight control of exactly what the prose is doing.
Can you think of a favourite author whose prose shows this laser focus?












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