FIXING WORDS

I spent the last two weekends editing  Middle Brother for this year's UTS anthology.

I didn't do this alone. An editor was assigned to work with me to get my story in shape before it went to a copy editor.


Every word was analysed. Should it be this, should it be that? Should it be deleted?
I'd edit, read the story aloud, edit some more. Each change made something else 'stick out.'

Kate, my editor suggested changes and most of them were spot-on. Her ideas about changing a word or fixing a bit of dialogue made a world of difference.

When I sat down a week later and looked at the story with 'fresh eyes' it was much better.

It read better because of the fixing, cutting, sawing a sentence in half - making it more punchy, making it flow.

And because the story was written from a young boy's point of view, every word had to be what a boy would say and think. His fart, his fight with his brother, begging his dad for lollies – the words had to be as real as the ten-year-old boy.

What a process. Intense, wearing, frustrating but so, so worth it.

When I see it in print, I'm sure I'll see more words to fix.

I reckon though, I will be so thrilled about my little story being in a book, that I will be literally jumping for joy.

Pic taken at 2010 Sculpture by the Sea of Giant Pencil Shaving