thread: 2011-06-26 : Q & A time
On 2011-06-26, Vincent wrote:
Kit: Thanks!
I don't hire an editor, but I have a pretty good self-editing process I learned in school. After I've written a piece, I set it aside until I'm not in love with it anymore, then read it as critically as I can, as though I'm skeptical of whoever wrote it. Anything that gives me even an instant's irritation, I mark. If I think I might not remember what I marked it for, I add a note like "get to the point, dumbass" or "wait, the what? COME ON." Then I go back and rewrite, and repeat, and repeat. It's piles of printouts by the computer, in the dining room, by my pillow, in the can, filling up with red pen.
With a first draft, it's rare when a whole paragraph gets through unchanged. That first-draft printout is a total mess by the end.
I also hand Meg text to read, and pay very close attention to when she frowns and what questions she asks. Sometimes she'll go through with a red pen too. Sometimes other people too.
All of Apocalypse World went through at least two cycles of this, even the ludography. Most of it went through three or four.
Not everyone thinks that my writing is clear, though! Take it for what it's worth.
