Editors and Writers Hats

(Note: repost from The Writing Jungle)

Writers have a hard time wearing their two distinctive hats:

• The writer’s hat
• The editor’s hat

Writing is all about creation, getting the story out of your head, and putting it down on paper or computer.

Editing is all about cutting, dissecting, and removing excess ‘word’ baggage.

A writer should first adapt writing freehand, allowing thoughts to be moved from the inner head and hop out to the exterior for some playtime. As experience settles in the editing will come naturally as you write. Just remember that a first draft is allowed to look as though an elementary student wrote it. It’s the subsequent drafts that will pull the whole story together. So avoid editing in first draft and simply allow your Muse free reign. That's what it means to wear your writer's hat.

The editor's hat comes after the first draft when you go back in and begin sculpting your work, fleshing out your characters, strengthening your sentences, building your world deeper with a rich background, checking for consistency.

Although many writers first build an outline, there are those - like me - who prefer to write what pops out of our heads. There is no right or wrong way - just your way, the way that will work for you. So experiment first by writing freehand, and then outlining your storyline and see what works for you.