A Note from the Writing Process

Working through the umpteenth rewrite of Of Monsters and Men, the sequel to The Divine World. I keep coming across notes in the text that simply say "write better." And then, when I look at the text, I wonder if I should just delete it and move on. Sometimes - a lot of times - you over-write elements of the original story thinking you need to emphasize something, but during the rewrite you look at it and go, "is it even necessary?"

Deleting is hard because you feel like you're killing your baby. But, if you're a writer, you know that sometimes you just have to do it.

Not every detail is necessary. And not every sentence you write is golden. Remember: as a writer, you probably write a lot of filler. That's bad and detracts from the story. Always edit down. It's hard, but train yourself to do it: you want to leave your readers wanting more (and you can give that in the next story).