Why I Fell in Love With Editing
- Kayjah Taylor
- Jul 5
- 2 min read
Updated: Jul 7
Editing is and will likely always be my favorite part of writing. Plain and simple.
I didn't always feel this way, but I learned to adore the process.
When I wrote my first book, Never-Ending Nightmares, I was only eighteen. My experience with writing was mostly reading and writing on spare sheets of paper at the end of class. I fell in love with writing. I fell in love with putting my ideas into writing and reading them over.
Only after taking classes about writing did I learn how to edit. Even after I was a novice, I gained more confidence in my ability to edit properly.
Here is what made me fall in love with the process.
Shaping Your Voice
Every person is unique in their own right, and in how they write. See what I did there?
The first draft is always meant to be messy. It helps you get the story down. Editing is where you shape your story. You get to show your style with the rhythm and tone you write in. The more you edit, the more you'll also notice patterns in your writing style. Anyone can build tension or write humor, but not everyone does it the same way.
Watch Chaos Turn to Clarity
As I mentioned, the first draft is intended to be messy. Editing is where you get to turn all the mess into something great. You get to see what your story is really about. Strengthen your story through clarification. Make your character relationships believable, make the rules of your world finite, and organize your scenes to best suit your story.
Looking Back on Your Best Lines
This is one of my favorite parts of editing. You'll find yourself reading something you wrote and realize it is a great line. Discoveries like this help you find momentum in the editing process. It allows you to match your writing to those specific lines! It also reassures you during the editing process that you can write better than you think.
Thank you all for reading! Have a great Saturday, and happy writing!
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