I Overthink. Therefore, I Overwrite.
I overthink. Therefore, I overwrite. And because of this, the editing process, whether at my own hands or the hands of others is painful.
Kill your darlings, they say. But oh, that is a painful mercy killing.
I really think about every word I put down, especially for its emotional impact, the meaning behind what is said and what is not said. What I am trying to pull out of myself to share with you, gentle reader. I’m not saying I always choose perfectly or wisely, just that I always think . . . ahem . . . overthink it.
Consider . . .
She shook his hand . . . versus . . . She reached out to shake his hand.
Clearly a pre-COVID-19 example, but bear with me. It wasn’t so very long ago that we were routinely shaking hands.
Many an editor would cut the latter to the cleaner former. After all, to shake a hand you have to reach it out, right? And so, in accordance with the natural flow of the editor universe, they edit. As a friend once advised me, “Don’t go to a surgeon for a hangnail, for they will want to cut off your finger.” Cutter’s cut. Editor’s edit. And that is just the way the world goes ‘round.
But, honestly, to me, those two sentences say, or at least can say, very different things. Or at least they would if I wrote them.
