Hi editors,
On Tuesday I turned a 1,937-word story into a 1,000-word story. It was painful. I had to ditch more than a few of my favorite lines and destroy some of my favorite scenes.
And now I want you to experience that same pain!
This week we're going to do two exercises in editorial concision, one whose results you'll keep to yourself and another that you'll share for the sake of some friendly (and hopefully fun) competition.
Both are going to be mega difficult.
The contest part involves cutting to 50 words a 91-word passage from Flannery O'Connor's classic story "A Good Man Is Hard to Find." It's going to be tough. But keep in mind, you're not trying to improve on O'Connor; you're simply trying to better your fellow WriteByNighters.
And hopefully get some good practice in editing for concision.
Which will serve you well for the second exercise: Cut in half (egad!) something short you're working on -- a story, a chapter, an essay. Or even just an extended passage from that piece.
Can you find spots where one word can do the work of the six you use in the original? Where you can say in two lines the same thing that took three or four? Where you can kill some of your darlings for the greater good?
