Rachel Starr Thomson

In the good old days, they say, writers wrote in garrets, all alone, driving themselves mad by candlelight as they scribbled, erased, threw drafts across the room in crumply fits, and occasionally burst out in brilliance. Things have changed. I know, because I am both a writer and a freelance editor. The Internet provides writers with community; often with readership. The many many avenues open to self-publishers have also changed the face of writing, in many cases, I think, in good ways.

However, I have noticed a new trend that disturbs me. As a freelance editor, I get to see a LOT of writing, and lots of it, to be honest with you, is pretty bad. It’s not that the writers are without talent or good ideas, but when you first get started as a writer, it’s not that easy to turn out sparkling prose. Writing takes practice. Experience. Hard work. And a lot of what I see does not reflect especially hard work.

It seems to be more and more common for writers to churn out a poor piece of writing and tell themselves, "That’s ok, I’ll just hire an editor." Or to have a manuscript rejected for very good reasons, but decide they’ll go ahead and publish it themselves.

In the old days, I like to tell myself, writers did things a little differently. They wrote. They wrote badly. Sometimes they recognized their work as the flotsam it was, but they were writers , so they chucked their first works into the Thames (or under the bed) and wrote some more. They wrote until they turned out something good. And then they sweated over it, revising and editing, alternating between painful obsession and wild joy, until they knew it was as good as it was going to get. Only then did they approach editors or other industry professionals with their work. And when they did, they were professionals themselves.

Now, I’m not suggesting that we should get rid of the wonderful community provided to us by the net, or that we should never put early work online for readers to enjoy. I’m not saying that freelance editors have no place in a serious writer’s life (if I thought that, I wouldn’t be one) or that we shouldn’t look for outside feedback. But I do think we need to hang on to the old work ethic, realize that no one else is going to tell our story for us, and sweat it out, no matter how hard it is.

This applies more to writers of fiction than of nonfiction. In nonfiction, writing tends to be all about the message. If you have a message you want to get out, it’s perfectly valid to hire a ghostwriter or an editor to help you tell it well. But if you’re writing fiction, realize that the story is in the telling. If you want to be a writer, you’ve got to work at it. Revise your novel until you’ve done everything to it that you possibly can. Hire a coach if you want to. Hire an editor, but do it so you can learn from the changes they make, not just so they can cripple your manuscript through. Aim to become a better writer–a garret-style professional.

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