Daphne Gray-Grant

Home
Testimonials
Products
Free Articles
Book Reviews
About Daphne
Free Newsletter
Contact Me

 

 
  Check out my book!

 

I think you have one of the most valuable and insightful business writing resources on the web (and, as Im sure you know, there are thousands of them out there). No matter how busy I am, your newsletter is the one email I always open the moment it hits my inbox!
Leslie Talbot
Principal, G2G Sales, Cambridge, MA

I have to stop myself replying to your email each week to tell you how great I think your writing is. I've held off for two months now, so: I think your writing is great. Yours is the only newsletter that I read every time. Inspiring and concise, with humour. Love it.
Andrew Lightheart,
RealSmartNow.net
Singapore

You don't know me, but you've made such a big difference in my writing as I launched and then grew my copywriting business over the past year. Your newsletter is the only one I read right when I get it.
Kelly Parkinson,
Copylicious
Oakland, Calif.

I read your Power Writing tips religiously. I have learned more from them than I did in all my years at Catholic School. Your stuff is valuable to everyone regardless of their business function.
Mary Anne Doggett
Interactive Communications, Inc.
New York, NY

Unlike most newsletters I subscribe to (many of which I delete in frustration or let accumulate in my inbox for "later") I read yours the moment they come in. I love that they’re short, easy to read, and informative.
Nadine Pederson
Black Swan Services
West Vancouver, B.C.

Just had to tell you that, once again, your newsletter has brought enlightenment, enjoyment, and a welcome dose of sanity to my inbox. I love hearing from you each week.
Fran Sammis
Teledyne Storm Products
Woodridge, IL

I just wanted to let you know that I read 100% of your writing. Of the many newsletters that come to my inbox, yours is the only one I read from start to finish every time. TGIT (Thank God it's Tuesday).
Laura Williams
Mississauga, Ont.

Thank you for your recent newsletter. What a powerful concept! I think you've just given me a key to my writer's block. Your newsletter is terrific!
Lisa Ham
Bend, Ore.

I just don’t know how you do it. Every column of yours I read is noteworthy. I’m working on two books (one for Oxford University Press and the other for Prometheus Books) that are each due in a couple of months. I’ve got two major research projects and teaching to boot. I don’t read anything extra.
Except your emails. They’re worth their weight in gold.
Barbara A. Oakley, Ph.D., P.E., FAIMBE
Associate Professor of Engineering
Oakland University
Rochester MI

As a new writer and web owner, I had subscribed to several writing-type newsletters -- yours is the only one I have kept. It's short and sweet; and it offers value.
Julie DeHart
Manila, Philippines

 

 

June 3, 2008

Power editing

Why you must murder your darlings

I have a close friend, whose work I have helped edit for more than 20 years. He likes to say that my job is to review his writing, find the very best parts and then remove them. He is half joking. But only half.

In my defense, I will say that I am simply following the advice of British journalist, critic, and novelist Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, who said: "Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it -- whole-heartedly -- and delete it before sending your manuscript to press. Murder your darlings."

Quiller-Couch formed his maxim while a professor of English at Cambridge University and he used it in series of lectures titled On the Art of Writing. (Anyone raised on sound-bite TV may have a hard time plowing through the original, but, for the determined, here it is.)

Sadly for Quiller-Couch, he seldom gets full credit for his sage advice. Kudos more often go to the better-remembered F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, Mark Twain and Stephen King, who said the same thing. But it's not surprising that other smart, successful writers would echo the professor's suggestion. After all, they know the inevitability of getting a little blood on their hands.

Why? Glad you asked!

1) "Darling" writing - and by that I mean writing that is clever, self-conscious, inappropriately literary or writing that otherwise calls undue attention to itself -- usually sounds forced and laboured. You can almost hear the writer panting and gasping for breath. Instead, really good writing should look like figure skating or ballet -- graceful, elegant and effortless. (Even though it is the product of hard work.)

2) Focusing on bons mots and smart turns of phrase will slow down your writing. As I have said countless times, fast writing is the best writing -- even if this means the writing eventually needs repair. I know I risk sounding contradictory, but my philosophy -- write in haste, edit in leisure -- hinges on the concept of "flow." This delightful state, to which every writer should aspire, is one in which words come easily and effortlessly. You cannot achieve flow if you attempt to edit or otherwise fuss while writing. Keep the two processes separate!

3) Clever writing usually adds length -- and in this time-pressed age, no reader wants to be faced with more words than absolutely necessary. Consider the 19th century novel versus the modern one. My copy of George Eliot's Middlemarch is 880 pages. The novel I'm currently reading (Consumption by Kevin Patterson) is 400 pages. I'm not saying the latter is better because it's shorter -- I'm simply saying that modern sensibilities demand more restraint. Middlemarch is still well worth reading -- but the jury is out on your long sales letter or e-zine article!

4) Polishing your little "jewels" of prose will subvert your own editing process. When you're in love with what you've written you're like the 16-year- old who can't spot the flaws in her own boyfriend. He's so smart! He's so good-looking! He's so perfect. Ummm, no.

5) Writing is about making a point. "Darling" phrases, if we're honest, are usually about showing off a bit. Don't distract readers with your clever phrasing -- instead, persuade them with the merits of your argument. As James Carville might have said: "it's about the content, stupid."

Fiction writers are sometimes told, "Love the book, not the scene." For non-fiction writers let me rephrase: Love the finished piece, not the paragraph.

(Thanks to Trish who suggested the idea for this column.)

To receive a short email like this one each week, get on the Power Writing email list. It's free.