Rewriting.

Whether you call it rewriting or editing, it comes down to rethinking the story as it is now. To achieve perfection in storytelling you must edit and you must rewrite. If the two are any different, the difference is, rewriting is more intimate and personal.

I always hear about directors deciding to cut favorite scence or authors scratching beautiful sentences. It’s always hard, but they know it must be done, and after they do it the story is better served.

In Max Barry’s “The First Draft,” he says, “What I’d give for the ability to erase my memory after each draft, so I could read my own books for the first time again. It would all become so clear: where the story sagged, where the promising leads left unfollowed lay, where my characters’ motivations got muddled and, oh God please yes, what the core of this goddamn story really is.”

The hardest part about rewriting might be finding clarity; being able to know what needs to get cut and what needs to stay. I’ve said it before: you can never get enough perspective on your story.

But with so much perspective, how do you know who to listen to? Maybe you have a single person you trust; maybe a handful. But maybe not. Maybe you are left with the impossible task of finding clarity in multiple perspectives. Maybe you agree with some ideas and disagree with others. Maybe you don’t know what to do with your story; where to take it; where it will end.

Maybe you need to clear your mind, because you can’t clear your memory. So, you step back and let the story alone for a while. But not too long. After all, you still want to achieve perfection at some point.