Joseph Kanon Quotes

To write is human, to edit is divine.

If you re-read your work, you can find on re-reading a great deal of repetition can be avoided by re-reading and editing.

My self-editing process is intense.

And the most important thing you can do is learn to edit yourself. And then go back and rewrite.

You’ll learn that the key to a great book is editing-grindin g, buffing, and polishing-not writing.

I guess if editing doesn't hurt, you're probably not doing it properly. I find it quite difficult. The hardest part is believing that it's actually working and getting rid of the doubt that always creeps in.

Spontaneous is what you get after the seventeenth draft.

Write. Write. Write. Learn how to revise. No story is perfect straight from the keyboard.

Rewriting is a large part of the whole job. And get rid of stuff that's not working. Just pare it down until it's a beautiful thing you can hand in, probably late, to your editor.

The beautiful part of writing is that you don't have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon. You can always do it better, find the exact word, the apt phrase, the leaping simile.

If something's not working, it's wonderful to have a reader you can trust to say, 'Actually, you've gone off the deep end here'.

Songwriting is like editing. You write down all this stuff - all this bad, stupid stuff - and then you have to get rid of everything except the very best.

Most of my work consisted of crossing out. Crossing out was the secret of all good writing.

I'm a writer first and an editor second... or maybe third or even fourth. Successful editing requires a very specific set of skills, and I don't claim to have all of them at my command.

Once you've finished typing and moving text around and everything else, you have to leave it alone for a while. You do that to see if it stands up, to see if all the loose edges have been trimmed, if it makes sense, if it's consistent, what shape it really has. You can't tell that while you're working on it.

If you want to write, write it. That's the first rule. And send it in, and send it in to someone who can publish it or get it published. Don't send it to me. Don't show it to your spouse, or your significant other, or your parents, or somebody. They're not going to publish it.

Read over your compositions, and when you meet a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.

Everybody needs an editor.

When I finish my first draft I usually narrate it to some trusted friends who can give me feedback. All criticism is welcome.

A song is such a short form ... that 'the slightest flaw seems like a mountain.' And so every song needs to be revised 'til it's close to perfection... But achieving perfection takes a lot of energy.

It is easy to criticize an author, but difficult to appreciate him.

You need not expect to get your book right the first time. Go to work and revamp or rewrite it. God only exhibits his thunder and lightning at intervals, and so they always command attention. These are God's adjectives. You thunder and lightning too much; the reader ceases to get under the bed, by and by.

When you write - explode - fly apart - disintegrate! Then give time enough to think, cut, rework, and rewrite.

Maybe writing can't be taught, but editing can be taught—prayer, fasting and self-mutilation.

With writing, we have second chances.