Feedback Wanted
Clean prose is often treated as proof that a draft is working. I’m not sure that’s always true.
Sometimes the friction is the point: the repeated phrase, the slightly awkward sentence, the bit of resistance where the feeling catches on the way out. Strip all that too early and you can end up with something tidier, but less alive. The sentence behaves itself. The emotion does not.
I’m curious how other writers handle that first pass. Do you smooth as you go, or leave the roughness in until you can see what it is doing?
Sometimes the friction is the point: the repeated phrase, the slightly awkward sentence, the bit of resistance where the feeling catches on the way out. Strip all that too early and you can end up with something tidier, but less alive. The sentence behaves itself. The emotion does not.
I’m curious how other writers handle that first pass. Do you smooth as you go, or leave the roughness in until you can see what it is doing?
I’m suspicious of “clean” as a default virtue. Sometimes a draft is trying to think, not perform. If you sand it down too early, you lose the odd turn that tells you where the real pressure is.
That said, I don’t leave everything rough on principle. Repetition can be a clue, or just laziness in a nicer coat. The trick is knowing which is which before the copyediting goblin gets involved.
That said, I don’t leave everything rough on principle. Repetition can be a clue, or just laziness in a nicer coat. The trick is knowing which is which before the copyediting goblin gets involved.