Preface to this series: Back in 2019, towards the beginning of this blogging venture, I wrote a series called “Christians and the Creative Writing Process.” Now, seven years later, I wanted to revisit the topics to expand them and add new insights. The original version of this post can be read at this link.
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Since God writes perfect drafts for the story of our life, He doesn’t have to go back and “edit” our stories. That’s a comforting truth. However, the Lord does edit out the sin and brokenness in our lives through sanctification, which is another hopeful reality for us. His “editing” of our lives happens through His discipline.
Discipline is not typically something we enjoy in the moment, though it yields good results that remind us to be grateful for the Lord’s work in our lives. As Scripture says, “Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline? … No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness by those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:7, 11 CSB). Discipline is the trimming away of the bad fruit or bad branches in our lives in order to make us more Christlike. Or sometimes discipline means trimming away good things in our lives that we have elevated in importance over God and following Christ, like idolizing marriage rather than trusting God, finding too much of our identity in a specific community or job instead of in Christ solely, or feeling secure in wealth and possessions over resting in the Lord’s provision. I list these things specifically because they are good things I have often placed above my faith and hope in Christ, and they are aspects of my life that I have experienced the Lord’s discipline in.
Editing and revising our stories is a lot like how God’s discipline or “editing” of our lives works. After all, the goal is the same: cut away what isn’t beneficial in order to improve the whole. In writing, sometimes this is easy: trimming a scene that wasn’t working, or fixing a minor plot hole. Other times, it is painful, like discipline, because it means removing something we as writers see as good or cutting out an aspect of the story we love. Sometimes this is a fluffy scene, which we find endearing because we enjoy the characters’ interactions, but in reality drags down the pacing of the narrative. Or we may need to cut a character who we really like because readers find the story hard to follow on account of the number of characters involved. Hilarious dialogue or banter exchanges are often fun, but occasionally they, too, need to get the axe because the dialogue undercuts the tone of a suspenseful scene. Sometimes, trimming parts of our writing we feel overly attached to helps the story better connect with readers, even when that editing process hurts us as writers.
Discipline and editing: both are challenging. Yet, with discipline, Scripture also reminds us: “Do not despise the Lord’s instruction, my son, and do not loathe His discipline; for the Lord disciplines the ones He loves, just as a father disciplines the son in whom He delights” (Proverbs 3:11-12 CSB). In the thick of a season of discipline, it is a struggle to fight against resentment and frustration over the discipline we are facing. This Proverb, as with the larger passage in Hebrews 12 I quoted a couple of verses from earlier on, are useful reminders for us. Discipline is not punishment; the trimming in our lives of good and bad things is part of God’s love for us. He is making us more holy, more like Him, because He loves us and wants us to draw nearer to Him and His holiness. That shift in perspective can help us cultivate appreciation and gratitude for discipline, rather than hating it.
The revision and editing of our writing can also benefit from a similar perspective change. Revising is a messy process in which we wrestle to take a rough draft and make the story closer to the ideal vision of the tale that lives in our head. Editing means making hard calls, taking in others’ feedback to see our stories more objectively, and sacrificing time and energy and effort to actually polish the draft rather than leave it in a subpar state. Editing is not an enjoyable process for many writers, myself included. I get frustrated with how inefficient my editing process often is; it is much easier for me to take 30 minutes and write a rough version of a scene. But editing is time-consuming and often takes more of my energy and focus. It is easy for me to not like, and dare I say despise, the revision and editing process. And yet: do I not love this story enough to make the effort to edit it well? To revise the parts that need extra attention? Because I love my stories, my characters, the act of writing itself, I know revising and editing is necessary and good. Readjusting my perspective on the challenging tasks of revision and editing helps me attend to the job with more joy, energy, and patience.
Take The Myth-Keepers, for example. This project has been ongoing, off-and-on, for nearly twenty years of my life. It went through a lot of growing pains as I grew up, following me from a childhood idea into a teenage passion project into the sole focus of my adult writing years. Some of the changes to the story were forced by my own growth in maturity as a person and as a writer; some came about because of my own changing interests over time. I have labored long with The Myth-Keepers and struggled so much over where to take the story and how to make it the best it can be. But I love this story. I love this world and its characters. I love the themes expressed through the narrative. And because I love this story, I am enduring in the revision and editing process in order to make it the best it can be.
Editing isn’t easy. Neither is discipline. Yet both are what’s best for our stories and our lives. Both, in the end, are very, very good. Thanks be to God for the work He does in our lives, and how this Biblical reality can also point us as writers to become better editors of our stories.
