Stories and Our Inner Critic/Editor

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Stories and Our Inner Critic/Editor

By Deb Gallardo

If you’ve ever felt that as long as your story ideas are in your head that they will be brilliant, but once you begin writing them they become imperfect, then you need to read what bestselling author Scott Card says in response to a question on this topic at his “Uncle Orson’s Writing Class.”

He talks about our inner critic, although he calls it our “inner editor.” He says that our temptation is to silence this editor, since it’s responsible for making us tinker with our words until we’re ready to scream with frustration that we can’t get them quite right.

Scott points out that it’s not that we need to muzzle that critic, er, editor, but rather we need to point it/him/her to stop paying attention to language as we begin to write. Rather, we want the focus to be on “which events and details to include and which to leave out…what happens and why.”

There’s a pay off to this method, he offers as comfort. When we stop worrying about the words and paying attention to the story itself, the words come naturally and our “voice” comes through. Sounds like a win-win situation to me.

Read “Your Inner Editor.” (opens in new window)

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