What is overwriting, and how can we avoid it?

​‘If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.’ – Elmore Leonard

​Back in my early twenties, before I began working in publishing, I’d never heard the word ‘overwriting’. Place an overwritten manuscript in front of me and I’d likely have thought about all the classic literature I’d read/studied and decided it was really quite beautifully written.
 
I had a lot to learn.
 
A lot more books to read, and edit. Thousands of hours developing my eye as a book editor. Courses on writing and editing. My own journey as an author.
 
Fast-forward to today, with more than 20 years of experience informing my edits, I so easily recognise overwriting in manuscripts. And I do my best to guide authors away from that overwriting.
 
The first step is to help the author understand what overwriting is.

Defining overwriting

To overwrite, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is to ‘write too elaborately or ornately’. Basically, you get a bit carried away being poetic and flowery.
 
These are the kinds of adjectives we may use to describe the writing style in an overwritten novel:

Less kindly, a reader may describe the writing as ‘purple prose’, defined by the Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms as ‘lavishly figurative, rhythmic, or otherwise overwrought’.

What’s wrong with writing so elaborately?

In a nutshell: overwriting affects the reader’s engagement with the story.
 
When you overwrite, you draw the reader’s attention to your writing style. It’s like you’ve styled parts of your writing in an ornate, fancy font.

Because the reader keeps getting distracted by the style, they’re not immersed in your story, feeling close to your characters. They’re not as engaged as you want them to be.

Elmore Leonard’s golden rule

​In 2001, seasoned novelist Elmore Leonard wrote an essay for the New York Times in which he shared his ten rules of writing. After his tenth rule (‘Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip’), Leonard shares his ‘most important rule’:
 
If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it… It’s my attempt to remain invisible, not distract the reader from the story with obvious writing.
 
This idea of visibility is at the core of overwriting. When you overwrite, you’re trying to be visible to the reader; you’re reminding them that you exist, the writer of this novel. It’s like you keep calling to them throughout the book, Look at me, look at how cleverly I can write! Isn’t it pretty? 

When you step back and stop overwriting, you simply tell the story, and the reader can engage with the story.

But what if you WANT to be visible?

​As Leonard wrote:

If you have a facility for language and imagery and the sound of your voice pleases you, invisibility is not what you are after, and you can skip the rules.
 
Some writers really do want to be visible in this way, and if that’s you, that’s fine. Just be aware that there is a modern preference for simplicity over ornamentation, and so your novel (especially genre fiction) may be less marketable written this way.

How can we avoid overwriting?

Here are some pointers based on my many years of editing, and on the lessons I’ve learned through writing my own books.

Relax in your first draft

If you overwrite, so be it. The first draft is all about getting the story down on paper, and you need to write the words that want to be written without fear of judgement. If you start worrying about overwriting at this stage, the words will dry up. So lock your inner editor in a little box, and let the story flow onto the page. 

Get some distance

Once you’ve finished the first draft, carried away by the thrill/despair of creation, put it away for weeks. Months, even. Allow enough time to pass for all the heady emotion you experienced while writing it to settle, so that you can effectively assess the writing.

Edit, edit, edit

Now’s the time to get really tough with yourself. Just because you got up at three a.m. to write a paragraph that came into your head, doesn’t mean that paragraph should be treasured if it’s overwritten. Go through the book line by line, looking for the following markers of overwriting:

• Language that shouts, ‘I have a dictionary and thesaurus and know how to use them.’
• Dialogue in which characters aren’t speaking naturally, exactly as they would in real life.
• Long sentences, long paragraphs, long chapters – an unusually long book for the genre.
• Colourful and attention-grabbing imagery, especially if it keeps cropping up.
• Multiple adjectives (one or none often works best).
• Multiple adverbs (one or none often works best).

Basically, question any writing that feeds your ego, making you pat yourself on the back and say, ‘Clever me! Look what I wrote.’ Ask yourself: Do I need to be visible like this?

Get feedback

Offering your book up to others for feedback (which invariably feels like criticism) is hard. It’s especially hard when you invite feedback on overwriting. Being told that a character’s hair colour changes in Chapter 5 is easier to take than being told that your denouement is so overwritten it’s silly. Still, wouldn’t you rather know about that overwriting now rather than after you send the book to agents/publishers or publish it yourself?
 
Whether you work with a professional book editor or a team of beta readers, getting feedback is invaluable. Remember, though, that you don’t need feedback from your mum, who’s super-proud of anything you create. You need informed feedback from people who are well read and know your genre; and, ideally, from people who know a thing or two about writing.

And finally...

When you’re new to writing, you overwrite a lot. A lot. But so long as you can recognise overwriting and are prepared to edit courageously, you’ll improve. You’ll overwrite less. You’ll step back as an author and accept being less visible. You’ll trust in your ability to engage the reader without fancy words and florid imagery and long, complex sentences.
 
So have faith that with practice your writing will improve. My first novel needed a lot of editing. My sixth novel didn’t. Keep going! 

​​With my best wishes,