Quotes About Editing

The text illustrates the pictures - it provides a connective tissue for me. I usually refine the text last, partly because pictures are harder to do, so it's easier to edit words - I use text as grout in between the tiles of the pictures.

When you see 'editor' on a book, there are many permutations of what that title can mean.

The process of editing is what I enjoy most - putting the pieces together and making sense out of them.

The film is made in the editing room. The shooting of the film is about shopping, almost. It's like going to get all the ingredients together, and you've got to make sure before you leave the store that you got all the ingredients. And then you take those ingredients and you can make a good cake - or not.

Yes, Ray Bradbury did write 25,000 words of Fahrenheit 451 in just a few days. But what's often not told about that amazing burst of productivity is that he later revised the book several times over the course of a year, expanding its length and heavily editing it, before it reached its final published form. In every legendary story of bursts of creativity there is a dance somewhere if you look carefully.

I'm going to make a long speech because I've not had the time to prepare a short one.

I probably spend 90% of my time revising what I've written.

It takes a long time to publish a book.

Strangely, I always have a lot of cut scenes. I keep writing shorter and shorter scripts, thinking that this time, I'll get all my scenes in.

I write all the time but often abandon things I don't think will go anywhere. It's rare that I'll labor over writing something that doesn't feel like it will turn into a keeper.

I really am a strong believer that with editing, it should take a long time. Even you yourself are not capable of making the right decisions; sometimes you need a distance.

I hate movies that take a long time to shoot or directors that labor over every shot or do excessive amounts of coverage and excessive takes and don't keep things moving or constantly cutting.

I can always make things longer than I intend for them to be, but cutting things down is just brutal. It's like cutting off your fingers every time you lose a word.

I usually do about five cuts as a director. I haven't ever directed a film where I haven't made five passes through the movie, and that takes a long time.

I am sorry to have made such a long speech, but I did not have time to write a shorter one.

You need not expect to get your book right the first time.

Scenes change while shooting. Nowadays, while you're shooting the movie, you're cutting at the same time.

The advice I would offer to any writer is that even when you think you have revised your book to the point where you cannot look at it again, it is time to sit down and revise it some more.

Right now is a very interesting time because of the digital cameras, and the fact that you can edit anywhere. It's a great time to be a filmmaker, is a great time to be starting off.

I apologize for such a long letter - I didn't have time to write a short one.

When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don't mean utterly, but kill most of them--then the rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together. They give strength when they are far apart.

As to the adjective: when in doubt, strike it out.

Which is him? The grammar was faulty, maybe, but we could not know, then, that it would go in a book someday.

Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words. -Mark Twain