Photoshopped Writing Edits

Hi all! Welcome to another exciting edition of GPF. Today we have a post from one of my favorite bloggers and closer blogging friends: The Enigmatic Masked Blogger. 

And no, I don't know her real name. If I did, I wouldn't tell you. Nothing personal. Some secrets are just too good to keep. 

But her blog is definitely worth a look, even though she recently took an indefinite hiatus. Her writing style always leaves me smiling by the end of the post. Except for the last one. 

Photoshopped Writing Edits

Over the past couple of years I’ve been experimenting with a few Photoshop techniques. These have included anything from photoshopping a car, say, out of existence, to glamour touch-ups.

On one occasion, I was working on a glamour project: I’d done all the usual, removed the lines and blemishes, and made the skin smooth and flawless. I was very pleased with the results and showed it to a friend. She immediately pointed out the obvious fact that I’d been missing: “You’ve taken away her character!”

I had done the very thing that I abhor. This was the equivalent of a bland Hollywood remake. Highly polished and wonderfully edited. But, it no longer had much to do with the original picture. I had inadvertently mutated it into featureless, plastic-looking face. Just as well I’m not a plastic surgeon.

This is perhaps just as easily done in writing.

We’ve written a scene in which we’ve projected unbridled passion, straight from the heart. Let’s be careful not to dilute our self-expression while editing . . .

We read on a daily basis, the importance of this, that and the other. The techniques that should guide us, and the rules to which we should unquestioningly adhere.

But, this isn’t a science; it’s an art form.

Certainly, we should always consider the rules which could help us produce polished, well-crafted phrases and sentences. But we should also be very careful not to be so slavish to them, that we make our work clinical or insipid.

Be prepared to break the mould, and push the boundaries. And, whatever you do, stay true to the raw emotion that you originally wrote. Although we should always strive to be well-written, I think it’s worth keeping in mind, there’s no comparison between primeval instinct and man-made regulations.

Let’s be careful not to over-Photoshop our scenes and allow them to lose their original character.

Thanks again Mask. I really really really hope you're coming back soon.