: It's a great question --writing and editing are definitely two different skills. I think the editing quits being boring and tedious when you start to take pride in it as its own thing, not

@Samaraweera193

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It's a great question --writing and editing are definitely two different skills. I think the editing quits being boring and tedious when you start to take pride in it as its own thing, not just the hoop you have to jump through to get your work out there. Perhaps think of it this way: When you dig a diamond out of the ground, it just looks like a rock. It's how you cut it and polish it that makes it into a jewel. Similarly, when you have finished your rough draft, you have all the raw materials to make something wonderful. Now, all it needs is to be cut down and polished.

Here's a second metaphor for you. Picture yourself filming a documentary. You collect hundreds of hours of footage. Now, even though it's drawn from life, you need to make it express a narrative. You only have 90 minutes, so you have to be brutal about what stays and what goes. Does it illuminate the character, provide some context, advance the story? If not, it probably needs to go. Remember, the readers don't have the same connection to the material that you do, so if you want them to have that connection you have to build it, consciously and conscientiously. You might be glad to luxuriate in the world you've created, but you owe it to the reader to make sure every word counts.

EDIT: One other thing that can help is to remember that the work that doesn't make it onto the final page isn't wasted. I recently read some writing advice by the great science-fiction grandmaster, Samuel Delany --he quoted Theodore Sturgeon as advising writers to first imagine all the tiny details of the room the characters are in, but to only include in the final writing those details which the characters actually notice themselves. There's a certain richness writing gains when what is on the page is backed up by a wealth of detail that isn't on the page. Your long draft builds a world, your final version lives in that world.

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