Instructions for Editing What You Wrote Before You Knew Better

The first thing to do

Is eliminate any trace

Of words that are no longer

Acceptable

You’re forgiven for writing them

Back when they were only--

Well, when they were still dicey

But could pass

As an attempt

To shock

Or create an edge

You’re forgiven for wanting an edge

Everyone wants an edge

But now you have to get an edge

By using duller means

And so any inflammatory language

Has got to go

Consider the motives

Of your characters

Or even of yourself

Why are they doing

What they’re doing?

Is it appropriate for them

To be doing what they’re doing

Without proper punishment

Or consequences?

Are you encouraging bad behavior?

Are you condoning it?

Are you sanctioning it?

Are there behaviors

You’re glamorizing

That are actually quite harmful

When thought about

In the context of today?

And why are you creating these characters

And instructing them

Through your given narrative

To carry on

The way they are?

Are you taking power away

From those who are already

For the most part

Powerless?

Are you giving power

To those

Who in the past

May have seemed innocent

But are

In fact

Predators?

Are there any insensitivities?
Are there any glaring oversights?
Are there any turns of the phrase

That would give a person

A person of today

Pause?

What about names?
Have you thought about names?
Nicknames?

Things one character

Calls another?

Have you examined

The problems of your characters

And asked yourself

If they really matter?

Could you have been writing

About bigger problems

All those years ago?

Problems that looked at

The bigger picture

Even though most insight dictates

That you write what you know

And most of us

Only know

A small part

Of the bigger picture

Have you thought about

Where your work takes place

And at what time

And why it takes place

Where and when it does

How’s your vocabulary?
Is it tender enough?
Is it varied?
Is it, again, sensitive?

And you can let it stay where it is

How it is

Even with the knowledge

That you may not be the same person you were

When you wrote it

Or should it go away?

And how much of it?
And for how long?

Are there any benefits

To having the things we thought

Back when what we thought

Were things

We shouldn’t be thinking

Documented somewhere?

Unfortunately

There are no instructions

For that

But we wish you well

And we look forward to reading

Whatever you come up with

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