I SPY: EDITING

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EDITING by Anne Marie Becker

a.k.a., Wielding a Machete Like a Pro

When the high of completing the first draft of a manuscript fades, you may emerge from your writer's cave, bleary-eyed, look around and find you’re in the jungle. And it’ll take a machete to work your way through the overgrowth of convoluted sentences, buried themes, and repetitive words that threaten to stifle your manuscript’s potential.

Love it or hate it, editing is the key to making a good story great. I’ve heard that 90% of writing is rewriting. Some of my manuscripts have been through more than a dozen drafts, and I've never produced a sparkling-perfect first draft, so I’d say that’s a pretty accurate estimate.

I don’t pretend to be an expert at editing, but after nine manuscripts, three of which are (or soon will be) published, I’ve learned a few things I’d like to share. (And thank you to my Carina Press editor Deborah Nemeth for the lessons she’s taught me.)

Manuscripts, Like Ogres, Have Layers

            In the movie Shrek, the ogre by the same name says “ogres are like onions.” They have layers. Manuscripts are similar. And thorough polishing requires paying attention to each layer.

(But first, a caveat - if you feel you can’t be objective in any of the areas I’ve listed below, and you’re thinking about self-publishing, consider hiring a professional editor. There is a distinct advantage to having someone other than yourself review your work. If you’re submitting to agents or editors but want that polished look, consider joining forces with a critique partner (or two). And then, go buy chocolate. Because when that revision letter hits your inbox, accepting criticism isn’t always easy, but sugar helps the medicine go down.)

When I’ve completed my first rough draft, I try to let my manuscript sit for a week or two before going back to it. Viewing it with fresh eyes lends me a new perspective.

           

1. Developmental (Story) Edits

            Just as it sounds, this stage of editing is the most global. We’re looking at the entire story (ahem, jungle) and trying to make sense of it, looking for themes, cohesiveness, dead ends, etc. For this layer, I recommend tying up your inner critic and leaving him/her in the corner (a gag helps). Read through and take notes, but DON’T make extensive changes to wording, grammar, etc., because some of those sentences you're trying so hard to make perfect might get chopped, and then you've wasted time. Perfect sentences/wording is not the focus of this go-round. (Of course, if you’re like me, you can’t resist adding a comma here or changing out a word there, but don’t let it pull you away from the task at hand – fixing the STORY.)

            As you’re reading, look specifically for the following and make notes of what to change (remember, you don’t have to fix things yet, until you get to the end of this re-read):

§ Opening

·     Does the opening line grab the reader’s attention?

·    Is conflict (or impending conflict) apparent within the first few paragraphs?

§ Characters

·     Are they likeable? Will the reader connect with them?

·    Do they have a goal? Is the growth arc apparent over the course of the story?

§ Scenes

·    Is the purpose/goal of each scene clear and important and is it written from the POV character's viewpoint?

·   Does it move the action forward?

·   Does each scene end on a hook?

§ Pacing

·    Where does the writing slog?

·    Are there things that make the reader’s attention wander or jerks him/her out of the scene?

·   What sections make you groan and stumble? Why? Are the characters being true to themselves? Is the scene’s goal clear?

§ Ending

·   Were there any loose ends?

·    Were all of the conflicts resolved in satisfying ways?

§  Check your facts

·    If there were references to actual items, historical events, people, etc., are they true to reality?

§  Theme

·    Is there a common thread that can be layered or woven throughout the story during the next layer of editing? If so, where is that evident? Where else can it be made evident?

2. Line Edits

            After you’ve read your story through again and made the necessary “global” developmental edits, it’s time to look at the manuscript more closely, line by line. Here’s a checklist of what I try to notice on this go-round:

§ Repetitive words

·     Get rid of common/overused words. In my case, I look particularly at the use of “said” and other such words and try to replace most of them with action tags. I also watch out for overused gestures, such as smiling, arching eyebrows, etc.

§  Tighten writing

·     Axe those darlings! (Even if you love something, if it's unnecessary or bogs down the pace, axe it. Then eat chocolate.)

·    Beware of the passive voice.

·   Use juicy words. (For instance, choosing "stalked," "skipped," or "stumbled" is much more descriptive than "walked." Where you can, choose the more descriptive way of saying something.)

·    Get rid of unnecessary phrases that denote the POV character (and deepen the viewpoint as a bonus!). (e.g., “She knew,” “she thought,” “she felt” are superfluous if you're in that character's deep third POV. Cut these phrases where you can.)

§  Tip: Read out loud

·      This allows you to hear the cadence of your words, gives a new perspective on the pacing, and catch overused words. With dialogue, it can help you identify sections that don't sound natural.

3. Copyedits

            In the final stage of editing, we’ve gone from global, to local, to microscopic.  Look specifically for anything that doesn’t appear visually correct – grammar, punctuation, capitalization, italicizing, etc. - as well as homonyms, misspellings, and word-by-word revisions. Try reading the document backwards to catch spelling errors.

Before submitting, I try to do a final read-through, because there are always (always!) things that are missed. And I feel better knowing I’ve tamed that jungle to the best of my ability by giving it that extra once-over. 

Here are a few resources I’ve found helpful in my editing process:

Strunk & White’s Elements of Style

Online Dictionary and Thesaurus

Grammar Girl: http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com

How about you? Do you enjoy the rewriting process? Do you have any editing tips or resources you’d care to share?

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Anne Marie has always been fascinated by people—inside and out—which led to degrees in Biology, Chemistry, Psychology, and Counseling.  As a games hostess at Sea World, tutor, waitress, personal and family counselor, and high school counselor, she indulged her curiosity through sanctioned professions.  Now, as a stay-at-home mother of three, her passion for understanding the human race is satisfied by her roles as mother, wife, daughter, sister, and writer.  

She writes to reclaim her sanity. 

Connect with Anne Marie at her website, Facebook page, or on Twitter.

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FUTURE POSTS will cover:
Kindlegraph / the art of research / writing male/male romance / rejection and writer's block / building suspense / writing love scenes / anti-piracy strategies / audio books / interviews with editors and agents / using Calibre.
We welcome everyone's constructive comments and suggestions!

"Edit" is not a four-letter word

“The beautiful part of writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon. You can always do it better, find the exact word, the apt phrase, the leaping simile.”

~ Robert Cormier

I’d be willing to bet everyone who’s published a novel has been told once or a hundred or a thousand times, “I always wanted to write a book.”

My standard response? Go for it! You may enjoy telling stories, creating worlds, bringing characters to life.

I love crafting stories, even if it never turns into more than a fun short for my own pleasure. But if you’re writing for other people’s enjoyment, the expectation level should rise.

 

A lot.

 

Once that first draft is hammered out, the real work of writing begins. Some people groan about revisions and editing, but I enjoy it. Smoothing transitions, finding the rights words, building in layers of meaning, subtle foreshadowing, and (oh, so important!) killing our darlings – also known as cutting the boring parts, losing the overwritten, the purple prose.

To me, the most important question to ask as I revise is: Am I bored here? The wonderful teacher and writer Margot Livesey, put it like this: if you are bored, it’s not because you’ve read that section so many times. It’s because it’s boring.

My favorite editing technique is reading the manuscript aloud. Sometimes my fabulous hubby willingly listens while he’s driving. (We have a cabin in the mountains, a couple of hours away from our home). Speaking the dialogue tell me in a hurry if it’s flat or stilted. An awkward silence tells me he’s losing interest. Either one results in an immediate note in the margin – do I need this scene? Tighten? What’s the point? Is there a better way to convey what’s needed to move the story forward?

Authors, care to share an editing technique? Readers (which of course includes writers!), what’s your pet peeve for poor editing?

Editors, Revisions and a Double Mummy First

It’s that time again, and I’m stocking up on necessary supplies.

Champagne – my drink of choice no matter what the situation. More practically, Diet Dr. Pepper. Pain au chocolat from this new little French bakery we found. Dark roast coffee. Almond granola bars. And chocolate. Lots of chocolate.

Sounds like I’m anticipating a siege, doesn’t it? Well, I am. I just got the first round of copy edits on my new book and am preparing to lock myself in the office to get them done. More than that, though, to use an old phrase, This Means War.

I am fortunate. I have one of the best editors in the business and like her very much personally. When we aren’t working on a manuscript, I call her a dear friend. However – when we are facing off over the slashed and bleeding bulk of my manuscript, things change.

What does she mean that I have to change a major character’s name? That is the character’s name, and I cannot picture her with any other. It would be like suddenly having to call Jane, whom you’ve known since grade school, Margaret. Of course, I paid no attention to the fact that three other characters have names that begin with the same letter, or that the name is so unusual that some might regard it as a typo.

And what if I left a couple of hours window unaccounted for? Or that a certain character needs more motivation? How does she dare suggest that I change the focus of the ending?

During this process I try desperately to hang on to my vision of my novel, from minor skirmishes over word choice (I was raised to believe that longer is better) to bloody battles over the final resolution. This is my book; it was born in my head and delivered through my fingers, and I know it better than anyone else.

Wherein lies a lot of the problems. There are things in my head that are not on the paper (well, screen, but you know what I mean) and the book is weaker for it. There are things that I simply cannot see are missing, or wrong, or misleading, and that is why we need editors. Good editors. To me, a good editor is one who wants to make my book stronger, not to recreate it into her vision, and I am blessed to have one. Actually, I have two, but being human can only deal with one set of revisions/edits at a time.

Not that we always agree, but our disagreements are always civil, if civil can be stretched to occasional screaming bouts of voluminous hyper-verbosity. (Told you I liked big words!) We’re still friends, so I guess what we’re doing works.

Which does not mean that she walks all over me. When all is said and done, this is my book, my story, my vision, not hers, and it should retain that eternal ‘me-ness.’ (I like to make up words, too.) A good editor like mine recognizes and fosters that.

And a good editor deserves the best I can give, including meeting her deadlines, so I need to get to work. But first I forgot – I need to go get a supply of jelly beans… and maybe some grapes…

However! Before I go… I have news! Before I blog again, which is supposed to be on 26 September, I am going to have a release.

LURE OF THE MUMMY is set in my beloved Cairo and concerns a votive mummy sacred to Sekhmet, the berserker lion-headed goddess. The last time I was in Cairo I was offered such a mummy and, though I didn’t buy it (it’s illegal, I think, to say nothing of how one would get it home) it did give me the idea for the story.

LURE OF THE MUMMY is my first horror novella, but more than that, I have been told that it is the very first EVER horror novel ever published by either Carina or Harlequin! Now does that make me a groundbreaker or a guinea pig? I don’t care – I’m simply delighted!

Now I really must go get those jelly beans and grapes… and maybe some pizza… and definitely some ice cream…