FREE KINDLE FOR PC

FREE KINDLE FOR PC
So you can read my books

Friday, November 28, 2014

LET'S TALK EDITING



One striking image can say more than pages of prose.  Remember that.

1) COLOR OUTSIDE OF THE LINES

WRITE IN THE MARGINS as you read your book.  But don't read it as you.  Read it as your best friend, sister, or co-worker.

Read it through, writing in the margins as you go.

And then, start editing.


JJ Abrams co-wrote a strange book called S:

A young woman picks up a book left behind by a stranger. Inside it are his margin notes, which reveal a reader entranced by the story and by its mysterious author. 

She responds with notes of her own, leaving the book for the stranger, and so begins an unlikely conversation that plunges them both into the unknown.


2.) USE THE FORCE, LUKE

Go with your instincts.  If a sentence or scene or chapter seems wrong somehow.  It is.  

Re-write or remove it.  Even if it means a major change in your book, do it.  Better a Major Change than to have a Major Flop on your hands.


3.) RE-CHARGE THOSE BATTERIES

By the time you’ve written 90,000 words, you can be pretty tired of the storyline, the characters, the plots and subplots, and you’re generally itching to start that new project, too.

So write the first chapter of that new project.  It will re-charge your enthusiasm for writing.  Mark Twain did that often.  Try it.

You will return to editing a new writer.


4.)  BE A BULLY -- PICK ON A CHARACTER

Pick a character (other than the protagonist) and follow her or him through all the chapters, seeing if certain phrases repeat ad nauseum about said character.

See if the character remains consistent throughout your novel in manner of speaking, way of handling situations, or way of dressing, etc.

Shift from character to character like that.  See if they change slightly from beginning to end.  

All real people change somewhat during the course of an adventure.  Make sure it happens with each character.

Following one character through your whole novel keeps any character from mysteriously going AWOL without explanation.


5.) BE LOUD ... OUT LOUD

Read each chapter aloud after the written edits.  You will catch misfires in rhythm and flow that way.  Think listener.  Would he or she be bored, waiting for something good to happen?  

Like Elmore Leonard said: "Leave out the boring stuff!"


6.) PYRAMID SCHEME YOUR BOOK

Take one chapter at a time to edit.  Polish that chapter.  Make it flow and shine -- then go on to the next.

A neat trick is to edit your first chapter and then edit your last one, striving for a symmetry of images, a Before and After bookend effect.


7.) EAGLE EYE VIEW 

Your book is a whole.  Your final edit should shape it into a coherent, consistent whole.  Put your novel on a diet if you must.  Weed out those needless flowery phrases that slow the flow.  

No long paragraphs to tire the reader's eyes.  Alternate types of sentences.  Want to craft a scene of action?  Short sentences with words denoting the tone of the scene.


8.) MAKE YOU SENTENCES BREATHE.

Each scene of action should be introduced with a pensive scene so that the reader will be caught off guard.  

The action scene should not end predictably, but with a twist that floors the action into even more danger for your heroes.


9.) EDITING IS LIKE PEELING AN ONION

With each layer completed you cry a bit, and then you go on.  But eventually, you stop or you run out of onion.  

Do not edit the life out of your novel.  Keep it fresh by stopping for a few days, doing something else you love, and then go back to it.

Remember why you thought your novel would be such a good thing that you committed to it.  Limit yourself to three full edits.  If you can, try for only two.

Remember that test when you kept changing the answer to that troublesome question?  Odds are, your first answer was the right one.  So I end with ...

10.) TRUST YOUR ABILITY.

You are not aiming for the PERFECT novel but one that ENTERTAINS your reader.  Keep it fun.


12 comments:

  1. One thing that I'll add, which is a little off topic, but when you finish that project, if it's a series novel, write the beginning of the next--especially if you have an idea where it's going.

    At least for me, it helps me pick up where I left off, with the voice and characters and action. Plus, it's so much easier for me to have something started--giving me a running start, rather than having a blank page/file to begin with.

    Thanks for the thoughts and reminders on editing. Always helpful.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Terry:
    That is a great idea. I talked about editing since all the NaNaWriMo participants have hastily thrown together novels to try and get into shape! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Roland .. guessed you were doing it for the NaNoers .. and yes reading your work is essential for the flow and feel of the piece.

    Hope you had a peaceful Thanksgiving and those Black Friday crushers didn't get in your way .. cheers Hilary

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hilary:
    Yes, exactly. I knew that at the end of November there would be many, many of my friends looking at their rough drafts and needing to edit them.

    Thanksgiving was peaceful and fun. Now, this weekend, I am again doing solo duty at the blood center. Whew! Have a great weekend! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. That book S was a birthday gift from a friend (in June). I am saving it for my Christmas Holiday reading. I love the imagination involved and can only imagine what fun it must be to do something like that. I had to read some reviews of it in order to understand what it was all about. Looking forward to reading it.

    I think you are very kind to write these posts for other writers. Since you don't leave them up but for a day or so, I hope your writer friends and other bloggers go back and find them as they contain so much valuable information. Hope all is well in your world.

    I saw there's a new book out about Storyville and New Orleans called: Empire of Sin: A Story of Sex, Jazz, Murder, and the Battle for Modern New Orleans, by Gary Krist. Have you heard of it?

    ReplyDelete
  6. These are great suggestions, Roland, and I plan to use a few of them. It's great of you to keep sharing the ways to make editing more of a fun process. I like editing. It's where we see the bare bones and clothe the skeleton. (after removing the detritus of course).

    ReplyDelete
  7. Inger:
    I gave my copy, still in the shrink wrap, away to a friend without reading it. I will probably buy another copy.

    I will let this post stay up a day or two longer to let my friends have a chance to discover it. :-)

    D.G.:
    It is too easy to let our dream become a chore. I want to have my friends enjoy their dreams!

    Now, if my blood calls will just let me finish LATE PHASES, an Indie movie where a blind Viet Nam vet goes to a retirement village, only to have his crippled neighbor and seeing eye dog killed by a ... werewolf.

    One last fight for a brave, saddened vet.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Become best friends with a grammar Nazi. The final technical edit must be done by someone other than the author.

    ReplyDelete
  9. If it feels wrong, it is. Yes indeed. And reading out loud is HUGE help. Good stuff, Roland.

    ReplyDelete
  10. With NaNo at an end, definitely excellent timing for an editing post, Roland, and this is a great one. I know there are folks out there who think once they type THE END, all they need to do is read through their manuscript for typos. As you point out the end is really just the beginning of a good manuscript. :)

    VR Barkowski

    ReplyDelete
  11. Walter:
    Yes, a GRAMMAR NAZI is definitely a good friend to have ... if your skin is thick!!

    Milo:
    Reading out loud helps me with the flow of my sentences. It kills cockroaches, too! :-)

    VR:
    Like Dean Koontz, I try to edit as I write. THE END is merely stage one of the process -- you are right there!

    I was trying to help my NaNoWriMo friend with this post and with my latest post, too.

    It is always good to see you here in my cyber-home. Sunday was another solo day at the blood center! Whew!

    ReplyDelete
  12. You made some really good points, here Roland, and a couple of them I've never thought of and want to try out. Personally, I like to use the gut test when I'm editing--if something doesn't feel right, if it kind of gives me a clogged up or apprehensive feeling in my chest, then I have to fix it, delete, just do something!

    ReplyDelete