Self editing your work
August 15, 2011 3 Comments
[Today's guest blogger is Michelle McLeod. Her novella, Love Potions, will be coming out soon. She blogs at michellemccleod.blogspot.com. Thanks for joining us!]
Did you ever notice that edit is a four letter word? Or how writers talk about ‘editing hell’? There’s not a lot of love for editing. It’s not the fun, sexy part of writing. It’s the married-so-long-you-wear-granny-panties-with-no-shame part of writing.
-Analyze sentence structure. In the heat of the first draft, it’s easy to use the same sentence structure. For instance, does every sentence in the paragraph hinge on ‘and’? That’s not good and needs to change. Otherwise, the story reads like a one note earworm. Rhythm and flow come from variation in, not just language, but sentence structure as well.
-Minimize I in first-person point-of-view (POV). Unless the protagonist really is a narcissist, it’s a good idea to avoid starting every sentence with I. Cut it whenever possible. Readers hate me-me protagonists. For an example of a well done first-person POV, read some of JA Konrath’s Jack Daniels series.
-Avoid third-person POV confusion. Be sure readers can tell who each ‘she’ and ‘he’ refers to–it’s easy to lose track.
-Tighten the writing. Any section where things slow down needs attention. When a gun has been fired, there should not be three pages of narrative before the bullet hits its destination. This bogs the reader down to the point of abandoning the story.
Extra words need to go as well, along with multiple sentences saying the same thing in different ways. Beware long descriptions too. Readers can only hold so many details in their heads at a time–reading is not a game of Memory.
Picking the right word becomes easier with time, but the learning curve can be accelerated by writing flash fiction or honing messages on Twitter.
-Story arc in every chapter. We all know that a book must have a beginning, middle and end, but this also applies to chapters. Is there rising action, conflict and a conclusion within each chapter?
-Walk away from the hard parts. It can be tough to let go of certain scenes or sentences. If you are stuck, move on and edit a different section. When I can’t bear to delete something, I cut and paste it in its own file so it’s still there if I need it. (I never need it.)
Editing is a chore, but it doesn’t just build a better story, it creates a better writer. Granny panties optional.
About fvanhorne
Ha! I did a THAT edit on one of my books and I thought it’d take a few minutes. I had the laptop on battery, and was standing at the sink. It ended up being two hours. For anybody who hasn’t tried that on their novel, it’s enlightening. The problem with it is it takes a while to figure out if you need to omit or keep. It’s almost never obvious at a glance.
Another good combo to look for is OFF OF. Do a search replace to just OFF. And, if you really want to drive yourself absolutely bonkers, do a WAS search. Once again, that’s not always obvious. In the case of WAS (WERE), often the cure is a complete rewrite. Most of the time it’s a keeper. About midway between those two, you need the active verb.
You are also so totally right about granny panties. I get so tired of the same old novels. Once in a while I hear a writer tell me: “I just finished my novel. Do you know who I can send it to?” I immediately say, “Nobody. Get back with me when you’re able to say, ‘I’ve spent two years editing this dog. I can’t stand it anymore. Do you know someone to send it to?’”
I once heard a writer say that writing was 25% writing and 75% editing. I think he could have been a bit higher on the editing side.
Haha! So true, my friend!
I agree on brushing up on the tenets of editing before diving in. Authors sometimes just don’t know what to do during the self-editing stage.
I recommend: editing, getting critiqued by writer friends, editing, getting critiqued, editing, and, eventually, professional editing by a freelancer before trying to sell your MS.