Lessons from an Edit (Julie)

Writing takes determination, perseverance, and lots of courage, among other things. The story in your mind becomes your child. Your baby. You know it inside out and upside down. It competes with your attention and keeps you up late at night. And you defend it like a knight defending his castle.

When it's time to share your pride and joy with others, it can go one of two ways. Mother bear can rear her head and resist the criticism or take it with a healthy dose of courage and perseverance. I've been both in my writing journey. How could someone not see the awesome masterpiece that I clearly know is there? But others see differently and such is life.

 It's especially hard when you send your beloved to an editor. It's like waiting for a child to come home safely. You wait anxiously, checking for messages, wondering if it will come back unscathed or not. A few weeks ago I experienced this first hand when I sent my first five pages to an editor for a free edit sample. 

After the anxious wait, I finally received the email with the editor's comments. I opened the file and saw a long, vertical line of boxes. First reaction? Jaw drop and pulse spike. Was it that bad?? No, it couldn't be! But I bravely pushed the defensive /negative thoughts aside and began reading the comments. Box after box. Slowly my mouth closed and pulse calmed. It wasn't so bad. Sure, there were criticisms, but they were constructive. Exactly what I needed and really was looking for to improve my story. And there were compliments.

The big takeaway from this experience was going into the edit with an open mind. Which isn't easy. But once I let myself read the comments with an objective viewpoint, areas of improvement became much clearer. I won't lie and say having someone pick apart your story is fun, but completely worth it, especially if the editor helps you understand the craft of writing better. 

Now, I must make you aware that my experience with this editor was a bit unusual. You see, the aforementioned editor just so happens to be sister, whom you all know-Elizabeth Kitchens.

She is starting free-lance editing services, and I took advantage of the free five page edit sample=) If you are interested in her services, check it out here. 

Having the right mindset going into an edit is essential for getting the most out of it and not skulking away muttering to yourself on how completely ignorant the editor was. 

What about you? Do you have any advice on getting your baby scrutinized by an editor?

Stage Directions, Action Beats, and Dialogue Tags, Oh My! (Lizzie)

Action beats are one of the hardest aspects of the writing craft to master, partly to due conflicting advice. Some teachers want you to be minimalists and hardly use any at all. Other teachers (and often critique partners) recommend you use them generously, seemingly as a replacement of all dialogue tags and the reader's imagination. The key, as with most things, is balance, which means understanding the principles behind the use of action beats instead of zealously following "the rules." Writing is an art, so the rules (aside from grammatical rules) really are guidelines designed to you follow the principles of good writing.

Are you over-directing your readers
with too many, too detailed action beats?

Beats, which involve description and are used with or in place of dialogue tags, are a particular thorn in my flesh and an embarrassing topic. Here's a comment given by an agent in a personalized rejection to explain:

There is a tendency to overwrite. This usually means unnecessary description and trying too hard to "write." [The agent] found a recent blog that could be helpful in one area: http://thewritepractice.com/mark-twain-dialogue-tags/

The story idea is fine. It is the execution of the chapters that sends it back for further seasoning.

Ouch. Painful, but tremendously helpful. I'd like to share with you a bit about what I've learned through my study on beats from the aforementioned blog post and Browne and King's Self-Editing for Fiction Writers. I don't have the space or expertise to do a thorough discussion (for that I refer you to the above resources), but here is a brief discussion and checklist.

Beats are the character actions woven into a scene, what Mark Twain referred to as "stage directions." Mentions of character wiping her eyes or shifting from foot to foot, for instance, would be stage directions. Twain is rather sever on them, calling them "those artifices which authors employ to throw a kind of human naturalness around a scene and a conversation." He points out that "some authors overdo the stage directions, [and] they elaborate them quite beyond necessity." Aside from physical gestures, beats can also include short passages of interior monologue. Thus, beats serve the story by helping the readers know what the characters are doing, thinking, and feeling. Beats can also be used in place of dialogue tags to create variety (they aren't meant to completely replace them, however). The point Twain makes about beats, according to Sue Weem's post, is that the beats should serve the story (i.e., the reader) but aren't meant to replace the imagination.

When self-editing, always ask, are beats needed? Are they taking away from the reader's imagination? These points should help guide the answer to that.

1. Does the beat help set the scene or show characterization? Does it let us know the action has moved to another room, or merely that the character has looked out the window again? Does it tell us something about the character? Saying that she blows her nose on her sleeve, for instance, tells us about her upbringing.

2. Is is unique and fresh or overdone? Glances, blushing, and looking at hands are often overused. A description of every dish and every bite of food (or even more than one or two) at a dinner is too much.

3. Does it fit the rhythm of the scene? Few beats for tense scenes, more or longer beats for slower scenes. Read the scene aloud to see if the beats fit the rhythm or create unnatural pauses.

4. Does it provide hints to the readers, allowing them to use their imagination, or bombard them with details, treating them like idiots?

5. Would an easily ignored "he said," or nothing, be better if the purpose of the beat is only to let readers know who's speaking? Beats are more of an interruption than dialogue tags and should not totally replace them.

6. Is the beat written in the character's voice? Does it say something about the story world? For instance, in one of my fantasy novels the male POV character sometimes curses silently to himself "son of a rogue spell." This tells us a few things: he's irritated, he doesn't use bad words but isn't above a mild substitute, and that magic is a part of his world.

7. Is is varied in position? Beats shouldn't be always before the dialogue, nor always after or splitting the dialogue in two.

8. Does it fit the genre? Historical fiction or romance readers may want and expect more beats and descriptions that other genres. But still don't overdo it.

9. Find a book (preferably in your genre) that you particularly like and examine the beats for pacing, purpose, type, and length.

Do you have problems with beats? Is there an author who handles them particularly well?