What to do with Your Story Idea: Editing (Lauricia | Writer's Life)

Greetings and welcome back to my Writer's Life series on what to do with the story idea you have. Today’s blog is the fifth in a series of ten. If you’re just now joining in, you can find the complete answer in brief (with links to the detailed versions) at the end of today’s post.

So … editing.

At its most basic, editing is the practice of modifying a written work for the purpose of making it better. This involves a variety of techniques, such as adding and cutting material, tightening sentence and plot structures, and strengthening sensory details and imagery, just for starters.

Some writers enjoy this part of the process because they find it easier to improve upon something that already exists than to create something from nothing. Other writers find this step to be about as pleasant as a root canal, never mind the fact that it’s a necessary step in the creation of a manuscript.

As with all parts of writing, editing is a process. Rather than an exercise that’s only completed once, editing your story requires multiple passes through your manuscript, with planned breaks in between each pass. You determine ahead of time how long you will go without working on the project after each edit. This down-time is crucial for helping you come to each edit with fresh perspective, and the pre-determined amount of time away helps avoid procrastination.

There are many different ways to go about the business of editing; as many as there are writers. The best thing to do is to build your own method by trying what works for others and gleaning the bits that work for you. Two of the resources in my library that offer insight into building your own process are:

•  The Weekend Novelist by Robert J. Ray (Weekend 52, 1994 ed.)

• Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: How to Edit Yourself Into Print by Renni Brown and Dave King

A caveat before I end: If you are traditionally published, you can expect the publishing house to have approximately three different editors take a look at your work: a content editor, a copy editor, and a proofreader. If you are independently published, you can hire these professional editors yourself. However, it is important that you do the best you can to edit as much as you can of your own work before you submit it to an editor. This will help insure that the people being paid to look at your manuscript do not waste their time and money on sifting through mistakes that could have easily been corrected by you. Additionally, if you hope to be traditionally published, you should know that, in most cases, no publishing house will even consider a manuscript that is not edited as well as it can be before submission. This means, in every circumstance, it is important that you the author take the time to self-edit your work until it is as good as you can possibly make it.

 With that in mind, I’d love to know if you enjoy or hate editing, and why. What resources have you found that help you make the most of the time you spend editing?

---------------------------------------------------------- 

As promised above, here's the complete list of what to do with your story idea:

1. Write down everything you know about the story idea. Keep writing until you can’t think of anything to add. (Read more here.)

2. When you’re not writing, work on your social media platform.  Develop your on-line presence authentically, in a way that is genuine. (Read more here.)

3. Go back to your idea. Organize everything you wrote in step one into something with structure and shape. Turn that collection of ideas into a plan and begin your first draft. (Read more here.)

4. Start a website. A blog is good because it gives readers a taste of your writing, but if you feel that you can’t commit to a blog, then you need to have a website at the very least. (Read more here.)

5. Edit your first draft. Complete this step as often as necessary.

6. Start an e-mail list.

7. Enlist alpha readers who will give you story feedback.

8. Once your book is as polished as you can get it, enlist someone else to edit it.

9. Decide how you want to publish (indie or traditional) and study the process. Learning the necessary details will save you a lot of time and, potentially, a lot of money in the long run.

10. Start the next story!

Secrets of Proofreading (Lizzie)

The battle for an error-free work begins… 

So you've polished your manuscript, had it critiqued and edited, and now you want to give it one last going over--a proofreading--before sending it out to "the world," whether the world is your friend who's been asking to read the book, an agent, or all people who read and might buy your book.

Getting ready to send your work off is scary--you want it to be perfect--which means proofreading is kinda scary because you know someone will catch whatever mistakes you missed and let you know about them. So here are some secrets about proofreading to help you win the battle for an error-free story.

Here is the first thing you need to know about proofreading.

Half the battle is knowing your enemies.
The other half is being able to see them.
The other half is having the right weapons.

Knowing Your Enemies (or knowing what to look for)

When proofreading, pay attention to these three things:

–Style
–Language: grammar, usage, diction
–Egregious errors: confusing sentences, inconsistencies, and factual errors

Style You probably don't think about this when proofreading, but style is important, as it influences the look and feel of your manuscript. Is it consistent and professional or inconsistent and unprofessional?

For style, consider these areas:
–Headings all same style
–Capitalization of words consistent
–Spelling consistent for words with variable spellings
–Use of quotes and italics consistent
–Emphasis, quotes within quotes, sound words, etc., all styled the same

Some styles issues are governed by particular style guide or by personal choice rather than by hard-and-fast rules. So you need to match the proper style or decided on and stick to  your own.

For example:
–C.I.A. or CIA?

–Copy-editing or copyediting? 

–Gray or grey (the former is American while the latter is more typical in the UK)

Language Investigate grammar, usage, diction.

For language, consider these areas: 

–Spelling

–Hyphenation

–Capitalization

–Punctuation 

–Correct word or phrase
–Numbers and numerals (written out or not)
–Use of contractions (easier to read contractions)
–Idioms understandable to intended audience?

For this section, you must slow down and question every word or phrase

– Is it ink stand or inkstand; under way or underway; into or in to?

– Is it it’s or its; were or we’re?
–Iced tea or ice tea? (one of these is correct; the other is a misspelling)
–Effect or affect; if … was or if … were; who or whom?

Get comfortable with hyphenation
–“I have a one-year-old nephew” but “My nephew is one year old.”

Get used to using the dictionary and guides like Kathy Ide’s Proofreading Secrets of Best-Selling Authors frequently for spelling, usage, and hyphenation

Avoid repetition when it’s not intended for a particular effect
–"I tossed my heavy cloak onto my bed." vs "I tossed the heavy cloak onto my bed." 

That's an unimportant example, but get used to thinking about repeated words in sentences and paragraphs and across the entire manuscript. Do you overuse certain words or phrases? Like turned, looked, glared, raised an eyebrow?

Cut or replace extraneous words
–Being a gentleman, he stood up to give her his chair. She thanked him as she sat down.
–Light change: Being a gentleman, he stood to give her his chair. She thanked him as she sat.
–Heavier change: Ever a gentleman, he offered her his chair. She thanked him as she sat.
It was technically okay, but now it’s 14 words instead of 18 and sounds better

Don’t be too formal. Use contractions.

Consider spacing and white space. Only one space between sentences. Paragraphs shouldn’t be too long (intimidating) or too short (a lot of one-line paragraphs is considered overly dramatic) 

Read favorite authors and note how they do things

Spotting the Enemy: By Sight and Sound

Read v-e-r-y, v-e-r-y slowly

Read aloud or using text-to-speech program. This will help you
–Catch missing words (e.g., dropped the or a), words used twice, words often confused or mistyped (e.g., that and than)
–Gauge “rightness” and beauty of the writing

Pay special attention to line breaks (last word on one line and first word of next—easy for word repeats to happen here)

Use a pencil to guide the eye

Use a print out

Read from end to beginning or from bottom up of each page 

–Helps keep brain from reading into the story what it thinks is there (e.g., a missing a)

Make a list of words that are frequently misused or misspelled. Make a list of words you overuse and need to replace or cut

Read a page or so of Kathy Ide’s Proofreading Secrets of Best-Selling Authors or some other helpful book before starting to get yourself in an editing mindset

Let manuscript get “cold” before proofreading it

Expect to stop and look up words, phrases, hyphenation, and usage frequently

Break your time into small chunks so you won’t lose alertness and make mistakes

In short: Read slowly. Question every word. Read it aloud or listen to it.

The Right Weapons

Knowing where the rules or the guidelines are is essential, for your high school English teacher probably wasn't up on publishing standards, nor were your critique partners (we writers tend to think we know what we're doing and give both good and bad advice with great confidence). It's always best to go the source.

Here are some great references:

Proofreading Secrets of Best-Selling Authors by Kathy Ide. She gives summaries, common problems and trouble words, and references these in Chicago and AP.

Dictionary: Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed.

Style Guide (choose appropriate one):
–The Chicago Manual of Style, Words into Type, The Associated Press Stylebook, Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA), or in-house style guides

–For book publishing: The Chicago Manual of Style
–For articles: The Associated Press Stylebook

Also, always use spellchecker but don’t rely on it. You can also use writing programs such as ProWritingAid or Grammarly.

Do you have any other tips for proofreading?

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?