You know the drill. This is all I’m allowed to say.
Need a Hint?
Writing to a Deadline AGAIN #1
Writing to a Deadline AGAIN #2
Tag Archives: editing
Writing to a Deadline AGAIN #3 — OMIGOSH! You Gotta be kidding me!
Posted in Writing to a Deadline
Tagged Arts, author, beta partner, beta reader, beta reading, Blog, Business, editing, Fiction, getting published, Music, New Jersey, point of view, Protagonist, publish, Publishing, Short story, shortstory, synopsis, Word count
Search and Destroy in the Editing Phase
Daily Writing Tips recently had an article explaining bad writing compared to poor writing. The one part of the article that struck me was the end.
They presented a list which I will admit (giving them total credit) that I copied and pasted below. I only want to talk about #5, but I am including the entire list, because I think there are a lot of writers out there who can benefit from it.
Here we go: Total credit to Dailywritingtips.com (If you want to see the whole article, the link is below)
———————————————————————-
Here are some tips on avoiding the pitfalls of bad writing:
1. Be Fresh
The purpose of metaphor and simile is to evoke recognition by comparison or allusion. Write these analogies to aid your readers with your clarity of vision, not to serve your ego, and avoid clichés.
2. Be Clear
When drafting expository fiction or nonfiction, record your voice as you spontaneously describe a scene or explain a procedure, transcribe your comments, and base your writing on the transcription, revising only to select more vivid verbs and more precise nouns and to seek moderation in adverbs and adjectives.
3. Be Active
Use the passive voice judiciously.
4. Be Concise
Write tight.
5. Be Thorough
Accept that writing is the easy part; it’s the revision that makes or breaks your project — and requires most of your effort.
———————————————-
Okay then… end credit to daily writing tips.
(On a side note: If anyone needs clarification on anything in the list above, let me know and I will do my best to translate.)
Let’s talk about #5.
This is near and dear to my heart, as I have just finished a roller-coaster ride self-imposed deadline of 5,000 words a week to finish a novel in 10 weeks.
I finished my first draft four weeks ahead of schedule, and dropped myself into editing.
Is my story great? Well, of course it is! It’s my idea and I love it.
Is it well written…
Umm well, it will be.
Now is the tough part. I need to attack all the sneaky “tell” that slipped in when I wasn’t looking. I need to describe bronzed skin rather than telling “his skin was bronzed.”
Luckily enough, I have many words to spare, as I ended up short on my word-count target. I have plenty of room to expand.
Right now, it is “search and destroy” on “Felt” “was” “it” and all those other nasty little tell markers.
I was paying attention this time around, and I tried my best not to have blatant run-on tell passages (as I’ve been guilty of in the past) which is good, but all of my tell is now “subtle”. It is the kind that will probably slip past most publishers. But I don’t just want this to be a good novel. I want it to be a great one.
Yes, it is this revision process that will make or break this novel.
I am approaching it by not reading for flow yet. I am just looking for all those “little nasties”. Once I think I am “nasty free” I will read for flow, and then ship off to betas, trusting them to slap me upside the head for everything else I may have missed.
How do you “search and destroy” during the editing phase?
Related articles
- Search and Destroy Those Weak Words (whatifyoucouldnotfail.typepad.com)
- Good Advice About Bad Writing (dailywritingtips.com)
Six Sentence Sunday – A blast from the past. This is funny.
It’s Six Sentence Sunday again. Today’s is gonna give you a giggle. I’m going to allow you to wallow in my ineptness.
If you haven’t heard, Six Sentence Sunday is a group of people who mostly post their own work, but I just shoot out six sentences of whatever takes my fancy. Sometimes what I’m writing, or sometimes what I’m reading. If you want to find out more, click here. Visit Six Sentence Sunday Site.
I’m still reading Oracle by JC Martin. I didn’t want to post another 6 sentences from the same work, so I was sitting here at my desk, and I saw a printed copy of my early novel HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT hanging out, feeling abandoned.
I thought it would be fun to open it up to a random page, and just pick six sentences.
Now… I wrote this well over a year ago, maybe even two years, as last year at this time I was editing it. I laughed when I read this passage. I am going to curtail my inner-editor and post it exactly as it is printed. Mistakes and all.
Yes, thank goodness, I have come incredibly far in a little over a year.
At his feet, an arbor bug struggled to scale a small mound of dirt.
Harris sighed as he watched it. Why doesn’t it just walk around it? After it fell back for the third time, Harris flattened the mound with his foot, and the small creature continued on its way. He closed his eyes and smiled, actually finding gratification in helping something so small. Would Daniel Hyelven have done that?
OMIGOSH! Can you stand how much tell is in those six sentences?
Did I really use the word “it” four times in the same line?
This is really embarrassing. I just couldn’t believe it, but I thought it would be worth a laugh.
I just love this story, and someday I will go back and fix it. After looking at this paragraph, I know it will be a huge undertaking. 🙂
Hope you got a good giggle!
Related articles
- Recognizing Passive Voice (dailypost.wordpress.com)
- Sexy Sentence Saturday…The Unidentified Redhead (bookishtemptations.com)
- Subject and Verb Agreement (davidnwalker.com)
- Six Sentence Sunday – Mya 3 (dbryantsimmons.com)
- Six Sentence Sunday – Mya 2 (dbryantsimmons.com)
- Writers on how they write: Orhan Pamuk (gointothestory.blcklst.com)
- Six Sentence Sunday (lisavoisin.wordpress.com)
- Six Sentence Sunday – My 100th #SixSunday Celebration! (lisafoxromance.wordpress.com)
Scoping out locations for your novel #3: Road Trip! (Contes Farm)
In scoping out locations in South Jersey for my new Novel, I needed a farm that was between point A and an airport. Last week, we visited the airport, and it was perfect. Would the farm be that good?
I clicked on the GPS and started driving. First problem: It’s too far away. I need it far away, but not this far. There is another farm option, but that one is actually too close to its local airport.
Erghhh! The woes of real-life locations.
As I’m driving though, I figure out a way to make it work. I just need to tweak something just a little bit. Yeah, I decided, it will work, and it will be much easier than trying to make the one that’s too close to the airport “fit” into the story.
We headed out into farm country, and I kept repeating: “Please be surrounded by woods… please be surrounded by woods.”
We turned onto a road, and pulled up to the small farm-stand building. Conte’s Farm. Hmmm… not as grand as I had expected, but the building is not important. I dragged all the kids out of the car, and announced we were going out into the fields to pick our own fruit. Boy, did their faces light up!
It’s funny, with all the things they were guessing as we were driving, I was afraid they would be disappointed. Wow, were they excited.
We went to the back and got our baskets. “So, how does this work?” I asked.
“He’ll be there in a minute to bring you out,” she said.
Much to my joy, and my kid’s excitement, a tractor pulled up with a big trailer attached with seats on it.
Perfect, since I’d already written this scene, and there was a tractor in it. We loaded up and he pulled us out into the fields which were HUGE. Much bigger than I had written, but that’s fine. An easy fix.
I shielded my eyes, and scanned the far reaches of the fields. They were surrounded on three sides with a very thick forest. Wahooo! And the woods were even on the correct side, heading toward the airport.
Happiness abounding, we set out to pick our strawberries and had a blast. “Nice tractor guy” picked us up a while later and dropped us off at the blueberry fields. The weather was perfect, and we had tons of fun picking fruit.
Note of caution-if everyone in your group has their own buckets, you may be coming home with five pounds of blueberries… Just say’n.
Anyway… next hurdle…
As we checked out, I asked if they have anything fruiting in August (That’s when my novel takes place, and I really didn’t want to change that.)
“Yes, that’s peach season.”
YES! I’d already written about peaches… and I was worried, because they didn’t mention peaches on their web-site.
Two locations down… the farm and the airport.
Point A would be a little more of a trip… for another day.
My next challenge is to find a hotel within a reasonable distance to this farm.
That, unfortunately, may be the hardest part of all of this. I might have to make one up.
What do you think of “making up” a location, where all other locations are “real”? I may be able to fudge it, by being hazy on the address of the hotel. Whaddya think?
Related articles
- 6 Natural Blueberry U-Picks Near Seattle (redtri.com)
- Monroeville farm is one of a dying breed (nj.com)
- Springridge Farm (mom-on-the-move.com)
- The 2012 Midsummer Guide to Berry Picking in Virginia and Maryland (Updated) (washingtonian.com)
- Pick Your Own Blueberries at Greig’s Farm in Red Hook NY (primitiverughooking.typepad.com)
Posted in General Writing Tips, Senseless Ranting
Tagged August, Blueberry, editing, Farm, Fiction, Fruit, location, novel, on location, South Jersey, United States, writing
Jon Gibbs’s Ten things I wish I knew before I was published #4: The End is Just the Beginning
Boy, did he nail this one the head for me. I spend 80% more time editing my work than actually writing it. In my last novel, HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT, it was my own fault for pantsing it, and then having to go back and make major edits.
However, even with LAST WINTER RED, which I outlined, I spent several weeks of intense-high pressure edits after writing the bulk of it over a weekend writer’s retreat. And for all that work, I didn’t really change much. I added three small scenes (by small I mean 100 words or so) but the rest of it was fixing grammar, spelling, flow, etc.
Jon’s suggestion is to get your story down first, and do the editing when you are done (Yay, I did it right!) If you edit constantly, while you are writing, you will probably go back and make changes before you are even done.
Note: The above are Jon Gibb’s main speaking points, with my rambling opinions attached.
Jon Gibbs is the author of one of my son’s favorite books: FUR-FACE, which was nominated for a Crystal Kite Award.
Jon is an Englishman transplanted to New Jersey, USA, where he is an ‘author in residence’ at Lakehurst Elementary School. Jon is the founding member of The New Jersey Author’s Network and FindAWritingGroup.com.
Jon blogs at jongibbs.livejournal.com
Website: www.acatofninetales.com
Related articles
- Plotting versus Pantsing (rscottsteele.wordpress.com)
- Editing: Computer or Paper? (kristinastanley.net)
- Paulina Plots (writingsluts.wordpress.com)
- Partying with Punctuation (dodgingcommas.wordpress.com)
- More Help For Writers (klynneduvall.wordpress.com)
- Free Query Tips (ayeshaschroeder.com)
- Guest Post: Editing for Self-Publishers by John C. Goodman (selfpubauthors.com)
- Give It Up for Bonnie Hearn Hill and Christopher Allen Poe… (7evildwarves.wordpress.com)
Posted in Ten things I wish I knew
Tagged Debagging, editing, Elementary school, Jon Gibb, New Jersey, United States, writing, Writing and Editing
Road to Publication #9: Publisher responds to my “Re-edits”
Well, overall they liked the changes. Yay! There were four things they felt strongly about.
#1 They thought an eleven year old girl would not say “You’re a jerk”. They wanted to change it to “You’re mean”. Okay, I guess that’s all right. It’s not as funny, but I’ll go with it. At least they agreed to put that scene back in. (They originally wanted to completely remove it.)
#2 They wanted to change up a scene where three characters were talking. They sent me an excerpt of what they wanted to do, but I couldn’t put my mind around it. I needed to ask to see the changed manuscript.
#3 In the climax, they felt strongly about the way it happened. Apparently, I did not “show” it well enough to give them a clear picture. I took some things for granted, and I supposed it backfired. They wanted to change it to the way they “thought” it had happened, which really wouldn’t be all that big a deal, but I didn’t think what they suggested was even physically possible. I tried re-writing the scene, and asked them if I’d done a better job of expressing what happened.
#4 They did not like my last word. Not the sentence… just the last word. I thought if they had a problem with the ending, that they’d want to trash the last six words. But nope. Just the last word.
The problem is that changing the last word to what they wanted would change the entire tone of the story. It is also a poetic ending, and it was not the right amount of syllables. I know… that sounds really stupid. You’ll understand when you see it.
I suggested a different word that I think expressed what they wanted, but with the correct amount of syllables. We’ll see what happens.
Overall, I think I am happy at the moment. I would really like to read it one more time to make sure everything is okay. I feel helpless… not having the version that they are working off of right in front of me, and I don’t like okaying things piece-meal.
Jon Gibbs’s Ten things I wish I knew before I was published #2: It Ain’t Easy, Baby
You will not get published by accident. You need to go to workshops, and send your stuff out. No one will accidentally read your manuscript.
Now, I need to admit that I have a friend who posted an excerpt from her novel on her blog, and a publisher happened upon it. He asked her to send him a full, and he eventually published her.
It does happen, but the chances are so slim I can’t think of a number that small.
There are people out there who walk around carrying “Writer’s Market” hoping someone will see them and say “are you a writer?” Seriously… it’s not going to happen.
You need to submit. Press that little submit button. I know it’s hard, I’ve been there, but it can be done.
Go ahead, stick those pages in that envelope. Send your baby on its way. It won’t get anywhere if you don’t let it leave home.
You need to decide if you are a recreational writer, or a professional writer. Either one is fine, but professional writing is work. You need to apply for jobs… no different here.
(Unless you go for self-publishing, but that’s another story completely)
Note: The above are Jon Gibb’s main speaking points, with my rambling opinions attached.
Jon Gibbs is the author of one of my son’s favorite books: FUR-FACE, which was nominated for a Crystal Kite Award.
Jon is an Englishman transplanted to New Jersey, USA, where he is an ‘author in residence’ at Lakehurst Elementary School. Jon is the founding member of The New Jersey Author’s Network and FindAWritingGroup.com.
Jon blogs at jongibbs.livejournal.com
Website: www.acatofninetales.com
Related articles
- Best First Novel of the Year Award – Includes Self Published (kathytemean.wordpress.com)
- If at First You Don’t Succeed….Lock Yourself in a Closet and Do it Anyways (thewritersadvice.com)
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Arts, Book Review, editing, Fiction, Fur Face, getting published, Jon Gibb, Jon Gibbs, Manuscript, New Jersey, novel, Publishing, self publishing, shortstory, United States, Website, Writer, Writer Resources, Writer's Market, writing, Writing and Editing, Writing help
Road to Publication #6: The Dreaded Line Edits. Yes, it is as bad as everyone says.
When the email containing the line edits popped up from my publisher, my stomach sank. Here it was, two weeks or so after I submitted my final MS to them. This is the part that all writers dread.
I didn’t open the email for a while. I calmly responded to everything else that was in my queue before I even looked at it.
Then, of course, I could procrastinate no longer. It said in big bold print “READ THIS EMAIL BEFORE YOU OPEN THE ATTACHMENTS”. Like a good little girl, I did. It was probably good that I did, because it kept me from throwing things.
They explained first that one attachment shows all the edits they made, and in some cases, comments why they made them. The second attachment was a clean copy that was not marked up, showing the MS as it would look if I accept all their suggestions/edits.
I grit my teeth, and opened the “marked up” attachment.
No, I was not happy.
To some extent, I expected this. Every author I have spoken to has gone through it… The slicing panic, the urge to kill, the personal affront. –My publisher warned in the email that I would feel this way, and gave leeway to vent to the poor marketing liaison if it would make me feel better. – I didn’t do that – I did the right thing. I read it, I grit my teeth, and I went to bed.
There’s a ton to be learned here, so let me digest it all (and work on my MS, of course) and we’ll go through it next week. Same Bat Time, same Bat Channel – eeeerrr… um… same web-site address, that is.
Awe, forget about it… Tune in next week.
Biggest Mistakes New Writers Make #4: Resisting Feedback
Do you resist feedback. Are ya sure? Come on, now… Let’s be honest with ourselves, shall we?
At a recent NJ Author’s talk on “Getting Published” the authors (Listed and linked below) discussed the biggest mistakes they think new writers make.
***Don’t be resistant to feedback***
Danielle Ackley McPhail (Author of the Literary Handyman, and Editor of Bad Ass Fairies) commented during this discussion (see the other posts if you are just tuning in) that “you can’t be resistant to feedback”. She said if you resist what editors say, and you seem resistant in general, they might not come back to you. She said to recognize your role in the relationship. If you won’t budge, then you won’t move forward. (And we all want that second book deal, right?)
For those of you who are not lucky enough to have publishers or editors yet, the same can be said about your beta readers. If you have them listen to them. You might not always agree, but if more than one person thinks something is weak, and you think it’s great, you need to consider that you might be looking at your work with blind eyes. Take a deep breath, and LISTEN. Be open minded. Put your guard down, and you just might be surprised by what happens.
Jonathan Maberry: www.Jonathanmaberry.com
Mike McPhail: www.mcp-concepts.com
Danielle Ackley-McPhail: www.sidhenadaire.com
Jon Gibbs: www.acatofninetales.com
Jennifer R. Hubbard: www.jenniferhubbard.com
Kristin Battestella: www.jsnouff.com/kristin
Related articles
- Biggest Mistakes New Authors Make #2 – Jumping the gun- Writing Non-linearly (jennifermeaton.com)
- Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry (bookgoonie.com)
- Deconstructing Constructive Feedback (central-insurance.com)
- Taking the First Step (nomadnovelist.wordpress.com)
Road to Publication #5: The Marketing Plan
Today I received one of those big-scary presents from my publisher. The Marketing Plan.
I don’t know if this calls for a squee or and EEEK!
I was a little surprised by the magnitude of it. Everyone says writing the novel is the easy part. Now’s the time for the work. And this isn’t something you can’t put off. Anything you do wrong (or right) now can affect how your novel sells.
I have a 20 week marketing plan leading right up until the release date of December 3rd. 20 weeks equates to 50 pages of reading. Did anyone else just cringe?
The good news is a lot of this I have done already, or have already planned to do and it is on my schedule. The bad news is, there is a lot of stuff that I haven’t done, and some of it is scary.
It’s time to plow ahead. The good news is that I can draw on experiences of others, and I am not floundering in the dark.
Keep your fingers crossed!
Jennifer M Eaton 