I Scream, You Scream. We All Scream at Editing.

Courtesy of the website www.wonderbaby.org/images/ivan-screams.jpg

Okay, I must confess. This was me yesterday. Literally. I received the news most authors dread to hear. That your wonderful book did not make the grade with the editors. Look, I remember those papers we handed in in school. They had big red pen marks on them and a large letter on top that was the grade. Well, I got my grade from the editors. And it was not an A. Not a B either. Maybe a C for the idea only. But the writing was bad. The plot was wrong. The characterizations were lacking. It was poor work. It hovered at an F.

AAGH. I screamed. More out of the realization of how much work I would need to do to make it right. Like having to rewrite a good portion of the book (with many scenes from scratch). And all of this when I had another book due in that I was currently working on. And having only a few weeks to accomplish the revision.

Then for some reason I remembered a quote I saw on Anne of Green Gables, in the second movie. Gilbert is complaining about Anne's article that won a baking powder contest instead of something superior. The style, the mumbo jumbo, the poor plot. She screams at him. And he says quite plainly, "You can cry all you want. It won't make you write a better novel." That scene helped settle me down. Nothing was going to change unless I calmed myself and got down to business.

And I realized something else, too. This is not my little book. These are not my ideas. The book was entrusted to me by God. It's His work. I am a vessel of His truth through fiction. And I need to do it the best way I know how. I often wonder if God made some of the apostles rewrite books of the Bible because it wasn't what He wanted. :) That some of man's ideas were thrust in there, and He said calmly, Do it over, please. Of course that probably didn't happen. But I wonder. And if so, the end result was worth it--a life changing message that affects people today.

And so I have stopped screaming and have settled down. The rewrite is massive--the most I have ever had to do for a novel. But for all I know, it could be my best book ever. And that's a book worth writing...

When You've Got the Wrong Shoes On...

This is an actual picture of my shoe getting stuck in the mud when I was hiking the Appalachian Trail back in 2007. It reminded me of my hike last weekend - of which I had on the wrong shoes to do a fairly strenuous hike and ended up suffering for it (and having to leave the trail early). To this day - nearly a week later, I still have a toenail that remains red and painful. I wish I could go back and listen to that still, quiet voice that told me to check my shoes, insoles, and wear the right socks. I could have avoided lots of problems and finished my goal.

Sometimes we like to take shortcuts with our writing or other work we do. We don't take the time to make sure it's the best it can be but rush off, thinking it will do, that it's adequate enough. Like if deadlines loom or in trying to put together a proposal quick and get it sent off. But we can suffer for our haste. We can end up with the ugly red form of rejection because we didn't take the time to construct, polish and edit our work thoroughly so it's the best it can be. It's so easy to try and take shortcuts. Not to give it our all in our work. But it's liable to come back at us and make us suffer for it afterwards. But we can be wiser for it in the lessons learned. I know I will be the next time I hit the trail. I'll be wearing new shoes, good insoles and padded socks. And carry plenty of Bandaids and duct tape to work with my already injured feet. So, too, we can bring new life to our work and resubmit elsewhere. But take the time to do it the right way, and you may find a contract waiting for you instead.

Bad Book Postures

I've been doing some reading lately. As a writer, I find it helpful to look over other works and see what other authors are doing. And after a few books, I have found that they start off quick and energetic, with interesting characters and plot. But by the middle of the book, the story starts to sag. The energy level is gone. The characters have no spark left but just seem to be existing day by day as if they themselves are bored of the storyline (and thus, I am too). And then as the book goes on, by the ending chapters, the energy is back again to reach that satisfying conclusion.

So what to do about the sagging middle? I realize sometimes it's like we as writers just want to make it through the book so we can get to our victorious conclusion. The hero wins. The guy gets the girl. Evil is overcome. Or whatever the case may be. But to get there, we must keep the energy level high throughout the book. To write a story that will keep readers turning the pages so they do make it to that great end. So I will begin from now on to analyze my own work better, especially that forgotten middle section. I don't want to see the characters lose their zing or the plot to drag. Keep the story flowing. Perhaps add in an extra twist in the plot by a minor subplot. To not get bogged down with the day to day living that can really be a drag. To put in new and quirky things with the characters to keep readers entertained. To make it an interesting work through and through. To make the story stand upright all the way to the end.

Get rid of bad posture in your book. Keep it fresh and the writing lively from page one on.

The Final Editing Stage...Walk Away

Okay, I have done the major rewrite on my upcoming novel due in to the editor.


But now I am tired. Worn out. My fingers are frazzled, and my mind is numb after all the rewriting. I am thoroughly sick and tired of the book. So what do I do?



Let it rest and walk away. Literally.


Yes, I took a week off, walked away from my computer and went into the woods to enjoy a bit of the coming spring. I went hiking for a week.

I enjoyed blooming redbud and the dogwood. And allowed some refreshing times to enter my weary soul. Afterwards, I returned to the book that had been sitting patiently in my computer, awaiting my attention. I read it as though I had not seen it before. And I was able to detect the flow of the writing better. To see small mistakes that would have likely been overlooked, having stared at the document for so long. And put the finishing touches on a manuscript to ready it for the editor.


So what to do on that last stage of editing? Walk away. Take a rest. Then come back and have a new look at it. In the end you will have a final product that gleams.

It's Written...Now What?

The manuscript is written. After toiling over the pages, the plot, the characters, writing chapters in tune with the synopsis, bringing out all facets of the story, writing the beginning, middle and the end, you are finished.

Or are you?

Yes, you can relax and take a break. It's well deserved. But there is still much more yet to be accomplished. The tedious work of revising. Fine tuning. Make the manuscript sparkle and shine. Polishing, cutting, pasting, altering, making the writing the best it can be before it finds its way into the hands of your editor.

So what does this entail? Well, for me it means looking over my work. I first read through it on the computer. I look for awkward phrasing, for misplaced sentences, for obvious typos and correct these. I then print out a hard copy. It is impossible to do an accurate survey of your work without looking at it on the written page, as if you are reading a book. I find that I have two different manuscripts when I see my work this way. And I usually end of doing much more dicing and splicing when I see the manuscript in hard copy. I see the mistakes in flow. The choppiness. What I need to change. And often typos that are easily bleeped over on a computer screen. Such as the computer spellcheck missing "abut" for "about" (it happens more than I can say!).

Once this is done, I insert the changes in the computer file. Then it's good to have your work critiqued by a fellow writer, with a fresh set of eyes to catch those mistakes you might never see or think about; to do the critical analysis you would never do. You then take the suggestions and incorporate them. Perhaps print out another hard copy to read over (I do). And then one final look on the computer, along with checking chapter titles, headers, etc.

And walla! A finished manuscript you are proud to send to an editor and eventually to readers in the form of a published book.

You Can Always Learn New Revision Techniques

This is me sometimes in the picture - frantically trying to make my manuscript the best it can be. Going over and over it, checking the flow of the story, checking grammar, checking for words that spellcheck misses. All important areas so that your story, and not the glaring mistakes, comes forth to the editor's eye.

For me, I tend to write and write whatever comes into my mind and worry about the rest later. I am not a proficient typist either, so the spelling is atrocious. Sometimes I will go back to spellcheck and it is so bad, I can't even figure out what it is I was trying to say! I did take a typing class in high school, but I have not gotten much better, even with the dozen books I have written! But going back over with spellcheck also enables me to go back over the sentences and the story in general. Even if I have to do it many times. And through that careful perusal, I am able to pick out places where the story drags, the sentences are in the wrong place, or even sentences that can be deleted altogether.

One of the best classes I took at the Philadelphia Write His Answer conference was on revising your work. Every author needs to take a course like this, no matter how many books they have published. There are always new things to learn to make your work shine even brighter. And I found out about redundancy with words, choosing the best of two actions in a sentence (not both actions), dialogue (such as the author "says" things, not does things when speaking such as sigh, laugh), and as this one teacher from the Christian Writers Guild said - "resist the urge to explain (RUE)" - such as - Sylvia was frustrated. She paced the length of the room. This can simply be stated - Sylvia paced the length of the room (as the frustration level is already implied by the action).

Now I have written quite few bocks, but these types of revision techniques were important to learn. Especially now, as I am working to revise my latest mss in progress. I can employ them to make my work tighter and shinier. And hopefully land that elusive contract as a result.