Luckily for us, we have some wonderful authors more than willing to blog and give us some shouts on Twitter. We are humbled. And filled with lots of jumpy lurves.
Jade Hart, a fantastic author, has allowed us to help with edits of her self published novels, and works with us over at Curiosity Quills. One, you need to check out her books, and two, just need to get to know her. She blogged about Cliffhanger, and we did a little dance once we saw it.
Now on to the fun stuff. You know, editing tips. Those scary, mind boggling, what do I do now, the Fort isn't big enough for all of my writer-ly friends, editing pit falls.
First and foremost - congratulations on finishing! Statistically, very few are able to push their way through to the end. It's tough, mind boggling, reduces gray matter to mush, exhausting, exhilarating, fall in love, imaginative, wonderful experience. And look at you! Accomplished, made a goal, completed an idea to fruition! Do a dance, go out, celebrate. B R A G! Then take a nice long nap to rejuvenate. Find your brain, try to remold it into something resembling intelligence so that when you talk to outsiders, you don't sound as if you'd just slipped out of the self-huggy jacket in jewel tones.
After you have rested, prepare for the editing and revisions. For some authors, this is the part they love. For others, like me, I try to avoid it for as long as possible. Long naps, fear of reading what was written during the feverish clacking of keys. Most often, it's humorous, but the thought of going through more than sixty thousand words is daunting, to say the least. Then to have to polish it, and do it over ... and over ... and over. It's going to hurt.
Come back, I promise to be gentle. Really! I've blogged about some of the simple stuff on my personal blog, things every author - yes, Robin and me included - are guilty of and should edit out on the first pass. What do I mean first pass? Yes, that thought just scrolled across your forehead. Don't feel alone, it is in neon, capital letters scrolling repeatedly across my own. Robin is in denial, she says nothing like that scrolls across hers. I'm just happy to know I'm not the only one. Relax, calm down, and you'll find that if you do it in a smart manner, it isn't as bad.
We are going to get into some deeper editing tips to help every MS. Sit down, have a drink, a snack, a good cuddle with a furbaby ...
Second Pass Edits
1.) After you've taken care of basic grammar, punctuation, passive, etc, the next pass is to look deeper.
When going into your second pass, I advise many to look for things like too many characters introduced. *Points finger at self in guilt* For example, two characters are conversing and they drop seven or eight names. Be very, very careful. If too many names are given, the reader can be jerked out of your world. It's usually best to reference the characters in some way - time, place, job, etc - so the reader can connect the dots when the characters are "physically" introduced later.
The first chapter is not only a place to introduce the MC, or in one case of a well written book, the protagonist, it is also where hints and tips of the upcoming plot should be added. No, don't give away the entire plot line, but do give some insider, subtle hints. At the same time, don't be so subtle the reader doesn't pick up on it. *Points finger at self, again*
2.) Voice. How many times have we, as authors, heard this one? Voice is the feel and sound of the narrator, whether 1st POV, 2nd POV, 3rd Omniscent, or 3rd Tight. I've seen voice that was beautiful, subtle but there in the background, forcing me to hold onto every word. Or mine, which is loud and in your face many times. Plus everything in-between. As a writer, you can show the voice in the first sentence, by actions of a character. When editing, keep the voice consistent. You'll instinctively know when it doesn't - there is a feeling of the words being off.
3.) Point of View. Joyce Alton, a wonderful person and author, blogged about POV. She did a great job explaining the four types and what they mean. Bookmark!
Another mistake I see often when editing, is the changing POV. From 1st to 2nd, sometimes switching up to 3rd and then back to 1st. Pick a POV - and stick to it. The MC in 1st POV isn't going to know explicitly why another character did something, their thoughts, feelings, etc. Unless they have a deep psychic connection. If they do - make sure you've spelled that out in the very beginning.
If you are using 3rd Omniscent, watch your transitions. Don't head jump constantly, it can leave the audience dizzy and frustrated. I have seen wonderfully written books with almost ten character POVs in one chapter, but the transitions made it seamless and easy to follow.
I'll leave it at three tips for now. Remember, breaking the "rules" is great! But do it for a reason. The "rules" are really guidelines anyway.
I'll post more tips next week, to delve even deeper into edits and revisions.
A Contest
On Saturday, May 18th, we are going to take entries into a contest. I'll give all official rules, etc, then. But here are the prizes:
One free comprehensive edit, to include an email regarding the work from both Robin and I. Worth approximately $600.
Two free comprehensive partials - the first 50 pages of an MS, and an email regarding the work from both of us. Worth $50 each.
What do you need to do? Well, first, you need to write two paragraphs of the worst writing you can think of - and be humorous. The funnier the better your chances. Find every writing rule and break it. Be creative, don't be cruel, and something you won't mind us posting. Be bad, be very very bad.
And tweet, tweet, tweet!
