The Writer's Life: Editing A LITTLE ELFY IN BIG TROUBLE. Twelve Years Later by Barb Caffrey

My newest novel, A LITTLE ELFY IN BIG TROUBLE, has just been released as an e-book through Twilight Times Books. I'm extremely happy about this – if I weren't, there probably would be something wrong with me – but as Murder By Four is a website that mostly talks about the writing, publishing, or editing processes, I thought it might be interesting to talk about the unusual task I recently undertook – editing my novel, twelve full years after it was initially completed.

You see, my edit of A LITTLE ELFY IN BIG TROUBLE was unlike anything else I've done to date. Over the last twelve years, I've become a working editor, and have gained a great deal of ability during that time.

But as you may know (as I've guested at Murder By Four before), I also lost my husband Michael ten-plus years ago. He was a much more experienced writer than I, and far more adept as an editor, while I sat down and did the actual work of writing A LITTLE ELFY IN BIG TROUBLE in 2002 and 2003…and revised a bit during 2004.

Then my husband died. My life was upended. For a long time, I wondered why I was still alive at all – but for whatever reason, I just could not give up.

I kept sending my work around to publishers and agents. I garnered a few good comments, but no sales, mostly because both novels in the Elfyverse are comic young adult urban fantasies with a great deal of mystery and a dash of romance, besides. They are relentlessly cross-genre works, and that makes it harder for me to "brand" myself – a concept that's taken root in the ten-plus years it's been since Michael died, and refuses to die.

Though, granted, even before it was called "branding," readers tended to classify authors by what they wrote, less formally. Dorothy Sayers, for all her erudition, was classified as a mystery writer (with later mysteries sometimes being additionally labeled as romances due to the Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane relationship). J.R.R. Tolkien was classified as a fantasy writer for good reason – and yet, he also was a gifted religious scholar (so, for that matter, was Sayers). And C.S. Lewis, despite his Chronicles of Narnia, was often categorized as a Christian apologist due to books like THE FOUR LOVES and MERE CHRISTIANITY – yet he, too, was a gifted scholar.

So, if these three giants of literature could get labeled as only one type of writer, when they actually wrote many different types of things in their careers, what chance do I have as a relatively new writer?

My father has a saying: Don't fight it, accept it. And that's basically where I'm at with regards to branding…but, as always, I digress.

After many years of trying to find a publisher who understood what I was doing, I found Lida Quillen at Twilight Times Books. She liked my work. And it's because of her that both halves of the Elfy duology have now been published (book one is called AN ELFY ON THE LOOSE).

The point I am trying to make, about editing A LITTLE ELFY IN BIG TROUBLE twelve years after I wrote it, is that while I recognized these words as my own, I saw them in a brand-new light. Because I have edited so many books (over sixty, maybe as many as seventy) in the past few years, I was able to see my work in the same way someone else would – or a reasonable facsimile, at any rate.

On my blog, affectionately known as Barb Caffrey's Elfyverse, I wrote in May (link is here: https://elfyverse.wordpress.com/2015/05/18/a-monday-editing-blog-aka-whats-the-deal-with-the-second-half-of-elfy-barb/):

…you have to be in the right frame of mind to see what is actually in your own manuscript rather than what you think is there… What I try to do with the Elfyverse is to be consistent. I want to tell the best story I can. I’ve improved my actual writing mechanics a great deal since I originally wrote ELFY in 2002-3, and I want to reflect that…but I don’t want to take all the life out of the story, either.

And make no mistake about it: This is a full-on edit. It is not editorial changes, which is a much different animal. This is my own take on my own work, yes, but it’s also my older and wiser self editing my younger and more exuberant self, while trying to keep track of all the details — you may feel free to read “keep all the balls in the air” if you wish — at the same time.

You might be asking, "So, Barb. How is a full-on edit different from editorial changes?"

When you are dealing with editorial changes, you move more quickly through your manuscript – at least, I do – and you aren't as concerned with the intrinsic wholeness. You have to believe in your editor, and trust that he or she knows your writing well enough that you won't be steered off-course…and you have to trust that you will make the right changes in the right ways.

But in a full-on edit, you are looking at everything. Word choice, even if no one else has mentioned it. Whether you should add something at the beginning, because you now have two books where you once had only one. Whether you need additional scenes to clarify things, and if so, what?

And when you're done with your edit, you go back and make whatever changes are necessary.

In other words, I analyzed my manuscript as if it were written by someone else. I saw where it had weaknesses, as well as strengths. I tried to shore up those weaknesses. And I looked for ways to be consistent, without messing with my earlier style whatsoever – as, over time, I've become a slightly different writer.

Maybe you have another question at this point, something to the effect of, "So, Barb, what's the difference between a full-on edit and a rewrite? Especially since you're talking about adding things or rewriting them?"

A full-on edit is meant to help you, as a writer, figure out what else needs to be added to complete your novel and make it the best novel you are capable of writing. It is not a rewrite, because those usually mean you're starting from scratch, and you might use some of what you had before – or you might not.

It's a matter of emphasis, mostly. Analytical skills, perhaps. And certainly a matter of thoughtfulness, thoroughness, and sticktuitiveness…because when you edit for yourself, you have to believe you can see it as someone else does.

That's not easy. It might even be the next thing to impossible. But in this case, I felt it was the only way to get the job done…and I'm happy I was able to do it.

If you are looking to do some self-editing, whether it's for a novel, short story, or anything in between, keep the following things in mind:

· After you finish your draft, put it aside for a couple of days, if at all possible. (If time is short, get up, do something else for an hour or two, and come back to it.)

· When you do go back to it, read it aloud, slowly. Read it as if you're reading someone else's work, and try to find weaknesses. (You may not like doing that. But if you can find at least some of your own weaker areas, it will help your editor and/or your publisher down the line.)

· Then, go back and ruthlessly cut away anything that does not need to be there. If you have an overabundance of adjectives and adverbs (I often do), prune them back. If you use too many "thens," prune them back. If you shift tenses for no apparent reason, for goodness sake, go ahead and regularize those tenses.

· And by all means, do not rely on spellcheck or grammar check, especially if you write fantasy or science fiction. They may help you from time to time with an obviously misused or misspelled word, but because grammar check still sees "She said" as a simple sentence rather than an attribution phrase/dialogue tag, it's going to try to change your work and make it look – and read – wrong. (Plus, we F&SF writers often have words the spell and grammar check will hate. In my own work, the Elfy's language of Bilre is often flagged unnecessarily.)

If you keep all these things in mind, you may gain some insight into how to revise and edit your own work. That will make your editor and/or publisher much happier down the line, and also should promote greater mindfulness on your part as well.


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Links:

Blog: http://elfyverse.wordpress.com

Book: A LITTLE ELFY IN BIG TROUBLE

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B018B4699W

OmniLit: https://www.omnilit.com/product-alittleelfyinbigtrouble-1935228-234.html

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-little-elfy-in-big-trouble-barb-caffrey/1123003283?ean=2940157950910

Sample chapters: http://www.twilighttimesbooks.com/ElfyinBigTrouble_ch1.html

Reworking Older Titles (The Lord Keeps Me Humble!)

Hello, friends and fans of MB4!

I hope you've had a successful start to 2015. Did you make any writing resolutions? I'm ashamed to say, I didn't. I'm just plugging away at the jobs I've had on my plate for a while. Now that I've come up for air, I'm shocked that the end of January is in sight. How did that happen?

I’ve just finished putting the finishing touches on Under the Ice, my last Gus LeGarde Mystery. This makes ten in the series, and although I “never say never,” and may well write some more with these characters in the future, I’m breathing a sigh of relief, because some of these books have been waiting to see the light of day since 2006.

Because my head is so full of characters and stories begging to be released, for some reason I write too fast for a traditional publisher to keep pace with me. Especially since they aren’t uniquely devoted to just me. Heck, it wouldn’t be fair for all the other writers in the company to sit around and wait while my publisher focused on me, would it? So, I had a selection of older LeGarde books I’d written years ago, just languishing in the publishing queue.

When I decided to go ahead and put them out myself, I worked hard at it for a year and a half. In addition to a few new titles I managed to write (Devil’s Lake and The Seacrest) and two new books in my Tall Pines series (Sanctuary and Betrayal), I managed to polish up and release Lady Blues, Spirit Me Away, The Liar’s Gallery, and now, coming in a week or so, Under the Ice.

This last book, Under the Ice, was the toughest to edit and make presentable to the world. I’d written it in 2006, and just because of crazy timing issues, I hadn’t touched it since.

I thought it stunk.

Really. When I read it over during the course of three months, chapter by excruciating chapter, I was bored to tears. Maybe it’s because I’ve been writing thrillers and love stories since then. Maybe it’s because I was fitting this “do” job in between writing new, fresh stuff. But I was convinced it might be the worst of my series, and it honestly did need some very tedious editing.

Another issue that happened during this rewrite is that my Microsoft Word program stopped highlighting the misspellings and grammar mistakes. I tried one day to fix it, but couldn’t easily pinpoint the problem. That made for a lot of potential mistakes. Since then I’ve researched it and got it all back in working order. For the record, it was hardly an intuitive fix.

When I sent the book out to my first line of defense, two editors who work for me from the beginning to help me save face when I release the book to its next phase, the Beta Reader Phase, they found quite a few errors. I fixed them, and tried not to make even more mistakes in the “fixing,” (which does happen, as I’m sure you have all seen), and then shipped off the manuscript to about seventeen wonderful volunteers who have various amazing skills they are willing to share with me for the simple reward of “reading the story before it’s released” and also getting their personally inscribed print copy as a thank you. I love these folks, as you might imagine.

I’ve never had so many typos, extra words, missing words, case issues, and inconsistencies as they found in this book. Wow. I’m telling you, the Lord really kept me humble with this one. I think we must’ve had over 200 corrections, and I thank God for my Beta team, because mostly every single reader found a different selection of mistakes than the others! Some readers are best at catching action inconsistencies. Some are wizards with commas. Others have the knack of spotting that extra “to” or missing “a” in my prose. If it weren’t for all of them, however, I’d be flame-faced embarrassed when the book was released.

Because my own brain “reads” what it THOUGHT I “wrote,” I can’t find these errors. My brain thinks it’s so smart, integrating and upgrading the words before I interpret them. But dang it, I hate it. I wish I could spot my own mistakes.

Well, after all is said and done, my readers came back to me with comments like, “This is your best work yet,” “It flowed so well,” “I think it’s my favorite,” etc.

It just goes to show you. A story I hated editing “piecemeal” was actually well received when read as a whole entity.

Once this upcoming release of Under the Ice is done on January 30^th, 2015, I am finally going to be free to write fresh, new books in any order I feel like. What a luxury! To tell the truth, I’ve already plotted and started writing a sequel to The Seacrest: a love story, and am halfway done with a sequel to Devil’s Lake, called Devil’s Creek.

After that, who knows? I just know I’ll be having a blast with whatever stories beg to be released next.

Following is a complete list for anyone who’d like to take a look at my stable of books, most of which are in eBook, print, and audio versions. 

Happy writing!

Aaron

LEGARDE MYSTERIES

DOUBLE FORTÉ (print, eBook, audio book)

UPSTAGED (print, eBook, audio book)  

TREMOLO: CRY OF THE LOON (print, eBook, audio book)

MAZURKA (print, eBook, audio book)

FIRESONG (print, eBook, audio book)

DON’T LET THE WIND CATCH YOU (print, eBook, audio book)

THE LIARS’ GALLERY (print, eBook, audio book)

SPIRIT ME AWAY (print, eBook, audio book)

UNDER THE ICE: COUNTERPOINT (coming soon 2015)

LADY BLUES (print, eBook, audio book)

MOORE MYSTERIES

HEALEY'S CAVE (print, eBook, audio book)

TERROR COMES KNOCKING (print, eBook, audio book)

FOR KEEPS (print, eBook, audio book)

TALL PINES MYSTERIES

FOR THE BIRDS (print, eBook, audio book)

ESSENTIALLY YOURS (print, eBook, audio book)

SANCTUARY (print, eBook, audio book)

BETRAYAL (print, eBook, audio book)

STANDALONES

THE SEACREST (print, eBook, and audio book)

DEVIL’S LAKE (print, eBook, and audio book)

DEVIL’S CREEK (coming soon)

WRITING ADVICE: 

WRITE LIKE THE WIND, volumes 1, 2, 3  (audio books)

Aaron Paul Lazar writes to soothe his soul. An award-winning, bestselling Kindle author of three addictive mystery series, thrillers, love stories, and writing guides, Aaron enjoys the Genesee Valley countryside in upstate New York, where his characters embrace life, play with their dogs and grandkids, grow sumptuous gardens, and chase bad guys. Visit his website at http://www.lazarbooks.com and watch for his upcoming releases, UNDER THE ICE (2015) and DEVIL’S CREEK (2015). Aaron has won over 18 book awards for his novels and finds writing to be his form of "cheap therapy." Feel free to connect with him on Facebook or his website; he loves to connect with readers!

How to Catch Those Pesky Typos - Aaron Lazar

How to Catch Those Pesky Typso Typos

copyright aplazar 2014

It’s one of the hardest parts of being a writer, don’t you think? Editing your own work, running over the same pages over and over again…and still, if you’re human, it’s inevitable that you’ll miss a quotation mark here, an extra space there, or worse, a typo.

You know that reading your own words is the most difficult scenario for proofing, don’t you? Your big, beautiful brain is so good at translating what you physically “see” on the page into what your mind “knows” you “meant” to type, that it usually will glide right over an extra “the” or a missing “a.”

Yes, it purposefully corrects the errors, without even notifying you!

You can read the same sentence a hundred times, and it’ll look great to you. Your mind interprets it as you intended it. And when the first person to take a look at your book finds a glaring omission, or an extra word in that lovely prose, you may feel like an incompetent idiot.

You thought you were careful. Right? You worked so hard to catch those typos.

When it first happens, it's embarrassing. But over time, you’ll learn you cannot catch all of the errors by yourself.

I’ve written twenty-two books, so I’ve been through this process a few times. (you can see them at www.lazarbooks.com, including my newest release, Betrayal.) Over the years, I’ve had publishing house editors go over my manuscripts. They found errors, I fixed them. And I tried not to make more errors when I made the corrections, which is all too common.

We had the first and second edits, then copy edits in the end to make sure we didn’t miss anything. Once in a while, in spite of our best efforts, an error would creep through. Humiliated, I’d beat myself up for this one stupid error and swear it would never happen again. 

Because, you see, I, like you, get upset when I see typos in a best selling book. I used to think, "How can they have missed them?" "How hard can it be to find them?" "Didn't they even READ this thing?"

It was very humbling and illuminating to discover that sometimes, in spite of heroic efforts, these pesky mistakes can make it through to the final version. It happens to the best of us. 

As time went on, I learned that beta readers were an amazing asset. Not only were they excellent at finding and spotting typos, but if you found talented readers or writers with a knack for literary insight (like my beta readers!), they would point out inconsistencies in a scene or even mention when they thought a character went beyond their natural boundaries. My beta readers have helped my books become the best they can be, and I love them. ;o)

Over the years I’ve developed friendships with writers and readers, and I’d offer them the job of beta reading my manuscripts before I submitted the book to my publisher. It worked out very well, and I always felt better when they’d read through my books. On average, I have 10-12 people read the manuscript before I consider it “close to done.”

Of those twenty-two books, I’ve published fifteen through a traditional small press since 2007, and have recently moved on to self publish (through Kindle Select) seven more that were waiting in the publishing queue in the past year. Polishing and proofing all of these manuscripts was a real challenge, and my beta readers did me proud. But believe it or not – they didn’t catch all the typos.

I have discovered there is one more essential step to proofing one’s manuscript: reading it aloud.

Yes, it’s something you can do yourself. It might take you a whole weekend to get through it. But it’s worth the effort. Better yet, if you have a narrator who is recording the audio book version, this is where the final catches will be found. 

Aside: I recommend that authors release all books in this order: eBook, audio book, print.

I have found that my best narrators (actors, really, with great attention to detail) have consistently isolated a couple of leftover “extra or missing letters/words” which are the hardest to find. Sure, with a real typo, like a misspelled word, MS Word underlines it for you in red. Those aren’t too hard to find. It’s harder when you have an extra preposition in a sentence, or a misused word like “here” instead of “hear.” MS Word doesn’t often catch those mistakes.

I find these errors creep in at the end of a work in progress, when I’ve gone through to beef up a sentence or make changes in general. Then I don’t always “cut” fully or “paste” fully and that’s my downfall! Creating typos because you’re fixing another typo is annoying, but pretty common.

Does that happen to you?

Here’s my advice on how to produce a typo-free book. 

1) When creating your book, try to find a writer or reader friend who will swap chapters with you as you write it. You read their stuff, they read yours. You help them, they help you. It’s all good. They can help you cull out that first crop of errors, right off the bat.

2) When you’re done writing the book, go through it until you feel you are satisfied. This may take multiple read-throughs. It all depends on how careful you were the first time around when creating the story.

3) Ask another good friend to check it over, so you can be sure you didn’t make any really embarrassing faux pas.

4) Draft beta readers to help you. This may take years of cultivating friends and readers, but it is worth its weight in gold.

5) Review it a few more times yourself after you’ve incorporated beta edits (remember, just use what makes sense to you, you don’t want to lose your focus!)

6) Release the book as an eBook.

7) Find reviewers. Watch the comments come in from readers. Notice if anyone mentions typos! If so, go after them immediately. In this day and age, it’s easy to fix a file and reload it up to your seller’s page. Repost the eBook with the changes. (easy peasy if you are on Amazon)

8) Post the file on ACX (Audiobook Creation Exchange) to find the perfect narrator. Choose him/her carefully.

9) Send the manuscript to your audio book narrator to read before they begin production. 

10) When they find a few mistakes – fix them. Reload the eBook to correct these things.

11) Let the narrator finish the audiobook recording. If they find anything else (at this point it might just be a missing quotation mark, or an extra space), then upload the corrected eBook again. Now it should be close to perfect.

12) At this point, it’s safe to start thinking about creating your print version. I use Create Space and have been very happy with their quality and support. 

13) Order a proof (or two, or three, depending on what you find and fix!) before you finalize the manuscript. NEVER just review it online – you need to hold it in your hands, go through it page by page. Formatting can be tricky at first, so make sure you focus on page numbers and margin spacing before you let it go live. And read this printed version one more time – you might find another error! 

14) Send an autographed copy of your print book to all your beta readers – they worked hard for this, and they deserve a special treat!

Even with this painstaking approach, once in a while something slips through. It’s disappointing if it happens, but it’s probably God’s way of keeping us humble. ;o)

Let me know what you think in the comments below. And remember, if you love to write, write like the wind!

Aaron Paul Lazar

www.lazarbooks.com

Write Like the Wind audio books

Part II of my Interview with Peter Gelfan

Editor Extraordinaire and Author of Found Objects

On the challenges of being an editor, the balance between editing and writing and what matters in writing today.

Peter Gelfan is the kind of editor every writer wants. He has the courage to tell you everything that's wrong with your work while also pointing you in the right direction. He's also a writer, the author of Found Objects, an intriguing new novel about love, loss and acceptance that showcases crisp, powerful writing while challenging our conventional views on love. Finally, Peter is a great teacher. He always asks the right question, but he'll never give you the answer. And that's how you develop good writing, folks.

What's the best part of your job as an editor? The worst?

The best part is reading the next draft of manuscript I’ve edited and seeing that not only did the writer understand the problems I brought up, but also solved them in a creative way that enhanced the rest of the work. The worst is the rare occasion when the next draft isn't much better and the problems remain unsolved and apparently not understood.

How do you balance your job as an editor and your job as a writer? Are your best moments as an editor really different from your best moments as a published author?

I find I have to do one or the other. I can’t write in the mornings and edit in the afternoons. For that matter, I only edit one manuscript at a time. The shift of gears takes up too much time and is frustrating.

The best moments of each are quite different. Writing, the pleasure comes from dreaming up a great idea for the book and making it work well, even better than expected. When editing, to some degree I have to set aside my own creativity as a writer. If I don’t, it’s all too easy to take the client’s idea, run away with it, and start rewriting the manuscript as my own—hey, how about turning your old-man hero into a young woman and setting the novel in modern-day Cleveland rather than Roman Carthage? So I have to always keep in mind what the author wants, and come up with creative ways to deal with whatever stands in his way.

Do you use an editor when you write?

Yes, mostly in the early stages, when I want input on the general idea, characters, and so on.

How did you come up with the idea for Found Objects?

I could give you a raconteur-worthy explanation, but it probably wouldn’t be true. I don’t know where story ideas come from. It’s like falling in love, we have no idea why we fall for this person instead of that one, but after we do, we come up with all sorts of handy reasons, both plausible and not so.

The general question—why do people pair up romantically, sexually, and domestically instead of coming to a more interesting and useful configuration of three or four or more—has knocked around my brain since puberty. But such arrangements rarely last long. How come? Even from close up, or especially so, it’s hard to fathom. The question had prompted a couple of starts earlier that never bore fruit, but then the central premise of Found Objects popped into being and began to grow.

What are the most common issues that you find when editing fantasy?

Some writers become so fascinated by the fantasy world they have thought up that they think it’s their story, and so the novel consists mostly of a guided tour. We get exotic lands, strange creatures, different forms of magic, lots of special effects, intricately designed backstory, but too often little real plot. In fantasy, it’s easy to forget that the world the writer, godlike, has created is, in the universe of the novel, mere setting. In fantasy, setting is often more important than in an earthbound novel, but it’s still just a stage upon which a story of characters in conflict will unfold.

What matters in writing today?

The same as always. Having something to say that could be of value to someone else, and saying it well.

The novel is still evolving, and it’s hard if not impossible to predict where it’s going. But I have a theory, not about where’s it’s headed but why it continues to thrive in whatever form. A novel allows and invites readers to live a life and even its death as if it were their own. Humans may be the only creature that can learn from others’ experiences without directly witnessing them. Stories expand a thousandfold the scope of our innate self-education process of trial and error while avoiding its frequent real-life consequences of injury, death, or wasted years. We absorb those lessons not as dry information but as ersatz experience that, like real life, engages not only the intellect but all our faculties. It’s easy to brush off fiction as entertainment or artsy diversion, but in fact it’s a vital element in our personal and cultural advancement.

Thank you so much for sharing your insights with us, Peter. It's been a pleasure talking to you.

****

Peter Gelfan has been editing and ghostwriting both fiction and nonfiction for the past 20 years. His clients range from beginners to published and bestselling authors and celebrities. He also edits screenplays and has sold two he wrote under his own name, one of which was produced and recently released in France. His novel Found Objects was published in May 2013.

Author contact: gelfanp@gmail.com

Author site: http://petergelfan.com/

 

****

Dora Machado is the award-winning author of the epic fantasy Stonewiser series and her newest novel, The Curse Giver, available from Twilight Times Books. She grew up in the Dominican Republic, where she developed a fascination for writing and a taste for Merengue. After a lifetime of straddling such compelling but different worlds, fantasy is a natural fit to her stories. She lives in Florida with her indulgent husband and three very opinionated cats.

When she is not writing novels, Dora also writes features for Murder By Four, an award-winning blog for people interested in reading and writing, and Savvy Authors, where writers help writers.

E-mail:Dora@doramachado.com

Website: www.doramachado.com

Blog: http://www.doramachado.com/blog/

Newsletter: http://doramachado.com/newsletter.php

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DoraMachado101

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DoraMachado

An Interview with Editor Extraordinaire Peter Gelfan

Author of Found Objects

On the advantages of editing your manuscript, choosing the right editor, and what's more difficult: editing the newbie or editing the established writer?

I've never met Peter Gelfan in person, and yet when I write, I hear his voice in my mind. No, I'm not sick, at least not yet. You see, Peter has been my editor throughout most of my writing career. He has read every book of mine that has been published and tackled all of my writing vices. He has applied his expertise, passion and humor to my work and changed the way I think about writing in general and fantasy in particular. Today, we are lucky to have him at MB4 answering our questions.  

Welcome to MB4, Peter. Can you tell us a little about yourself? Why did you choose a career in editing? How long have you been an editor?

The career in editing chose me. Twenty or more years ago, a good friend of mine, a successful novelist, offered to put a manuscript of mine into the hands of Renni Browne, who, he said, could get it to agents and publishers. I got a nice note back from Renni saying she liked the manuscript but thought it needed some editing. Out of vanity, I declined the offer. Renni, who had founded and was then running The Editorial Department, made me another offer. She had a client looking for a ghostwriter for a nonfiction project—was I interested? I needed the money and found the challenge interesting, so I accepted. The book got published and did well. Renni continued to offer me projects, mostly editorial, and I continued to need money, so the career was born.

For those writers who are sitting on the fence about having their manuscripts edited: How will editing make a difference in their work? And will editing help them to sell their manuscripts?

Often the biggest benefit to having your work edited professionally is that it gets a careful, objective read by someone who has no axe to grind other than to help you make your manuscript better. Your mother and friends either want to be nice to you or try to convince you to quit screwing around and get a real job. Besides, an editor says a lot more than “I liked it, it’s great!” or “Couldn’t get through it, dude.” An editor can tell you what’s working, what’s not, and why. A good editor will then help you produce the book you want to write rather than push you to write the book he or she think you should write.

I’ve heard agents and acquisitions editors say that knowing a manuscript has been edited shows the writer is serious about the work and can take suggestions, though I’ve never heard one say that the mere fact of its having been edited has ever made the difference between a no and a yes. But a better manuscript—a tauter plot, more vividly fascinating characters, more depth, a stronger voice, and a polished style—will certainly be more likely to sell. It will also teach the author how to do better with the next project from the start.

With so many services and freelance editors out there, how does a writer choose the right editor for his/her work?

Research. Websites that cater to writers often have discussion groups and even ratings. If you know writers who have used an editor, ask them for recommendations pro or con. I also think it helps to talk to the prospective editor and get a feel for how your personalities and sensibilities will mesh.

What's more difficult, editing the new writer or editing the established writer?

Interesting question. In a way, it’s easier to edit a newbie because there’s so much low-hanging fruit, like no plot, unconvincing characters, stiff dialogue, amateurish style. For those writers, it’s a steep learning curve, by which I mean they learn a lot of basic stuff very quickly.

For the established writer, the task is more difficult. The basics are almost always in place. The manuscript is better than 95 percent of what you normally read. But the author doesn’t think it’s quite right yet, and you have to agree … but what’s wrong? It takes detective work. Where did the story sag a little? Where did attention start to wander? What was unsatisfying about the end, and where did that problem start? 

Sometimes the key clue lies chapters before the problem arises: Why did the protagonist do that? There’s always an ah-ha moment or two, and you know you’re right when the author says, “Oh my god, why didn’t I see that?”

You are so right! I've been there myself. Thank you so much for answering our questions, Peter. Folks, Peter will be back on MB4 Wednesday May 7th, discussing the challenges of being an editor, the balance between editing and writing, and what matters in writing today. Don't miss it!

  

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Peter Gelfan has been editing and ghostwriting both fiction and nonfiction for the past 20 years. His clients range from beginners to published and bestselling authors and celebrities. He also edits screenplays and has sold two he wrote under his own name, one of which was produced and recently released in France. His novel Found Objects was published in May 2013.

Author contact: gelfanp@gmail.com

Author site: http://petergelfan.com/

 

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Dora Machado is the award-winning author of the epic fantasy Stonewiser series and her newest novel, The Curse Giver, available from Twilight Times Books. She grew up in the Dominican Republic, where she developed a fascination for writing and a taste for Merengue. After a lifetime of straddling such compelling but different worlds, fantasy is a natural fit to her stories. When she is not writing novels, Dora also writes features for Murder By Four, an award-winning blog for people interested in reading and writing, and Savvy Authors, where writers help writers. She lives in Florida with her indulgent husband and three very opinionated cats.

E-mail:Dora@doramachado.com

Website: www.doramachado.com

Blog: http://www.doramachado.com/blog/

Newsletter: http://doramachado.com/newsletter.php

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DoraMachado101

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DoraMachado

Revision, rewriting, editing, yum

As I go through the final round of revision and rewriting for Loran Rudder and the Secret Key, I have to say, I am TIRED of proofing this book. I guess that is a good thing. When you finally get tired of that task, it probably means it is ready for publication.

So is there a special way to get this final and much needed task done?

I say yes. I think if you will work on tone and flow, cut down on word count, and polish grammar and spelling, you will have the beast bested.

My big deal has been to eliminate unneeded words. This is difficult stuff, folks. I mean, I am a southerner after all. We are KNOWN for our way of speech. Our slow, dragging-it-out like a molasses string way of speech means using a lot of extra words, and also smooshing words together. I mean, can you say "y'all"?

But if my character is a southerner, I don't want to edit ALL that goodness away, only refine it. There is a difference between editing for refinement and editing until you have a bland, zero voice.

Still, it would be a great deal better to make sentences tighter and still keep the meaning than to have a fat, overwritten book. So, that is most of what I have been doing. Taking out unneeded words. I cut 200 words from chapter one. I didn't feel a thing.

Do you have any proven methods for doing this? Some people look for fluffy words like that, just, all, very, and much. Those are usually okay to cut. Many say adverbs can usually go. I say adverbs behind "said" should go. (ex. I said, glumly)

But what about good, old-fashioned wordy sentences?

I found a lot in my book. I found a lot in this post. Like this one:

Still, it would be a great deal better to make sentences tighter and still keep the meaning than to have a fat, overwritten book. In my mind, I rewrote it like this: Instead, I should make sentences tighter and keep the meaning clear. Yes, MUCH better.

Okay, I am now tired of editing this post. Time to publish. Have a fun Thursday, Murderers.

Killing those darlings

by Kim Smith

It has often been said that sometimes writers have to "kill their darlings". What exactly is meant by this statement and why on earth would a writer do such a thing?

Well, sometimes a favorite scene, passage, character, or event in a story is not moving the plot forward like it should. It simply exists because we (the writer in question) love it. So the only alternative is to cut it out like a piece of bad apple.

Let's be honest, now.

We love that one line, that joke, that description that is so perfect the reader can smell it. Well, almost. The point is, we LOVE it -- WE the author, the writer of said work has penned something so awesome and earth-shattering that we don't care that it is slowing the story down to a halt. WE DON'T WANT TO TOUCH IT!!!

But touch it we must. Cut it out. Kill that darling piece of writing that you simply adore.

How does one do such a cruel and terrible thing? Well, first you have to discover that there is such a phenomenon in your work.

How do you do that?
Hopefully, you have mean and nasty beta readers who would love nothing more than to tell you to cut it out. Literally. They can be useful things, those betas. Then too, if you are lucky enough to have an editor, that person will be the one to seek and destroy your darlings for you. And the bonus here? You can bemoan the loss of your darling to your heart's content, because you DIDN'T do it truly. The editors and or beta readers were the murderers.

Another way to ditch the darlings in your work is to remember that they ain't dead forever. You can always resurrect those snippets that you cut in another work. Just cut and paste them over in a folder on your old hard drive. There. Not dead forever. Ever.

Thirdly, you will care a lot less about your darlings with each book you write. The more words you pen the fewer darlings you find. It's true, my friend. Darlings can sometimes be a sign of an immature writer. The only way to grow up is to write a lot.

Good luck.
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Kim Smith is the author of An Unexpected Performance, Ten Tips for Getting that Book Written, and several mysteries and romances. You can find more about her at her website, http://www.kimsmithauthor.com

Manuscript Makeover - The Inner Critic by bestselling author, Victoria Howard

Hello, MB4 friends and fans, 

Once again, we're featuring a fascinating guest blog by bestselling author Victoria Howard, author of three romantic suspense novels, The House on the Shore, a Joan Hessayon Award 2009 finalist and 2009 London Book Festival Honorable Mention, Three Weeks Last Spring, a Pushcart Prize nominee, and Ring of Lies. 

Please help us welcome Victoria to Murder By 4 today, we are very honored that she stopped by to teach us a bit about her editing style.

Warmest wishes,

Aaron Lazar

 

Manuscript Makeover – The inner critic

copyright 2013, Victoria Howard

You’ve finally reached the end of your 120,000 word novel and typed the words ‘The End.’  What’s next?  Do you print it out, parcel it up and send it off to the first agent on your list, then immediately start researching another book?  Well, you could, but the fact is the manuscript you’ve slogged hard over and written to the best of your ability, still needs work. 

Before you all start screaming at me, take a deep breath and relax. Ask any agent or publisher and they will tell you that first, second or even third drafts are rarely ready for publication let alone submission.  There’s always that little something that could be added or a sentence improved upon and that’s were careful revision or editing comes in.

So where do you begin and how do you make those improvements?

Different authors have different techniques.  Because your manuscript is your baby, it’s all too easy to be lulled by familiar words and phrases into thinking it is error free and perfect.  I suggest you put your manuscript aside for a week or two.  Focus on something else, and then return with a clear mind and fresh eyes. 

Print a copy of your manuscript, as it’s easier to make notes in the margin and mark sections which require revising.  My first revision is always for content and here are a few points to consider:

• Does the story open with the main protagonist in conflict with the antagonist or someone else in the story? 
•  Can the reader easily identify who the main protagonist is? 
• Have you described the initial conflict/event in such a way that it draws the reader in and makes them want to continue reading?
• Are your main characters realistic/strong/well-motivated?
• And the villain.  Is he or she a real person or just a device to push the plot along?
• Is your plot realistic or too far-fetched?
• Does the setting come alive for the reader?
• Do you write the stimulus before the response? Remember, for every action, there is a reaction, so don’t allow your characters to react before the reader knows what they are reacting to.
• Is there too much back story, resulting in poor pacing and long, boring narration?
• Does the middle of the story sag or does the conflict between the protagonist and antagonist escalate to the point where both are willing to sacrifice almost everything to achieve their goals?
• Has your protagonist grown emotionally during the story?
• Have you closed all the sub-plots before the climax?
• Is there sufficient suspense/mystery in your story?
• Is the ending emotionally satisfying for the reader?
• Is the dialogue realistic?  People rarely say, ‘I do not…’ but rather, ‘I don’t…’
• Do you remain in the correct point of view and is it clear to the reader who is speaking?
• Do you ‘head hop’ – switch POV from paragraph to paragraph?
• Have you fully explored your characters emotions and tactile sensations?
• Is your story written in the right tense?
• Have you withheld or repeated information which will annoy or bore your reader?

This list isn’t exhaustive, but it does give you a basis from which to work from.  The secret is to revise slowly, scene by scene, chapter by chapter.  Make notes in the margins or in a notebook.  When you’ve finished reading the whole manuscript, go back and revise any sections as necessary.  It’s never easy to discard your work and rewrite a scene or chapter, but more often than not, your manuscript will be better for doing so.  

My second revision is always for grammar and typos. Read slowly and carefully, you’ll be surprised how many typos, missing periods or commas you’ll pick up.  Also read aloud – this will enable you to find jarring transitions, discordant dialogue and clunky sentences.   This is also the time when you revise for style. 

• Are your sentences of equal length? Varied lengths provide more interest to readers.
• Are they simple or compound?  Too many simple sentences and your work can sound amateurish.  Too many long sentences and the reader may become bored or lose track of what you are attempting to tell them.
• How many times on a page do you start a sentence with the same word?
• Does your sentence have impact? Short, punchy sentences create pace. One-word sentences have power and act as a brake, making the reader it up and take notice.
• Does your manuscript include clichés? If so, remove them, and rephrase the sentence using one of your own making.
• Create and employ metaphors to increase imagery.
• Do you use strong nouns and verbs as opposed to adverbs (-ly words), which are weak? If so, re-write the sentence.

And don’t forget.  The same principles should be applied to your synopsis and query letter. 

Author Bio

Victoria Howard is the author of three romantic suspense novels; The House on the Shore, (a 2009 Joan Hessayon Award finalist and 2009 London Book Festival Honourable Mention), Three Weeks Last Spring, and Ring of Lies. She is also the author of several short stories, including the Kindle short, A Little Protection.

Born in Liverpool, Victoria trained as a medical secretary, and subsequently worked for the National Health Service.  She spent twenty years living on a croft in the Highlands of Scotland, managing a company involved in the offshore oil and gas industry.

During those rate times when she isn’t writing, Victoria can be found curled up with a book, gardening, designing knitwear, walking her Border collie, Rosie, or travelling the world.  

Victoria is also a member of Romantic Novelists’ Association and The Alliance of Independent Authors. 

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