Quick and Tidy Tips to Streamline Editing

By Gina Ardito

    I’m not only an author; I’m a freelance editor, too. As an editor, I want to give my clients every opportunity to clean up their manuscript before it gets to me. The cleaner your manuscript is when it hits my desk, the less you pay to edit the stuff you missed and the better your chances of catching a publisher’s eye. Let me help you achieve your writing goal with some quick and tidy editing tips.

   Have you just typed The End and can’t wait to dig into the edit process? Stop. Put that manuscript aside for a while before reviewing it. Give your brain time to reboot so when you come back to the story, you’re fresh, and so is the story.

    When you’re finally ready to edit, open the document. Before you do anything else, save it with Edit or Revision added to your original title. This way, you’ll always have your original document, should you need to refer to it at a later date. On your revision version, change the font style and enlarge the font size. With a new style and size, your eye will more easily catch errors you’d normally miss.

    Use a standard pen, not a marker or a gel pen that smears. Choose a color you like to make the work happier. Don’t opt for red unless you truly love it. Go with purple or green—avoid black, which won’t stand out against your type on the printed page.

    Find a comfortable spot, a different site than where you write. Don’t sit at your desk. Just like with your font, different surroundings make it easier for your eyes to see the actual words on the page. Go outside, to another room, or a coffee shop with your printed manuscript. Now, let’s start editing.

    Backstory: Only include information that impacts the scene.

    In Writing the Breakout Novel, Donald Maass advises, “Remember that backstory is, for the most part, more important to you, the author, than to your reader.”

    If you’re unsure if you need particular information in a scene, try reading the scene without the passages detailing that information. Was the scene hindered by its absence? If the answer is “no,” delete the backstory.

    Description: Let’s say your character’s plane is going into a tailspin. Is now a good time to describe the color of her hair and eyes? Do green-eyed redheads crash faster than blue-eyed blondes? Then it’s not important at this juncture. Find another place for such information in the manuscript. Or don’t. If it doesn’t impact the scene, let your readers envision the characters any way they like.

    Adjectives and adverbs: Sprinkled in, adjectives and adverbs add zest. Too much, and you’ve ruined what could have been a masterpiece.

    In The First Five Pages, Noah Lukeman advises writers to cut excess:

    “…(1) where you use more than one adjective or adverb.” For example, “hot, humid, sticky” = “stifling.”

    “…(2) where you’ve used commonplace or cliché adjectives…” For example, “cold as ice” = “icy.”

    Modifiers: Useless words add nothing and should be deleted when possible. Are any of these familiar to your work?

almost

began

even

felt

heard

just

nearly

quite

rather

really

so

suddenly

that

very

    Dangling Participles: Search for sentences that begin with an –ing verb to find dangling participles. A dangling participle occurs when you modify the wrong noun. “Striding across the room, his eyes were drawn to her.” This sentence reads that “his eyes” (the subject) were striding across the room. “Landing at the bottom of the stairs, the pain shot through her bones.” The pain landed at the bottom of the stairs.

    Danglers also happen with words that end in –ed, so be alert! “Whipped into a froth, the chef poured the eggs into the pan.” I think the writer meant the eggs were whipped, not the chef.

    Starting a sentence with an –ing word can also lead to creating two simultaneous actions that can’t happen simultaneously. “Kicking off her shoes, she removed her socks.” You can’t do both at once. Try “After kicking off her shoes, she removed her socks.” Or “She kicked off her shoes and removed her socks.”

Contractions: “Cannot” = “can’t,” “who has” = “who’s,” and so on. Contractions speed up pacing and make your author voice sound more natural to the reader.

Dialogue: Avoid the “As you know…” trap. For example:

    Jenna flounced to the couch and collapsed in a heap of white tulle. “I don’t want to marry Stuart. I wish we’d stayed in New York.”

    “But, Jenna,” her mother said. “We had to move for your father’s health. The soot and grime of the city was too much for his lungs. He has severe asthma, you know.”

    This dialogue doesn’t move the story forward. The reader is probably more interested in Stuart, but the conversation focuses on the father’s backstory, which isn’t pertinent to the scene.

    When using dialogue tags, stick with “said,” “replied,” “exclaimed,” and “asked.” Avoid “responded,” “opined,” and “queried.” Better yet, use an action with the dialogue to convey mood.

    Narrative arc. Every story must have these key components:

    1. Opening hook

    2. Introduction of conflicts

    3. Initial success

    4. Stumbling Blocks

    5. Sub-plot, downfall, or introduction of new conflicts

    6. Ease of some issues, but original problem still looming

    7. Ticking clock/conflicts turn against protagonist

    8. Black Moment

    9. Climax

   10. Denouement

A few other common errors to look for:

    Character names. Make sure you use the same name and spell it the same way throughout.

    Character traits. Give each character a unique tic or reaction to emotional upheaval and a distinctive way of speaking, with phrases used only by them.

    Loose ends. All tied up?

    Continuity. If the villain has a gun in Chapter 3, he shouldn’t use a knife in Chapter 4.

    While editing, remember: Love the story, not the words. Be ready to kill your darlings if they don’t work. Best of luck!

Gina Ardito is the award-winning author of contemporary, historical, and paranormal romance, currently published by Montlake Romance and independently. In 2012, she launched her freelance editing business, Excellence in Editing, and now has a stable of award-winning clients, as well.

She’s hosted workshops around the world for writing conferences, author organization chapter meetings, and library events. To her everlasting shame, despite all her accomplishments, she’ll never be more famous than her dog, who starred in commercials for 2015’s Puppy Bowl.

Her newest release, MEMORIES IN DECEMBER, is available now. For more information on Gina and all her books, visit her website.

Trouble with Words

To combine or not—that’s the question for today. In my latest story, my character was getting dressed and putting on make up. Or should it be make-up? Maybe even makeup.  I couldn’t remember. Usually, I’ll gloss over those sort of mistakes and leave them for my editor to weed out. But with this story, I am publishing it chapter by chapter on Wattpad without the help of a pro edit.

I decided I better check it out. Readers deserve the best quality read we can offer.  

The answer is…makeup. But only when it’s being used as synonymous noun. I need to put on my makeup. When it’s a verb, it’s make up. I need to make up a test. And to make it even more complicated, as an adjective, it’s make-up.  If you were sick you will need to take a make-up test.

A similar rule applies with work out. As a noun, it’s workout. That was a great workout. As a verb, it’s separate. I work out before lunch.

Pick up. It’s separated as a verb: Pick up the truck from the garage. As an adjective, it’s combined: I drive a pickup truck.  Or…The bar is a great pickup spot..

Get away. Adjective: I need a getaway car. Noun:  I could use a beach getaway. As a verb, it’s two words. Get away from the cookies.

Every day. Everyday is the adjective form. These are my everyday clothes. As opposed to: These are the clothes I wear every day. A good rule of thumb…if you can replace every with each, separate the words.

A lot. Alot is not a word, unless you are intending to divvy up portions, then you’re still spelling it wrong. Allot each player Gatorade. Vs. A lot of players drink Gatorade.  

All right vs. alright. Although alright is gaining ground, the rules for when it’s acceptable can be complicated, whereas all right is always all right. Being the sort of gal who likes to do the easy thing, I’m a fan of all right.

Lastly, here are a few problem words to keep in mind:

Ice cream. Remember, it’s a treat so special, it deserves two words.

High school. Like the cliques of that era, it’s never combined.

Heartache. Unless you’re describing active angina, it’s one word.


That's my list of trouble words. How about you? What words give you pause while writing?


Image by Welcome to all and thank you for your visit ! ツ from Pixabay

Filter out those Filter Words by Alicia Dean, Editor

I would like to introduce everyone to Alicia Dean, editor for The Wild Rose Press under the name Ally Robertson. She is discussing filtering out filter words to help us “show” not “tell”. This is a great lesson, and I hope you enjoy it.

Hello all…I’m happy to be joining the IWSG today, and I’m especially happy to share a little about revising/editing with you. I love working with authors, and if my experience and limited knowledge helps in any small way, I’m thrilled.

Working for The Wild Rose Press, I receive many fantastic submissions, and of course, I receive many that are not so fantastic. J Even out of the well-written, stupendous, engaging manuscripts, I often find that sometimes the authors lean a little heavily on filter words. These are ‘filter’ words because they distance the reader from the action and from the character’s emotion. Words like ‘felt,’ ‘thought,’ ‘wondered,’ ‘heard,’ ‘saw,’ ‘knew,’ ‘noticed,’ etc. Avoiding words like these can make your writing much more active. Filter words are also closely related to ‘telling’ vs ‘showing.’ If you say your character felt or thought something, rather than just ‘showing’ the thought or emotion, then you are telling, when you could be showing.

A few quick examples--and these are taken from recent books I’ve read by extremely successful NYT Best-Selling Authors. Of course, who am I to advise someone who’s done exceedingly well without my advice? However, I couldn’t help but be a bit jarred when I read lines like:

·         She felt panic race through her bloodstream

·         How would she ever get him to talk? Maya thought.

·         Maya saw him exit a door on the east side of the building.

·         She knew Mark had been working there for four years.

Just a few brief tweaks would bring us much closer to what’s happening:

·         Panic raced through her bloodstream

·         How would she ever get him to talk? (We’re in Maya’s point of view, and there were no dialogue tags, so readers know she ‘thought’ it)

·         He exited a door on the east side of the building. (We’re in her POV, and if the author just states that he exited a door, readers will know she ‘saw’ it happen)

·         Mark had been working there for four years. (Again, readers know she ‘knew’ it because it was stated while in her POV)

I know it’s worse for me than an average reader, since it’s my job to ‘edit,’ but whether or not a reader realizes that the author is using filter words and telling instead of showing, they DO know whether or not they can relate, and I believe they can relate more fully if we try to avoid filter words that might distance them.

Having said that, I would definitely not reject a manuscript because of overusage of filter words, but it is something we would most assuredly work on during edits.

Do you have the nasty filter word habit? You might just consider words like this as you’re revising, and see how many you can eliminate to make your story more active. Even now, I read books I’ve written and I find where I used filter words too. It’s easy to let them slip in. Thank you for joining me today. If you have any questions, I’ll be happy to answer them.


Check out Alicia's blog every Tuesday for her Two-Minute Tips where she offers quick tips for busy writers. https://aliciadean.com/alicias-blog/

BIO: 

Alicia Dean lives in Edmond, Oklahoma. She has three grown children and a huge network of supportive friends and family. She writes mostly contemporary suspense and paranormal, but has also written in other genres, including a few vintage historicals.

In addition to being an author of more than twenty-five published works, Alicia is both a freelance editor and an editor for The Wild Rose Press, under the name, Ally Robertson, in their suspense line.

Other than reading and writing, her passions are Elvis Presley, MLB, NFL (she usually works in a mention of one or all three into her stories) and watching her favorite televisions shows like Vampire Diaries, Justified, Sons of Anarchy, Haven, The Mindy Project, and Dexter (even though it has sadly ended, she will forever be a fan). Some of her favorite authors are Michael Connelly, Dennis Lehane, Lee Child, Lisa Gardner, Sharon Sala, Jordan Dane, Ridley Pearson, Joseph Finder, and Jonathan Kellerman…to name a few. 

Find Alicia Here:

Website / Blog / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest / Goodreads

 *** Sign up for our Novel Notes Newsletter, a multi-author newsletter where we give away a $25 gift card each month: https://www.facebook.com/NovelNotesAuthors

The Value of Editing For Authors

By Bryan Thomas Schmidt

It’s intimidating to hand your precious words over into the hands of another. After all, what do they know about your story? What stake do they have in getting it right? How can you know they will steer you wisely without allowing their personal tastes and opinions to cloud their advice?

You can’t. Editors are human beings. Their opinions and tastes are always going to be factors. But how those influence their work depends on several factors.

First, are they an in-house editor or a freelance editor?

Second, what role have they been hired to perform in regards to your work: developmental (story) editing, line editing, copyediting or proofing?

Third, who hired them?

In-house editors work for the publisher to find and shape the books they buy into products that meet the standards and expectations of that publisher and its audience. The marketing people know how to market certain types of books to certain audiences. So these editors will be looking at how your story fits with that and what needs to be done so it fits well and sells well alongside the rest of their brand.

Freelance editors sometimes work for publishers, but they can also work for authors. A freelance editor who works for a publisher has the same assigned task as the in-house editors to conform the book to the brand. The difference is that someone else usually acquires the book, i.e. chooses it and buys it, and the freelance editor is brought in for the polish and prep.

But freelance editors who work for you have a different job: to help you identify strengths and weaknesses of your book and make it better, the best it can be. They don’t answer to anyone else. They know their advice may be rejected in whole or in part by you, depending on your tastes, opinions, budget, etc. As a result, they try very hard to tell you what you need to hear, not just want to hear. The last thing they want is to have you wondering why you hired them when someone else tears apart your book for something they could have identified and helped you fix. At the same time, they also know they have no authority to push you to do anything you don’t want to do.

Hiring a freelance editor doesn’t guarantee a sale. But it can increase the chances. And it can help you grow as a writer and really help you improve your work. But in the end, the final choices on changes and revisions will be entirely yours. Freelance editors may come in to work on story, plot and characters for a developmental edit. Or they may help with sentence structure, pacing, word choice, repetition, clarity, etc. as a line editor. Copyeditors will help polish grammar, etc. And proofers go through and look for anything anyone else missed just before your book goes to publication.

All of these editing types are valuable to writers. Let’s face it, we get really close to our words, and by the time our books get published, often we can’t read them without our mind filling in gaps or showing us things we meant to say but didn’t. Maybe there are things we know and assume are clear in the text but aren’t clear to a stranger. Or things that got repeated, words, phrases, or even scenes which don’t stand out to us but would to readers. Lastly, perhaps there are things that make sense to us because of our knowledge of the whole story and wider worldbuilding which won’t to readers because we haven’t laid the groundwork. Editors can identify all of these in your work. And most editors are readers who love good stories, too, so they can also tell you things you do well and right and cheerlead you on to success with your book.

I had a client who’d written his book for a specific audience and posted it online. He had no knowledge of storytelling or formatting or structure standards for the industry. But he did have a passion for science, space travel, NASA, and exploration and a great story and character that incorporated all those things.

In editing, the book needed things I mentioned: knowledge he’d omitted because he knew it so well, grammar and spelling checks, smoothing of sentences, format and structure to make it accessible to a wider audience, etc. The client took a lot of my advice but not all. Later, he sold it to Crown and Hollywood for a lot of money. A movie is in the works, and The Martian by Andy Weir has been on the New York Times Bestseller list since its release last Spring. An editor at Crown still went through the book and made him add things he hadn’t followed from my advice. But in the end, the book was much stronger as a result of our work together. And now he’s a bestselling author.

Finding a good editor can be tricky, but inevitably, good editors will have stories like this to tell, and clients who rave about their work. And those are signs that the editor would be a good choice to help you tell your story better. Because those kinds of editors are always on your side and rooting for you. They love helping good authors make good stories come alive.

Bryan Thomas Schmidt is an author and editor of adult and children's speculative fiction. His debut science fiction novel was The Worker Prince, received Honorable Mention on Barnes & Noble’s Year’s Best Science Fiction Releases of 2011 and was followed by sequels The Returning and The Exodus. His childrens' books include 102 More Hilarious Dinosaur Jokes For Kids and Abraham Lincoln: Dinosaur Hunter--Land Of Legends. Schmidt’s anthologies as editor include Space Battles: Full Throttle Space Tales #6, Beyond The Sun, Raygun Chronicles: Space Opera For a New Age and, with Jennifer Brozek, Shattered Shields for Baen Books. He has several more anthologies forthcoming from publishers like Baen and Edge. Schmidt hosts #sffwrtcht (Science Fiction & Fantasy Writer's Chat) Wednesdays at 9 pm ET on Twitter.

Tips for Surviving Revisions

It’s the last week of NaNoWriMo and thousands of writers will be finishing up their manuscripts. After the frenzy of the first draft comes the next step – revising that mess!

Whether you winged it or followed an outline, that manuscript will need some work. You’ll be facing edits, revisions, and possibly a complete overhaul. Don’t be overwhelmed! And don’t threaten to burn that manuscript. We have some tips on how to handle it without losing your sanity or taking hostages.

Here are some suggestions –

Let the manuscript sit for a few weeks. Get some distance.

Work from a hardcopy – it’s easier on the eyes and mistakes are more apparent. You can also make notes in the margins.

Read through the entire manuscript once. Familiarize yourself with the story as a whole.

During the first read through, note what needs more research, but don’t stop to research right at that moment. Get to the end first.

Write a short letter or note to yourself – what do you want to achieve with the next draft?

If you didn’t do one initially, make an outline. Write down what is happening in each chapter. Note where characters come and go.

One the next pass, either focus on one chapter at a time or one issue at a time.

Read dialogue out loud. Use the character’s voices and facial expressions. (Try not to do this in front of your family or they’ll have you committed!)

Is the story told from the right point of view?

Individual issues and items:

Punctuations and spelling
Grammar
Sentence length and variation
Plot holes and inconsistencies
Description – too much or not enough
Unnecessary characters
Character voice and consistency
Spots that drag or become boring
Consistency with people, descriptions, details, and storyline
Length of chapters
Proper amount of world building
Proper pacing and tension
Word count acceptable for genre
Repeated words and phrases
Use of active and forceful verbs
Timeline for events is accurate and believable
Unnecessary or overwhelming subplots
Show versus tell
Character actions and body movement

That may seem like a lot, but when you know specifically what you are looking for, it’s easier to spot and fix it.

And of course, once you have been through your manuscript many times, pass it off to a critique partner. (Or two or three…) Let them know where you need help or if something isn’t working. Trust me, they will find those rough spots! Just keep an open mind to suggestions.

I’m sure that list is just a drop in the bucket. If you have other tips or suggestions, please leave them in the comments.

Ready to revise? You can do it!!