An Introduction To Editing

Courtesy of Piotr Lewandowski at stock.xchng

I am saddened that most students are no longer taught the joys and the art of editing. I am not sure I was ever taught it at school, and it was only a personal mentor at university that tried to make me see the light.

Most university students hand in essays that have either never been edited, or have had a quick proof read which they believe to be the same thing.

And then I come to writers. I admit, I was the same at first. I do the writing, the editor does the editing. Makes sense, right?

Nein, Nein, Nein!
(studying German was one of my new year goals, thank you Duolingo for helping me). 

An editor is like a sports coach. They don't run the race for you, they just point out issues with your technique to help you get better. It is the writer's job, part of our training towards being masters, to edit our own work. It is only to overcome our own blind spots, and crush our egos into submission that an editor is for.

The practice of editing your own work is one of the best things you can do for your own writing. Trust me.

My brother handed me his last book and told me to edit it for him, write in the changes myself, and not bother him with it any more. So I did. Now I come to edit his second book and see the problem with this approach. 90% of the things I am now correcting he did again last time. If he had gone through and implemented the changes then, he would not have written them in again now.

This time I'm flatly refusing to re-write it for him. The first edit I'm going through doing no more than leaving comments for him to think about. It is the only way I will be able to break him of his bad habits. Picking out every overused adverb and finding a better way to describe the action is the writing lines on the board of being an author. It gives you a deep hatred of the problem, ensuring you never do it again.

However, as mentioned, most people have never been taught to edit, and get lost when handed back a manuscript and told to edit it. Often people think it is just a proof read.

So let me give you the basics of editing.

Editing is a three stage process. In some cases, some of these stages might be condensed together, but it is best to think of them individually. Each stage requires a different focus and different skills. Today I'm going to describe the different stages, and then in later posts discuss tactics for dragging your own work through each of them.


Stage 1: The Structural Edit

This is your big picture stuff. No one cares about typos at this stage. It is all about how well each sections leads from one to another, the pacing of the action, and whether it culminates in an appropriate climax at the right place.

As with essay writing, the order in which you tell the story is sometimes the most important part. A joke only works if the punchline comes at the end, a suspense only if the reader feels a build up of tension.

Structural editing is all about the art of leading the reader on. Learn to do this, and you will have readers, even if you never win any literary awards.


Stage 2: The Copy Edit

I like to think of this as a romance with language. It is not about how you've ordered the chapters, or about nit-picky points of grammar. Instead, it is looking at how you can best seduce the reader with appropriate points of language. It is the ripping out of clunky writing, scrapping off the cliches and worn metaphors, and buffing up the paragraphs and sentences to shine.

Each story should have its own voice, its own tone. The copy edit is where you make sure this is consistent and as clear as possible. It ranges from questioning whole styles of speech for a particular character, down to use of particular punctuation, all for the purpose of creating a more beautiful work.

If you can't tell, I'm a big fan of the copy edit. It is stretching your writing to the next level, looking at what you have written as objectively as possible and saying 'is that the best possible sentence I could come up with to express that idea?' And the more you do it, the better your writing will be next time around. Don't be led into cheap prostitution by 'easy writing', tired expressions that trip off your pen because they no longer have any meaning of their own.


Stage 3: The Proof Read

This is the final of the three edits. In an ideal world, we would all do the best possible edit we could, then have someone do a structural edit and give it back to us. We would then do the new best we could, and then have someone do a copy edit and give it back. Then we would do an even better edit and finally have someone do the proof read, which we would then go through and approve. Only after all that would we have confidence we were putting out our best work.

It is almost impossible to catch all the typos in one edit, sometimes even two. Some argue that typos don't really matter. It is getting content out, and fast, that makes the difference. And to a certain extent I agree with them. You can hold onto a manuscript too long, polishing it until even the gleams appear to be smudges, so you forever stay in a loop of adjusting your adjustments. However, if you are a writer, compared to someone who just happens to write, then there must be some pride in our work.

Now I know I probably have a lot of typos in this blog. That I accept for being able to get the information out relatively quickly. But I also don't ask people to pay for it. Just as I wouldn't pay for a dress that still had threads sticking out because they couldn't be bothered to cut them off, I think books should, to the best of human ability, be polished. They should be complete and ready to go. If I want quick disposable content, then I will go to the internet, to a blog or website. But when I purchase a book, I expect more.

You might not agree with me, that's fine. I'm happy knowing that I'm working towards being a master in my field. As every sports person analyses their last race or training session to look for just that little bit that will make them better, faster, I am learning to go over my own writing and see how I can do it better next time.

I have to admit it's darn hard at the moment when also trying to write a whole lot of new drafts, as well as editing other people's work, but who doesn't like a challenge?

In that vein, lets look at my ROW 80 goals so far.

First of all, I forgot to add to my four goals from Monday that I've also got a reading goal: to read every book on my shelf that I've never read before. When I moved I put them all into their own box, and am now picking one out ever week and a half (there are about 35 I believe) and seeing how I go. So far I started and finished My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin before 2014, and then finished My Career Goes Bung just two days into the year. I am now reading Anna Karenina, but not sure I'll be able to get through all that in 1.5 weeks while trying to move states and start a new job. So might come back to that one and do one of the lighter reads next.

Since Monday I have done none of my own writing. I have, however, sorted through all my paperwork, made and kept the various appointments I needed to sort out before leaving, caught up with my close group of friends, send out the Goodread Giveaway books for my aunt, arrange some giveaways for my father's book, and started editing my brother's second book. I hope to have the initial structural edit done by Tuesday, before I leave. (I'm also combining a little bit of copy editing, pointing out mistakes he falls into again and again, so next edit I can take it even further.)

Also, I've been listening to the podcast: The Creative Penn, by thriller author and speaker Joanna Penn. Highly recommended, as she has really interesting interviews and realistic advice for authors, or creative entrepreneurs as she calls us :D

I've also decided I need some deadlines for my work. So, to keep myself on track:
1. I'm releasing the second Five Day Writer book on Monday Feb 17th: The Five Day Writer's Bootcamp. I've finished the first draft, and just need to get in and do some serious editing. I'll be arranging pre-release copies for people who want to review it, and will run a pre-launch giveaway on Goodreads. So look foward to that.

2. I'm releasing After the Winter, my 1920's romance, for Monday the 10th of March, my birthday. I'll be having a launch party Sunday the 9th in Melbourne (and maybe one up in Brisbane if I have the interest). I'm thinking a 1920's garden party, with paperback copies of the book available. If you are interested in an invite, let me know. Also, will be doing pre-release review copies and a giveaway.

So that's it from me. Live large!

Oh, and by the way, if you need help with editing and don't know where to go, I have a number of brilliant editors on tap, just waiting to help you out. Give me a buzz at Buffy@thefivedaywriter.com

Editing Metaphor and ROW 80 Check-In

I want to start with a metaphor for editing. It is a piece of writing that has been used as a metaphor for many things, and I have to admit that the author probably did not mean it to refer to the writing process. Though he was an English professor himself, so might appreciate the use. 

It comes from C.S. Lewis' Voyage of the Dawn Treader, chapter 7. The most irritating character in the entire book is a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrub, and as the narrator notes 'he almost deserved it.' Part way through the book, for those of you who don't know it, Eustace becomes a dragon. 

I think that often when we are trying to write a book, our first draft is as rough and ungainly as a dragon, though we wish it to be slim and delicate like a child.  So how do we go from one state to the other?

Have a read of the conversation between Eustace and his cousin Edmund, when Eustace is found to be a boy again.

'Well, as I say, I was lying awake and wondering what on earth would become of me. And then - but, mind you, it may have been all a dream. I don't know."
"Go on," said Edmund, with considerable patience.
"Well, anyway, I looked up and saw the very last thing I expected: a huge lion coming slowly towards me. And one queer thing was that there was no moon last night, but there was moonlight where the lion was. So it came nearer and nearer. I was terribly afraid of it. You may think that, being a dragon, I could have knocked any lion out easily enough. But it wasn't that kind of fear. I wasn't afraid of it eating me, I was just afraid of it - if you can understand. Well, it came close up to me and looked straight into my eyes. And I shut my eyes tight. But that wasn't any good because it told me to follow it."
"You mean it spoke?"
"I don't know. Now that you mention it, I don't think it did. But it told me all the same. And I knew I'd have to do what it told me, so I got up and followed it. And it led me a long way into the mountains. And there was always this moonlight over and round the lion wherever we went. So at last we came to the top of a mountain I'd never seen before and on the top of this mountain there was a garden - trees and fruit and everything. In the middle of it there was a well.
"I knew it was a well because you could see the water bubbling up from the bottom of it: but it was a lot bigger than most wells - like a very big, round bath with marble steps going down into it. The water was as clear as anything and I thought if I could get in there and bathe it would ease the pain in my leg. But the lion told me I must undress first. Mind you, I don't know if he said any words out loud or not.
"I was just going to say that I couldn't undress because I hadn't any clothes on when I suddenly thought that dragons are snaky sort of things and snakes can cast their skins. Oh, of course, thought I, that's what the lion means. So I started scratching myself and my scales began coming off all over the place. And then I scratched a little deeper and, instead of just scales coming off here and there, my whole skin started peeling off beautifully, like it does after an illness, or as if I was a banana. In a minute or two I just stepped out of it. I could see it lying there beside me, looking rather nasty. It was a most lovely feeling. So I started to go down into the well for my bathe.
"But just as I was going to put my feet into the water I looked down and saw that they were all hard and rough and wrinkled and scaly just as they had been before. Oh, that's all right, said I, it only means I had another smaller suit on underneath the first one, and I'll have to get out of it too. So 1 scratched and tore again and this underskin peeled off beautifully and out I stepped and left it lying beside the other one and went down to the well for my bathe.
"Well, exactly the same thing happened again. And I thought to myself, oh dear, how ever many skins have I got to take off? For I was longing to bathe my leg. So I scratched away for the third time and got off a third skin, just like the two others, and stepped out of it. But as soon as I looked at myself in the water I knew it had been no good.
"Then the lion said" - but I don't know if it spoke - "You will have to let me undress you." I was afraid of his claws, I can tell you, but I was pretty nearly desperate now. So I just lay flat down on my back to let him do it.
"The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I've ever felt. The only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off. You know - if you've ever picked the scab off a sore place. It hurts like billy-oh but it is such fun to see it coming away."
"I know exactly what you mean," said Edmund.
"Well, he peeled the beastly stuff right off - just as I thought I'd done it myself the other three times, only they hadn't hurt - and there it was lying on the grass: only ever so much thicker, and darker, and more knobbly-looking than the others had been. And there was I as smooth and soft as a peeled switch and smaller than I had been. Then he caught hold of me - I didn't like that much for I was very tender underneath now that I'd no skin on - and threw me into the water. It smarted like anything but only for a moment. After that it became perfectly delicious and as soon as I started swimming and splashing I found that all the pain had gone from my arm. And then I saw why. I'd turned into a boy again."

Editing, I believe, should always start with our own efforts. But not just scratching off a few words here and a few words there, but deep raking cuts that rip out entire sections. We should do that again and again until we can do no more. Then we must give it over to someone else, because we will rarely edit down til it hurts, and it is only then that you get through to the delicate message underneath. 

Editing is a hard lesson to learn, but so worth it when you have the chiseled, perfect product in front of you. 

I hope that imagery worked as well for you as it did for me.

ROW 80 Check-in:

I'm currently working away being a busy little bee, probably in a few too many areas of my life.

1. Starting last Friday, and continuing until this Sunday I'm volunteering at the Melbourne Writers Festival. This has been fun, and allowed me to go to other talks for free. However I have to admit that the 4-5 hour shifts, especially when they involve something thrilling like standing in foyer pointing people towards the appropriate rooms and not being able to sit down, do have their drawbacks. I've actually only had two shifts so far, and another on tomorrow and Friday, but they leave me exhausted. Having said that, it is great knowing what is happening in the Australian writing scene, who's who, and what works are coming out. 

2. At the beginning of this week I started my next two week draft: The Five Day Writer's Bootcamp, the sequel to Retreat. It's going well, and I'm enjoying writing it because some of the ideas that come out are novel to me too! I hope to get the first draft completed by the end of the next week, and then the goal is to have it published by the end of September, depending on if one of my editors has time to go through it. I'm off to a writing conference on the 11th of October. I plan to get a table so I can sell copies of Retreat and Bootcamp, as well as other books I've helped produce, if I can.

3. The project for last fortnight was The Nice Guy's Guide To Online Dating Profiles. As I actually only spent a week on it, it was not completely done. I had scheduled this week and next to edit it in the evenings (after writing, working on my business, and doing all those annoying life things). I think I should be able to get it finished and edited in that time. This is not an important project, but just something I think will help a lot of men out there. It will only be in e-book format, and hopefully should be live by the end of September as well. 

4. I've been working on a few business projects. I'm still editing my aunt's novella: A Mother's Story, and haven't gotten that up yet. However, I hope to do so as soon as possible. I've also finally sent off for my US tax exemption identity number so Amazon and Smashwords only take 5% instead of 30%. It was one of those things that once I got myself organised, didn't take that long, but was just difficult to work out what to do and where to look etc. It's now going to take about 10 weeks before I actually hear back. So, lets hope I filled in the paperwork correctly!

5. The other big news in my life at the moment is that I signed a break lease contract last week, and I'm moving out of my (beautiful) apartment to be nomadic until the end of the year. Mostly this was to keep costs down so I can give myself a decent shot at making it before having to get some other work. So I've had open for inspections Monday, Tuesday and today. Trying to keep my place perfectly clean for 3 days in a row has been a bit of a strain. However, it looks like they have found a great tenant, who will be able to move in just 10 days later than I wanted (considering the other possibility was that we found no one and I had to pay rent for months and months while not living there, this is great). Because I know ahead of time, I'm not going to move out for an extra week, so I get to enjoy my place for a little bit longer. 

But in two weeks time I'm going to have to start the big clear out and pack. I'm hoping to do a major sort and declutter, giving away all the extra things I'm not going to use for quite a while. But this will take a lot of time going through everything, deciding what to keep and what to throw out, making sure it is clean to be packed into storage or given away, etc. However, once it's all done, it will feel great, like having a dragon skin removed! 

Luckily I have nothing else planned for September, though in October things start to get busy again. I'm organising advertising for my weekend intensive. Here's a flyer I've made up today. What do you think?  It's going to be A5, is it easy enough to read? Does it make you want to come to the country and write? Any suggestions?

The Importance of Editing and ROW 80 Check-In

One of the best things about now being dedicated to writing is that I can attend as many writing conferences and workshops as I like/can afford. And I have taken this opportunity and gone overboard!

I attended one conference a few weekends ago, another this weekend, have been accepted as a volunteer for the Melbourne Writer's Festival (so get to go to all main events for free, which I plan to take advantage of) and then another Christian writer's conference in Brisbane in October.

Further, I think God might be trying to give me a subtly hint, as the two workshops I have attended recently have emphasised different aspects of editing. 


Winter Writer's Workshop: 

A few weekends' ago I was at the Winter Writer's Workshop, which featured Damon Young (who does more academic and literary writing, but has a fantastic voice that you could just listen to for ages), Jo Case who wrote a memoir about when she found out her son had autism (and was involved in the Australian writing scene a lot before that), and my favourite, Kate Forsyth (fantasy writer who I saw last year. I even did one of my very first posts on her method of creating flow. Vintage 100FD!)

If you are in Australia, and ever see a course run by Kate (she does quite a few, particularly in Sydney, where she lives. I'm currently contemplating whether to fly up for one), I highly recommend them. She has such a gift for breaking down the writing process and actually teaching you tools that will help you to critically approach your writing and improve it. Her advice on structure and pacing is fantastic.

One thought she raised that I want to share with you is about editing. A lot of writers (me included at times) think that they do the creative process of getting the rough draft, and then someone else can do the boring part of editing. Kate is completely against this. As a writer, the editing process is still your responsibility, and makes you a stronger writer. I have now come to completely agree with her. The process of analysing your own writing and determining whether you have used the most effective tools to get your meaning across is how you learn and develop. It also allows you to put a stronger personal voice on it, rather than having more of someone else's style in your writing. So, learn to edit! (but also always get someone else to have a look, after you have done your very best.)


Melbourne Word Writer's Intensive:

This weekend I was offered a very special opportunity. The Word Writers, a Christian writing group focused on promoting Australian Christian Writers (yes, they exist, and all of the ones I've met so far as awesome), had an intensive editing workshop on Friday and then a conference on Saturday.

The intensive editing workshop was amazing. I sent in the first chapter of my manuscript. (Sally Hunt, as the appraisal from the competition said it needed a lot of editing, though I've still been short listed, yah!) About a week ago I received in depth commentary back on that from Mary Hawkins, an Australian romance writer (both Christian and mainstream - her first  published books were by Mills and Boon, which is funny for a minister's wife :D ). However, she then requested the rest of the manuscript, just to see what the appraiser meant by certain comments, so I sent that through.

I turned up on Friday and she had gone through my entire manuscript and made comments! It was not as in depth as the first chapter, but it made so much sense. I have to admit, there had been comments by the appraiser which I was like 'where have I done that? What does she mean by that?' But when I saw the parts that Mary had highlighted, and her suggestions, there was an 'Oh, that bit... right....' moment or two.

My biggest problem was point of view. I know when editing other people's work to look out for point of view, but in my own work some of my 'darlings' were witty things I had said as the narrator which were outside of the point of view I should have been in. So, time to be humble and fix those up. I spent the day editing away, and then a large part of the night as well, and I'm still about halfway through. I have also re-written my climax scene (it was theologically controversial how I had presented it). I am so much happier with my manuscript and feel I've lifted it to another level. I'll also remember in future when writing to keep tight control on my internal camera.

So all I can say is that new writer or old, you need someone else who will critically look at your manuscript. It can take it to a new level, and teach you things about your own writing style that will help you in the future.


ROW80 Check-In:

I haven't checked in for a while, and my goals were particularly for that week. However, I have managed to get some things done, but probably not as much as I like.

Overall, I now have 4 of Dave's short stories out (two hunting ones and two military adventure), all on Smashwords and 3 of which are on Amazon. (Two are on Smashwords for free, and I feel bad about putting them on Amazon for 99c when you can get them for free. So have listed one on Amazon and advised them it can be purchased cheaper elsewhere, will see if they match it.) If you get a copy, a short review would be really appreciated.

I have also finished the initial edit of 'A Little Bit of Leaven', the story my great-grandfather wrote. It's strange because it's not thrilling, suspenseful, romantic etc., but after every session I just felt really peaceful and comforted. Then in the last part I was almost in tears, in a good way. I am excited about what to do, but also a bit fearful that I won't do it justice. But better than it being hidden away!


So, my goals for this week:

1. Write up everything I want to change/add to improve A Little Bit of Leaven.

2. Create a Print On Demand version of 'The Five Day Writer's Retreat'. Have done most of the cover, just struggling with a gripping blurb. Then I just need to reformat the document to print properly. Going to be testing out CreateSpace.

3. Finish editing 'Tom Grafton Vs. The Environmentalists'. Meant to do this last week, but instead got the two military short stories out for Dave.

4. Organise my first writing intensive workshop! This is pretty exciting. At the Christian writer's conference people were asking about self-publishing, so I mentioned that I had started a company helping authors self-publish by offering whatever services they need to complement their skills. One lady was really interested and asked if I could help her. I mentioned to her that I was running a workshop through my local community centre on 'An Intro to Self-Publishing'. She was very excited, but lives about 3 hours away from me. She asked if I could run a weekend intensive on the topic? Thinking about it overnight, I came back the next day and said Yes!

So, end of October, The Five Day Writer is going to run its first weekend intensive on 'What's Involved In Self-Publishing'. It will cover all the steps and what you need to know to complete each one. It won't be as practical as my 7 week course through the Woodend Community Centre, as there is just not enough time to walk everyone through setting up their author pages, etc. But it will show you where to go, what to do, and how to find the help you need.

I'm very excited about that, but also a little bit scared. I at least have two people already prepared to come (my aunt said she would come as well), and my little sister has agreed to help me with the catering. My parents will be travelling and said I can use their gorgeous American Colonial house in the country to host it. It will be an intimate group in comfortable chairs around a fire, eating, chatting, passionate about writing.

So, if you know of anyone interested in self-publishing who lives in or around Melbourne, point them my way!

What questions would you want answered about self-publishing?