Author Jean Davis

Thursday, April 5, 2018

A to Z - All About Writing : Editing

E is for Editing

Yesterday we covered Developmental Edits, but what about the edits you do yourself before anyone else sees your work?

And yes, you should always edit before you show your work to someone else. If you're going to ask someone to read your work, you want them to focus on the story, not typos, weird formatting, missing words, or jumbled sentences. A few of those will probably slip through no matter how many editing passes you make, but putting your best work forward will get you the most useful feedback, chances of getting published, and better reviews.

Editing is best done in passes. Trying to spot everything at once is an overwhelming task so break it up into focus areas. Rather like the developmental editing we talked about yesterday, it's beneficial to start with the big stuff and work your way down to avoid making more work for yourself. Passes might look like this:

• Main plot and character(s). Does the plot move from point A to Z with a fulfilling ending? Is it engaging? Does the MC internally change from beginning to end? Are they likeable (at least in the degree that someone would want to read about them for a couple hundred pages)? Do they have agency (see day 1)? Are character motivations clear and believable?

• Subplots and secondary character(s). Are the subplots necessary? Do they benefit the main plot and characters? Do the secondary characters change? Do they add to the story? Can they be combined to tighten the story? Are they well rounded? Do they have proper motivation for their actions?

• Chapter by chapter. Does each chapter have a beginning, middle, and end? Does it build tension from one chapter to the next? Does it have a clear opening and enticing ending? Does each chapter serve a purpose to propel the plot and MCs journey (internally and/or externally) forward? Are the pacing and voice cohesive throughout?

• Description. Are all the senses being used? Is the setting adequately described in each important scene? Are the characters described enough that the reader can tell them apart? Are any world words, technology, foreign languages/words, gizmos, and anything else out of the ordinary that you threw in there clear enough that the reader is going to understand them in context and not be thrown out of the story. Are your details (character, setting, etc) consistent throughout?

• Dialogue. Does each character sound different? Does it serve a purpose? Can it serve more of a purpose/hold more tension? Does it sound natural? Is it clear who is speaking? Are there any places where action beats will serve better than simple tags?

• Paragraphs and sentences. Do they vary in length? Are there massive paragraphs that need to be abroken up or too many short ones in a row? Do they start differently (no one wants to scan the page and see every paragraph starts with 'He') Do the sentences have good rhythm? Are the sentences clear? Does the sentence phrasing vary? Reading aloud during this pass is the best way to find most of these things.

• Word choices. Adverbs - can they be switched out for stronger verbs. Adjectives - are there enough or too many? Are names clear and not to similar? Do the names (places, characters, etc) fit the story/setting/tone. Do the words being used convey the story clearly? Can any words be removed to tighten the story?

• Typos. Oh typos, the bane of our existence. This is also a good pass to do aloud so you can catch those pesky homonyms and missing/repeated words amongst many other things.

Is there anything you edit for that I missed here?

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Prefer paperback? The print book goes live on April 20. Reviews are always appreciated.

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

A to Z - All About Writing: Developmental Edits

Welcome to the Blogging A to Z Challenge, where, this month, I'll be focusing on all things writing. This may be a random jumping around of topics within my theme, but hopefully something somewhere will be useful to someone. (V is for vague - see that last sentence.) Check out all the participants here and lets get on with today's letter.

D is for Developmental Edits

A Developmental Edit is your first stop when you're either paying for an edit or receiving one from a publisher. A dev edit will cover the big picture aspects of your story. There will be comments on the overall plot, subplots, characters and their motivations and arcs. It might cover whether the story needs more description, action, tension or dialogue.

This stage of editing shouldn't be about the nitpicky things. It will help get the main story shaped up and tightened to create a compelling plot and host of characters that readers will care about.

You might think you have all of this covered, but you know your story. It came from your head. You can see the setting, you know the characters, the backstory and where book two will be headed. Everything seems perfectly logical in your mind.

Unfortunately, (or probably not because it's a darn twisted place) the reader is not in your head. It's very likely that some of what you think is clear on the page isn't actually there at all. There's probably a whole host of details still in your head that just need a little prodding by an editor to be shaken loose in order to fill out the story.

If you have a good critique partner, someone you trust, that isn't afraid to get critical and tell it how it is, they may be able to do this step for you. However, if you are going for publication, you'll be hit with a dev edit regardless of the fact that you think you have this step already covered. Odds are, there are still a bunch of things that could be fixed. It always seems like a story is never quite done.

Prefer paperback? The print book goes live on April 20. Reviews are always appreciated.

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

A to Z - All About Writing: Critique Groups & IWSG

C is for Critique Groups

One of the big issues I find with many new writers is that they write a story and dive into submitting it without ever having anyone else read it. By anyone else, I mean someone other than your mother or significant other. I'm talking about fellow writers who will be happy to offer advice while tearing your word baby apart. That can sound traumatic, but it sure makes for a stronger story. Remember, you are not your story. A story is a thing you made. That thing almost always (no, really: always) can greatly benefit from a few pairs of critical eyes.

You can find critique groups in various places. If you're looking for an in person group, in which case you will likely be asked to bring a few pages to read out loud and bring copies for the group to write comments on, check your local library or sometimes local bookstores. Those places are where these types of groups usually meet. Doing a search on Facebook might also turn up groups in your area.

If you're not fond of getting critiqued in person, I suggest an online group. Online groups are nice when you have a busy schedule, don't like dealing with people face to face, or don't live in a bigger city that might support an in person group. I've found I get very honest and great feedback online that gets glossed over a lot more in person. It's easier to be truthful when you're not face to face, calling out ugly sentences, scenes, or irrational character actions. Not only that, but the person doing the critique can take their time, save it and come back to it after thinking about what they really liked or didn't. There are many groups out there and a google search will get you to most of them. My personal favorite is Critique Circle.

Find a group that fits you. That might be a genre group, a large group, a small group, a group that you feel comfortable with, though that might take a few meetings to establish one way or the other. Groups might meet every week or bi-monthly or once a month. Online groups usually require that you critique others before earning critiques of your own work.

A few things to remember when being critiqued:

Don't defend your work, but asking for clarification is fine.

Smile and say thank you, even if you totally don't agree.

The critique an opinion. It may be spot on, totally off, or somewhere in between. Don't get offended.

Use what feels right to you and discard the rest.

Give advice that pisses you off a few days to sink in before discarding it. Truth can be painful.

No one can write your story but you. Use rewrite suggestions if they fit, but keep your voice.

A big bonus of being part of a critique group is that you'll likely learn just as much if not more by critiquing the work of others than receiving critiques of your own work. It's easier to see what feels off, sounds bad, annoys you, and what makes something great in other people's work than it is when reading your own. Figuring all that out will make your writing stronger.

Are you part of a critique group?

And hey, it's the first Wednesday of the month! That means its time for an Insecure Writers Support Group post. Too bad this didn't coincide with I day, that would make things easy. We can't have that.

This month's question asks: When your writing life is a bit cloudy or filled with rain, what do you do to dig down and keep on writing?

Honesty, when I'm having a sucky time of writing, I stop writing. At least for a day or two. Not for good. I have a hard time being creative when my mind is wrapped up in negativity or the stress of a project or submission issue. So while some people might push through that and keep on going, I'm not one of them. I need a couple days of distance from whatever has me down to process or come to terms with it before I can dive back into being productive.

What about you?

Prefer paperback? The print book goes live on April 20. Reviews are always appreciated.

Monday, April 2, 2018

A to Z - All About Writing: Basic Formatting

B is for Basic Formatting

While this is something that seems like it should be common knowledge to anyone who has read books or taken high school English, I can easily say from reading the work of many beginning writers, it clearly is not. So today we're going to skim over the basics.

1. Unless you're writing for posting on the internet, paragraphs should be indented somewhere between .3 and .5 inches depending on what formatting guides you happen to be following.

2. Dialogue (character's speaking) should be in a separate paragraph from general narrative. This makes the story far easier to read.

"If you see what I mean," she said.

3. Dialogue tags can either precede or follow dialogue. Following is most common. Tags denote who is speaking and should generally be kept to a simple he/she said rather than going nuts with using a hundred different words for 'said'. Said does the job and lets the dialogue do it's thing without being distracting. Tags should be formatted as above using a comma unless the dialogue is a question, in which case: "Was that a question?" she asked. It has also been debated that said can be used for questions in place of asked, but I find that distracting in most cases, so I prefer to stick with the common 'asked'.

4. Scene breaks are used to show a progression in time, or a change of pov or setting. A scene break in submission formatting is usually denoted by a blank line and a # and a blank line. In a printed book, it may have a decorative symbol or simply two blank lines. Scene breaks are breaks within a chapter to show that something has changed from the previous portion and now we're onto something related, but new.

5. When writing dialogue it's fine to use slang, poor grammar and contractions. When writing narrative (the descriptive part of the story where people aren't talking), those should generally be avoided unless we're deep in a character's pov.

6. When submitting writing for publication, double spaced is the way to go unless you have been explicitly been told otherwise. Other things to hunt down specific submission guidelines on include, type of quotes preferred (straight or curly), indent preferences, italics protocols, and font preference. Always check the guidelines.

7. Learn to use Word (or whatever program you use) properly to insert page numbers and title/author identifying headers. Both of these are easy google searches and take only a few minutes to figure out, if even that.

Got any basic formatting tips to share? Drop them in the comments.

Prefer paperback? The print book goes live on April 20. Reviews are always appreciated.

Sunday, April 1, 2018

A to Z - All about Writing: Agency

A is for Agency

What the heck is agency, you ask? That's when your character makes things happen instead of things happening to them. A character having agency, means they are taking an active roll in attempting to influence their fate.

For example, I once did a beta read of a fun fantasy story about a princess. My main issue with the character, who was a spunky girl full of charm and all, was that everyone else in the story was active in moving along the plot for her. All she did was ask people to do things and they did, because she was the princess. There was a plot, there was a charming main character and an interesting host of other characters, but because the princess didn't actually do anything. This resulted in low to no tension and distanced the dear princess from the stakes.

When the rewrite came through and the problem was fixed by the princess having to accomplish tasks in order to get assistance from the other characters. She had to do something. She had to be active in her plot. This raised the tension level and created stakes that impacted her.

In order to create a compelling story, your character should have agency. They should be a part of the action, of doing things to get the story from part A to part B and so on throughout the plot. The plot should be influenced by the characters motivations and actions.

There is also the matter of things not having agency. Such as when a character's feet take them to another room. In reality, it is the person going into the other room. One way to look at it is that the character's feet are somehow in control of the body, and that's just weird. Another way is that the author is trying to show that the character is distracted and maybe on autopilot. When you encounter these random acts of agency in writing, you have to consider what you're trying to get across.

Is the fact that your character's hand finds the knife at their side and draws it because its a habitual motion in that they don't give it any thought, or that the hand has a life of it's own and is disembodied from the character.

Personally, I'm fond of handing agency to an occasional body part or thing as long as its to illustrate something important to the character. It's the times when it's not intentional that active hands and feet get creepy.