Tag: Writing and Editing

Top Ten Things Not to Do if You Are Editing Your Book

~ John W. Howell ~ 65 Comments

Editing

The inspiration for this list is, well frankly, my latest labor over the editing process. I hope you enjoy the list and, yes I have done some of these things.

Ten Things Not to Do if You Are Editing Your Book.

10 If you are editing, do not think glasses of wine make the work go easier. If you do, at best you’ll just have to do it over. At worst, you might inadvertently delete several chapters of your book under the belief that you have better ones in mind. (Aren’t you glad you had that backup file Goof-ball?)

9 If you are editing, do not think you can watch the football game while you work. If you do, at best you will catch all your mistakes on the second go around. At worst, you think you found them all only to discover in reading a review the question, “What does a touchdown have to do with the relationship?” (Hmm you can explain that can’t you Bunkie?)

8 If you are editing, do not decide to change a character’s name with “find and replace.” If you do, At best you’ll catch the ones missed. At worst, you will have a new character named JerryTinyO.” (That extra space sure made a difference. Oh, and Tiny would like to see you. He’s over at the gym straightening out horseshoes.)

7 If you are editing, do not believe long breaks will enhance your work. If you do, at best you will be editing this book forever. At worst, your continuity will go out the window, and your book will read like a short story collection. (You had not intended to publish short stories, did you Ferd?”)

6 If you are editing, do not ask your friends to read the new edits. If you do, at best the opinions will be so varied you’ll be confused. At worst, you will come to realize you need new friends and a new book. (You now wish you had just given it to an editor right?)

5 If you are editing, do not try to do the whole thing in one sitting. If you do, at best you will be exhausted. At worst, you may stop caring how the stupid book comes out and just want to get it done. (Your two-star reviews aren’t much of a reward are they?)

4 If you are editing, do not snack to reduce stress. If you do, at best you’ll need extra exercise hours. At worst, your snacking will resemble a runaway train from which there is no return. (Getting a grip is so much harder when there is more of you isn’t it?)

3 If you are editing, do not believe the rest of the family understands your pain. If you do, at best you’ll feel misunderstood. At worst, you will constantly be thinking of ways to take your angst out on your characters. (This book has taken on a sinister air hasn’t it Stephen?)

2 If you are editing, do not abandon personal hygiene. If you do, at best you will be alone. At worst, your family could be seeking council with the local mental health provider, and you’ll get more help than you need. (You can still type with that white jacket on right Buford?)

1 If you are editing, know when it is time to stop. If you don’t at best, you will never finish the book. At worst, you will suffer PETS (Post Editing Traumatic Ssyndrome) and never sleep again. (You need to stop going over the book in your head. It is published already.)

Work Week is as Work Week Does

~ John W. Howell ~ 11 Comments
The New Yorker
The New Yorker (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Friday at last. I don’t know about you, but I have had a grueling week. I finished up a couple of short stories for submission to several magazines. Never know if they will be accepted, but since I am planning an anthology of them, nothing is ever wasted. In the anthology I don’t believe I will have to give a disclaimer that “this story was rejected by the New Yorker,” or anything like that. So it really doesn’t matter if the story gets published or not, since I will be able to use it one way or another.

I am also still working on editing my second novel. I won’t bore you with the fact that my first is still with the publisher and no date of release as yet. WTF. . .  it is a good thing I made my fortune in freeze-dried tacos* because if I relied on book sales to eat I would be a very skinny guy indeed. Right now I am going through the entire text with the idea of eliminating certain words that are the hallmark of an amateur. These are the kinds of words that have the effect of slowing the action or at the least, making strong sentences very weak. So that you may benefit from my pain, here are the words that I am eliminating while choosing other ways to complete the thought that I am trying to project. The are: about, actually, almost, like, appears, approximately, basically, close to, even, eventually, exactly, finally, just, just then, kind of, nearly, practically, really, seems, simply, somehow, somewhat, sort of, suddenly, that, truly, utterly, were.

I wish I could say when I use the “find” feature on Word that the results come back with no matches. I wish I could say that, but unfortunately it just doesn’t happen. When writing sometimes we fall into the lazy mode of getting the idea down on paper (so to speak) and not looking at construction. There is really nothing wrong with that as long as we go back and make the corrections.

*Piece of fiction warning

To end the week I have a little Haiku which sums up the editing process.

Edit This by John W. Howell

Every word I wrote,

Placed carefully on the page. . .

Comes under the knife.

 

Have a great weekend. Oh and while you’re up,

would you get me another Margarita? Thanks.

 

Editing is as Editing Does

~ John W. Howell ~ 22 Comments

edit

Here we are to Wednesday and like I have been doing for a week I am still editing my second book. There is still no word on launch date on the first from the publisher. I continue to press to finish the next novel and hopefully I will be ready to market the first without having to worry about what is going to follow.

Like most of us know, the editing process is filled with pain, amazement and sometimes downright embarrassment. When I come across a pleasing line I am always amazed that I actually wrote it. The embarrassment comes in when a line has obvious faults or blazing amateur signals. It is a blessing that the mistake was caught but then the pain of doubt creeps in. “How many others did I miss?” is the question of the moment.

Here is a conversation I had with myself on Monday.

“WTF John. You know that dialog tag doesn’t work.”

“What do you mean? You think putting “he asks with a puzzled look on his face,” after a question is wrong?”

“Wrong has nothing to do with it. You look like a third grader. The question mark is enough. The rest can go into a sentence.”

“Good point. It does look silly.”

“Also that so-called prose written about your character discussions should be dialog.”

“You mean relating what two people said to each other should be in the form of dialog and not a description even though my descriptions are glorious.”

“Duh. Your readers will fall asleep on that crap. If not they will skip the part and lose some pretty impactful interaction by your characters.”

“You are right. I have a number of these and it can get a little boring.”

“Dump the deep character descriptions as well. Let your readers get an image of the characters in their mind by relating to what they do not how they look.”

“You are starting to question all my meticulous character development?”

“No I am telling you to develop them in action not literary pap. What is up with that mirror description anyway?”

So it went on and on. I wonder sometimes why I do all the bad things that I know are out-of-place, clumsy and often confusing. I put it down to an evil hack trying to get out and take over. That could be another discussion for another blog, but for now I’ll just keep editing while I tear my face off.

Happy Wednesday all.