Why Everyone Should Love Editing by Jodi Meadows

I have a confession: I love editing.

There. I said it.

I know this will come as a shock to some people, because there are lots of folks who crave the creative freedom of drafting a story, and revising it is just so . . . dull. The story's already written, and editing it is just fixing commas and whatnot. Right?

Wrong.

I mean, yes, for the love of punctuation, fix your commas, but that's not all there is to editing. As you write your first draft, you will no doubt find yourself adding events or mysteries and never getting back to them, or adding something late in the book that comes completely out of nowhere. Or maybe your characters have random conversations without a point, take multiple trips from one end of the world to the other, and you've got three or four characters fulfilling the same role.

Even if you outline your story and think you know exactly where it's going to end up, there are still often surprises and things that need to be fixed. Characters get combined (or cut altogether!); trips across the world get consolidated; extraneous plotlines get snipped; conversations and fight scenes get focused until they're clear and make sense.

All these things need to be fixed, and doing that will make your story stronger, smarter, and help readers get through it without confusion.

Then you reach the point where you're not fixing things so much as making them better. Like how?

By identifying important themes and symbols, and bringing them out and weaving them throughout the story so they're consistent. By identifying character motivations and making them stronger. By looking at every sentence and making sure it is clear and says exactly what you want it to say. And by looking at every word and making sure it's the strongest word you can use, and conveys just the right emotion. (For example, maybe someone doesn't just walk, but they mosey or saunter or plod.)

Admittedly, this is one of the harder parts of editing: seeing what isn't there and figuring out how to add it. But it's also the part where you bring your story up to the next level -- where it goes from decent to good to GREAT.

But beware the impulse to dive right into edits, especially after typing "The End" on the first draft (what a great feeling!) or receiving the most excellent of excellent critiques from crit partners or an editor. Take a few days to think about the story, the comments, the concerns. Or a couple weeks! The amount of time you need depends on you. Personally, nothing makes me clean my house like receiving an edit letter with a deadline on the horizon; I think it's preparation for the time of No Laundry While I'm Editing.

Yes, it's a lot of work, but so is writing a first draft. And why put the effort into writing a first draft if you're not going to make the final product the best that it can be?

Because that's what editing does: it peels off the layers of extra mush until you get to the gem at the core. Every draft should get the story closer to the story you really want to tell.

Jodi Meadows lives and writes in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, with her husband, a Kippy*, and an alarming number of ferrets. She is a confessed book addict, and has wanted to be a writer ever since she decided against becoming an astronaut. Visit her online at www.jodimeadows.com.

Site Update

Hello Edmos,

I upated you on Twitter yesterday, but forgot to put an update here! Silly me. Things are a bit crazy with everything going on and me not being able to connect to the internet at home. (I'm hoping to get that issue fixed when the phone company comes tomorrow morning. Cross your fingers!)

Anyway, if you're still having problems getting to the website you need to delete your brower history. I believe that option is under "Tools" in most browser menu bars. Once you've done that, try getting to the website again.

Jenn is still working feverishly to bring back the rest of the site, including the hour logger. But for now, at least the forums and a few other basic things are up for your use.

Thank you all for being so patient with us! We know it's rough going, but we greatly appreciate it. :-)

-Anna
QueenOfTheUniverse

Taming the Revision Beast by Becca Puglisi

When it comes to the writing process, I’m kind of a freak of nature. Drafting is by far my least favorite part. It’s so hard to get the story out, and after all that work, you’re left with something that needs...well, lots of work. But as much as I dread drafting, I love revising. That’s when it gets fun for me because with each change that’s made, you can see your story getting better.

Still, editing an entire manuscript can be daunting. The revision stage has to cover everything from correcting typos to adding scenes to removing whole subplots. So how do you get through all those changes without losing your mind? As with any potentially-overwhelming project, organization helps. Here are some steps that make the revision process manageable for me.

Make a list. Hopefully you’ve already jotted some things down--problems that you noticed during the drafting stage that would eventually have to be addressed. Don’t be alarmed by the length of your list, which will probably expand as you revise, because the more time you spend examining your manuscript, the more problems you’ll find. It may sound depressing, but look at that pile of edits positively. Every problem that you notice and resolve in the editing process brings your fledgling manuscript one step closer to being accepted by editors and read by gajillions of people. Your list is super important for keeping track of what needs work.

Group similar editing points. Now that your revision list is long enough to give you an anxiety attack, take deep breaths and get organized. If you try to read through your manuscript with every editing point in mind, you’re going to miss things and your brain will explode. To avoid the mess, sort your list into sections. Here are some ways you might want to group your edits:

• Repetitions: words and phrases that you tend to overuse and need to find and replace throughout the manuscript; repeated sentence structures that stand out; too many sentences starting with I, He/She or (Character’s Name).
• Voice: Certain things need to be examined and tweaked from start to finish to make your character’s voice consistent: similes and metaphors that your character uses, word choices, and speaking style, to name a few.
• Individual Subplots: Examine each plot line or character arc for consistency throughout the novel. Does a romantic subplot need an extra scene for it to develop smoothly? Does more foundation need to be laid to shore up an important future event? Do relationships progress realistically from start to finish? Each subplot needs its own revision round. Some may not need much work and will only take a few hours to fix. Others might take days or even weeks to iron out.
• Proportion Issues: Are there long stretches where a character isn’t mentioned? Has too much emphasis been placed on a person, item, or characteristic that doesn’t amount to much over the course of the story? To even out the proportion across the novel, you’ll have to amp up certain parts and tone others down.
• Miscellaneous: Everything else
• Final Read-Through. Once the revisions are done, it’s important to read the whole manuscript again--aloud. This will help you zero in on typos or new repetitions that may have arisen during the editing process.

These are just some of the problems that writers struggle with. Dialogue, descriptions, and showing-versus-telling are a few more. An excellent, nearly comprehensive editing resource that I can’t recommend enough is Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, by Browne and King. Truly. Go get it. It’s awesome.

Attack your revisions in rounds: Each of the sections on your list will be one revision round. Depending on how many items you start out with, you might end up with two rounds, or four, or nine. Again, don’t be alarmed. All that stuff has to be fixed, right? And in my experience, finding the problems is often harder than solving them, so you’re ahead of the game if you’ve got a good list to start from. Next, order your rounds according to preference; you can start with the one you’re most excited about or the one that’s going to take the longest--whatever you prefer. Then work your way through the manuscript with the points from Round One in mind. When you’ve finished, start again with Round Two, and so on.

Maintain Forward Momentum: As you revise, you’re undoubtedly going to come up with more things that need work. If it’s a really big picture item that will effect the entire story (like changing the main character’s strengths or flaws to make success more difficult for her), you may have to backtrack and work those changes into the story from start to finish. Most of the time, though, it’s best to keep making your way through your existing list and tack any new edits onto the end. Address these items once the original list is finished.

So...that’s what works for me. It may be a little too orderly for some. Luckily, there are as many different revision methods as there are ways to draft, or outline, or critique. The most important thing is to get started and keep moving forward, because each round of edits will bring you one step closer to a publishable manuscript. Best of luck, NaNoEdMo’ers!

Becca Puglisi is a YA fantasy and historical fiction writer, SCBWI member, and co-host of The Bookshelf Muse, an on-line resource for writers. She also has a number of magazine publications under her belt. Her book, The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression is scheduled for release in April 2012.

Week Two Pep and Website Update

Hello All!

So last week, at the appropriate time I set out to write a Week Two pep email. Before I’d finished it, I decided it might be a good idea to check the site to make sure I could send said email, and discovered that I couldn’t because our site was down. It’s now been many days since our webmaster took the site down to fix our problems, but we’re still hanging in there. In the meantime, our wonderful Article Collector and Head of Moderators, Alicia, has created this amazing blog to help us better connect with you guys. (Thanks Alicia!)

So check back here often for my pep emails and the articles that we’ve been promising you since forever ago. Another great place to check up on Edmo is our Twitter feed: @NaNoEdMo. There, we keep you up-to-date on the hour goals you need to reach each day in order to stay on track, as well as what’s going on with our website. I also retweet things authors and publishers are tweeting, if it’s relevant to what we’re trying to do here. So don’t miss out on the Twitter feed!

At this point, Week One is long officially over and we’re now well into Week Two. If you haven’t reached twelve hours and fifty-six minutes yet (the goal for the start of Week Two), never fear. There are still several weeks to go so you’ve got plenty of time to catch up. If you have hit that mark, congrats! And if you’ve reached today’s goal of nineteen hours and twenty-four minutes, here’s an extra congrats to you, complete with pancake muffins! Just ask Alicia, who knows how to make those things. They’re fantastic! (Especially with chocolate chips.)

Anyway, some say Week Two is the hardest week. And when it comes to keeping the website running without issues, trying to keep participants updated on what’s going on, all while trying to stay ahead of the editing, without an internet connection at home, I’d have to agree. However, I still say, Week Two is the easiest week, if you cut out all the website problems we’ve been having. By now, you’ve hopefully gained some editing momentum, and if you don’t slow down or completely stop, you’re in a great place to keep right on going. You’ll sail straight through Week Two and into Week Three without troubles.

Of course, for some, the momentum just hasn’t had a chance to build yet. You’re working a full time job, you’ve got kids to take care of, take to piano lessons and soccer practice, your neighbor found a dead body in his basement that might or might not look like your hated great great great Uncle Harold twice removed, and the post man didn’t deliver your mail today. We understand. Life happens.

Make lemonade. While you’re waiting for the police to question you about your great great great Uncle Harold twice removed, break out your novel and get some editing done. Every little bit counts. And the more you edit, the more this will become true. Fifteen minutes here, fifteen minutes there, eventually might add up to a couple of hours at the end of the day. And that could easily turn into fifty hours by the end of the month. Or even more.

So remember that. Get your momentum up as best you can, and keep going. Keep chugging along as best you can and you’ll make it. And when you cross that finish line, we’ll all be there to cheer you on with big hugs and many batches of pancake muffins with chocolate chips inside.

And remember, follow this blog and our Twitter account for updated info on what’s going on with the website.

I wish you all a great rest of Week Two and I look forward to meeting up with you again at the start of Week Three!

-Anna

QueenOfTheUniverse

Editing Piece by Piece by Elana Johnson

When sitting down to edit your newly penned manuscript, I think one of the most important things to do is break it down piece by piece. The second most important thing is to get off the computer. Most of us are tactile and visual learners, and you can apply those concepts to editing your behemoth of a novel.

Step One: Print a hard copy.
I don’t print the entire book all at once for one reason: It overwhelms me. Have you seen a stack of 350 pages? It’s THICK.

Instead, I chunk my novel into three discernable parts, and in fact, this also helps me identify the breaks between the acts. That’s right. I went all deep on you there. But I look at my story and I identify the break into Act 2. Then I only print Act 1, and move on to step two.

Step Two: Review what the purpose is of those pages.
For Act 1, this is usually character identification, relationships that are already established, introduction to new characters, introduction to the conflict, and gearing up to get into the meat of the story where conflicts have to be solved and villains have to be blocking the main character at every turn.

I read this first chunk of printed material with a pen in hand. It’s tactile. Interactive. Visual. I can “see” things on printed paper I can’t see on the computer screen. I can move things more easily (drawing arrows makes me happy). I can write new scenes in spots that are lacking. I can make notes in the margins for things that might fix a problem or for a plotline that needs strengthening.

And I do it all by hand, on paper.

Step Three: Repeat steps one and two for your remaining two sections.
Print a section, identify what is supposed to happen in those pages, and edit by hand with those goals in mind.

I can read and do a preliminary edit on my whole manuscript in about three days. As I’m entering changes from the hardcopy to the computer, I transfer and take notes. Sometimes I do this in a notebook, and sometimes I put them right in my document in a comment bubble

But no matter what, on your zero draft read-through, you’ll get new ideas and ways to fix things that aren’t working. I don’t worry about fixing those things right away. I just make notes of them.
I then save that draft as version 1, with an idea of the bigger picture of my novel.

Step Four: Use your notes to do specific editing passes. Think like Shrek—in layers.
Maybe you need to strengthen your MC’s likeability (version 2). Maybe you need to reinforce the setting (version 3). Maybe your world-building is weak (version 4). Maybe your sensory details are not-so-sensory (version 5). Whatever the problem, complete an entire manuscript edit to improve that specific area.

Breaking your manuscript down into manageable pieces (Act 1, Act 2, Act 3) and working through layers of edits (characters, setting, plot, emotion, visual details, etc.) will help you look at your 75,000 words without fear.

Now go edit that book!


Elana Johnson’s debut novel, Possession, published by Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster), is available now everywhere books are sold. The second book in the series, Surrender, is due out June 5, 2012. Her popular ebook, From the Query to the Call, is also available for download. School teacher by day, Query Ninja by night, you can find her online at her personal blog or Twitter. She also co-founded the Query Tracker blog, and contributes to the League of Extraordinary Writers, and organizes WriteOnCon. Elana is represented by Michelle Andelman of Regal Literary.

How to Choose your Edit (and Not Let Your Edit Choose You) by Vickie Motter

You've written your first draft. You've brought out the red pen. Now what? If you're like a lot of beginning writers, you'll go through and mark your spelling and grammar errors, maybe change a couple lines to something even more brilliant. But what if your manuscript needs more? Are you asking, "What more is there?"

Let's categorize edits into four types:

1. Plot revision. Major overhaul. And perhaps one of the hardest because that means you have to chop your baby up and duct tape it back together. Your best preparation for this is to read plot books. Screen writing books can be your best friend here because they completely ignore craft and focus solely on story. Apply what you've learned by watching movies, reading books, plot-editing friend's manuscripts, then finally plotting out your own ms (cards, charts, bullet points). You have to step waaay back and objectively decide if all your plot points lie in the right places. If you have an unshakable plot, the other stuff will be much easier to play with.

2. Character revision. If you've been getting feedback along the lines of, "I like the concept, but I'm not connecting with your characters," you may need to concentrate only on characters. Step back. If your main character is you, you may want to step way, way, way back, as in start something new until you can analyze your work dispassionately. Every character needs to be unique: in the way they dress, talk, act, think. And each needs to be necessary to the plot. Take each character and describe him or her—especially do this with your main character—if he/she can only be described in cliché terms or by the things that happen to him/her, you’ll need character revision. Each character needs quirks, a way of speaking and thinking so that even readers with nothing in common can relate.

3. Continuity. This is more of a last edit and can be done by a critique or writing partner—many beginning writers mistake this for the next edit they do after the first draft. You can do it at the same time as other edits, but try breaking them down. For continuity, check dialogue—do each of your characters have their own language and stick to it—time lapses are coherent, plot points follow each other, names and special words keep the same spelling, format, chapter numbers, etc, etc. Dedicate a portion of this edit to ensuring that every scene and every character has their own arch.

4. Line, grammar, spelling edits. Usually, the simplest edit. It also acts like blinders for writers unused to editing—instead of focusing on the big stuff, the hard stuff, the rip-out-your-heart stuff, writers concentrate only on this simple stuff. You’re doing a disservice to yourself, and your writing/critique partners if you keep your blinders on.

Editing takes just as much practice as writing. being able to recognize and fix problems in other people’s work, and recognizing and fixing problems in your own are two completely different things; skills that take equal time to cultivate and master. The best advice you can take is to step back, prepare yourself with how-to-guides, practice with friends, and practice on yourself.

Vickie Motter is a literary agent with Andrea Hurst Literary Management, based on the west coast. She acquires all genres of YA as well as Adult Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy. Visit her blog Navigatingthe Slush Pile for more information and writing tips.