Fooling your Brain

I think of writing as a creative, right-brain activity, whereas editing is more analytical.

There are several different levels of editing and I've blogged about my process over a few posts, from the big picture (and here), and details and problems. 

Editing is a continual improvement kind of activity, and I find that I approach editing non-fiction in a different way than fiction. However, there is one area that is still the same - fooling my brain about what I'm viewing.

Even with a shorter project you still get used to seeing the same file day after day. If you're like me you have a page setup that will be something like this - A4 page, 2.4cm (1") margins, double-spaced, and your favourite font.

I do some initial editing tasks on the computer, for example, a list of words for the Find and Replace function, but nothing beats editing on hard copy. Before I print it out I change the font type and size, and often the margins as well, all in an effort to make my brain think it's reading something new. This is also the reason for leaving some time between finishing the writing and starting to edit. 

After reading through Lives Interrupted several (it felt like several hundred) times, I found that even changing the font and margins wasn't really fooling me enough, and so I changed the setup to resemble a print book. That was an interesting experience.  I discovered a few sections that looked fine double-spaced on an A4 page, but were just one or two paragraphs on a book-size page, and therefore an indication of places where I maybe needed to break up the narrative with some dialogue.

I've also found using my Kindle another excellent way of looking at work in a different way. I see mistakes that I hadn't caught in earlier readings.  It also means I don't have to carry around a large pile paper.

E-Publishing - The Beginning

About a year ago I attended a publishing workshop run by the New Zealand Society of Authors.  Up to that point I knew very little about ePublishing.

The first presenter was Mark Coker.  I had never heard of him or Smashwords.  I hang my head in shame!

From the question and answer session at the end of Mark's presentation, I realised that a significant number of the people there were already trying out this brave new world.

Driftwood had not long been published in UK, but I had already discovered some of the frustrations of the publishing and distribution system.

Going back yet another year, I had finished Lives Interrupted and sent it off to some publishers in London.  I waited.  And waited.  Then finally, oh joy, they wanted a full manuscript.

More waiting.  Ultimately they decided not to take it on, but the letters were personal and they gave me feedback, which I treasured because I knew it was rare.  The feedback was useful and I worked on it, and around this time started meeting with my present writing group.

At this point I attended the NZSA workshop, and left deciding this was the route I would take.  I also came away with details of websites for research.  One of these was Joe Konrath, and so I started reading his blog as well as others that had been suggested. 

One of the most important points that Joe Konrath makes on his blog is that to sell well, you have to have a good product.  He isn't the only author, editor or agent to say that.  People may buy one bad book from an author but they won't do it again, and with blogs, Twitter, and review sites, people find out about that.  We owe it to ourselves and readers to put out the best product we can.  Over the year I've been blogging I've written about my editing process and the feedback I've received, and they have made Lives Interrupted so much stronger.

Sometimes it felt as though the editing process would never end; that the book would never be finished, and I guess in some ways it isn't.  We grow and mature as people, as well as writers, and see things in a different light through various experiences.

Another of the things that Joe talked about was the importance of having a product that was as near perfect as possible, which, depending on your skills, may mean using an editor, someone to create a cover, or someone to format the manuscript for you.

Most of the training companies I've worked with have a process for developing training materials or technical manuals.  This process usually involves a final edit by a writer who hasn't been involved in the project.  The principle is a simple one, and I'm sure most writers are familiar with the scenario.  You are too close to the writing, and just don't see your own mistakes.  That is true whether it's grammar, typos, or plot holes.  In technical writing it might be adding material that isn't relevant, or glossing over (or even missing out) important steps in a process.  For that reason I had my manuscript edited.  Because of the editing and feedback process the manuscript had been through with the writing group, I was fairly confident I had the big picture, structure, plot etc. covered okay, and so I asked for a copy edit, covering typos and grammar, and only comments on structure if the editor noticed any major inconsistencies. 

I have absolutely no skills as a graphic designer/artist, and so I asked a fellow writer, Bev, who is also a photographer and has designed other book covers, to work on mine.

With a book cover, the manuscript edited and read (several times!), and feeling as confident as a perfectionist can ever feel that it is finished, I was ready to get to grips with turning it into an ebook.

How Much Is Enough?

When it comes to editing, how much should you do before you let go?

This is mostly a rhetorical question, but feel free to voice your thoughts.

I know I have perfectionist tendencies, though not necessarily perfectionist skills.  For the technical writing projects I do there is always a deadline.  That is fortunate or I would never finish a project (and therefore never get paid), as I always feel there is room for improvement.  But when it comes to my writing, I either don't have a deadline, or it's a self-imposed one, and so not quite as real.

Too few edits and the work is not a complete package, but can there be too many edits?  And if there are, then what is the magic number?

I have a feeling there is no magic number, or rather that the magic number is different for each writer, and probably different for each novel.  I hope that the partially complete first draft of my next novel will ultimately need less edits than Lives Interrupted, but we shall see.

Over Writing

I’m an over writer.  When I finished the first draft of my present manuscript it was around 110,000 words - now after a few edits it is significantly less.

Someone else told me they need to write themselves into a novel, and subsequently delete much of the first couple of chapters.

As with everything else, we all do things differently and need to find our own way.  Much of my over-writing tends to be repetition, and not just repeated words, or even sentences.  In my first drafts I can often find three paragraphs saying the same thing, and then there is the obvious element of backstory.  This and more is deleted in later drafts, leaving me then worrying whether I’m going to have any words left!

Realising I’m an over writer in fiction was an interesting revelation for me, as in business writing I tend to a minimalist bulletpoint style.

In contrast to the (relatively) sprawling nature of a novel, I do enjoy the constraints involved in writing to a word limit, especially flash fiction.

Here is one of mine from a while ago.

'I've been sitting here for eternity. Pretending. Passing time. We both know, but can't look each other in the eye. You used to carry me on your shoulders and now you struggle to breathe. I don't want you to go, and yet I can hardly bear to stay.'

My Latest Edit

Over the past three days I’ve read through the latest version of Lives Interrupted.  I’ve lost count of the number of complete edits I’ve done on this manuscript.  Some have been multiple sweeps going through for specific items (weak words, deepening character in dialogue, etc.), others to make sure the plot holds together, and things happen when they are supposed to.  Here are links on my editing process if you're interested - Big Picture - here - here, and finally here.  Some are obviously less work intensive than others.

I was hoping this would be a final read-through.  Did you pick up a clue in that sentence?

Now I’ve finished this particular edit, I'm happy there were fewer changes than in previous ones, though unfortunately a few too many for me to say this was the last edit. 

There is an interesting post from Janice Hardy on the subject of making things worse when editing.  I’ve found a few instances of this: some of sloppy cutting or pasting where a stray word gets left in, or moved to the wrong place, and others where I realise that in changing a sentence I’ve now used a word that is in the next/previous paragraph.  Grrr is this task ever finished?

I can see I’ll be reading out loud again next weekend!

Editing Out Loud

I’ve been listening to an audio book this week.  It’s actually a book I read a few years ago, so although I’m familiar with the general story outline there are parts I had forgotten.  While listening I’ve noticed a few slips in POV, and for me, this has reinforced the benefits of reading out loud when editing.

It never ceases to amaze me how reading out loud emphasises the over-use of a word, ambiguous pronouns, POV slips, clunky sentences, and much more.  All these things are harder to spot when you read your own work silently.  They are easy to pick up in someone else’s writing, but we become so familiar with the words we’ve written it’s harder to ‘see’ things that need changing.

If you’ve never tried editing out loud, give it a go.