The Edit Process--Not a Pain but an Opportunity

On an author loop I'm on, Tymber Dalton posted this reply to a new author who was discouraged over her first round of edits. I loved her reply so much that I asked if I could use it on my blog. Well, great minds think alike, and she'd already posted it to her blog.

If edits are getting you down, read Tymber's The Edit Process: of Tires and Pastry Chefs:

http://writeyourassoff.blogspot.com/2011/09/edit-process-of-tires-and-pastry-chefs.html

You'll find Tymber's take on editing encouraging and entertaining.

I Want to Write That Kind of Book

As I was doing my final edit on the last 40 pages of Fourth and Goal before submitting it to a publisher, I came to one poignant scene that actually brought tears to my eyes. As I finished the scene and pulled myself together, I thought: Wow, I hope it affects readers as much as it affects me.

I started thinking about books that strike an emotional chord in the reader and how rare they are anymore. Fifteen to twenty years ago, it seemed as if you could read that kind of book on a regular basis. Now, I might read one “can’t put down” book" a year.

If my perception isn’t skewed, then what happened to create this problem? Do writers not write as well as they once did? Do they not put their heart and soul into each book? Has it become too much of a money-making business and less of a creative endeavor.

Maybe it's all of the above and more. I believe the pressure to produce has caused authors to write a technically good book, but often it has no soul. The characters don’t come to life and become your closest friends for the brief time you spend in their lives and their heads. You don’t root for them, cry for them, rejoice with them. You might enjoy the story. In fact, you might enjoy it so much you’ll buy more books by the author, yet it still lacks something. Have we, as readers, created this problem by clamoring for more and more books by our favorite author? Have we inadvertently caused the publication of soulless books? Because in the pressure to produce, a writer doesn’t have time to develop and explore their characters, really get to know them, and give them life.

Many authors I’ve loved over the years are now producing dull, shallow books with characters I don’t remember for five minutes let alone a lifetime. As a reader, I’d rather read one exceptional book a year by my favorite author that read three or four forgettable novels.

All I know is I want to write the kind of book that stays with people, the book they read over and over again with the characters they remember fondly like the childhood friend who moved away. Perhaps, crying when reading my own scene is a step in the right direction.

Fingernails on The Blackboard

There are two words that writers often use that make me cringe like fingernails on a blackboard: Muse and Polish.

"Muse" is just one of those words I don't like. I'm not really sure why. I only know that there isn't a little person sitting on my shoulder or in my subconscious that tells me when it's in the mood to write. I choose to write or not to write. I'm either in the mood or not.

"Polish" elicits more of a personal reaction. I think New York Times Bestselling Author Lori Foster said it best, and I hope she doesn't mind me quoting her:

"My feeling is that if you polish a book too much, it'll be flat and shiny and smooth--and not too interesting. It's the little pits and bumps and whatnot that show voice and make a book unique from all the other super shiny, flat surfaces."

Back when I was starting to write for publication, I would edit my books until there was no life left in them. They'd be technically correct but boring. Finally, Lucy Monroe, a member of my local RWA chapter, pointed out to me that I was one of those people that should only do a few edits. The more I edited, the more I wrote my voice out of my story. Then I received further proof that "polish" is not a good thing for me to do. On a whim (something I do a lot), I had sent three chapters of a WIP to 3 agents. Those chapters had not been edited at all. I had 2 requests for fulls. If you're not a writer, believe me when I say that requests for fulls from good agents are a big deal. Unfortunately and the moral of the story, I didn't have the rest of the book written. ;) I won't do that again, and that's the subject for another blog.

What are your "blackboard" words?

That Special Manuscript

Recently, I pulled my first complete manuscript out of mothballs. The last edit date on this MS was March/April of 2003. I wanted to submit it to my publisher, but I knew it needed a lot of editing before I could do that. I finished that edit this afternoon, three weeks and 97,000 words later.

It's amazing what time can do for a person's perspective. I was so in love with my words when I wrote that story. To the point where I would state the same thing several different times because I thought my text was just too clever. This time around, I'm deleting stuff left and right without giving them another thought.

I also didn't give my readers enough credit. I'd explain every move a character made, instead of trusting the reader to figure it out, a common newbie mistake (not that I don't still make them, but they're not as blatant).

Yet, this MS will always hold a special place in my heart. At one time, I'd poured myself into this story so deeply that I felt what the characters felt. As I was editing the last few chapters, I found myself tearing up. I'm not sure that the writing was that good, but I loved these characters with all their emotional hangups and vulnerabilities.

This was the story that gave me the confidence to pursue writing on a more professional level, rather than dabble in it for pure entertainment and/or as a hobby.

Now that I'm done, I know I need to get on with my WIP, which is 3/4 done, and by far the best thing I've written to date. Yet, I'm sad to say goodbye to these characters because they are so near and dear to me.

This particular story may never see the light of day, but it will always hold a special place in my heart.