Escape With A Writer: self-editing

Showing posts with label self-editing. Show all posts

Saturday, May 16, 2020

Round Robin Blog Fest May 2020

We have a new logo!! Thanks to Connie Vines for her hard work.

Wow, it's been a long couple of months BUT at least I had more time to be part of this blog tour than if I'd been busy at my work office full time instead of working from home! One great thing about all the changes and upheavals we've all faced, it that the arts and entertainment sector is getting a real boost as far as keeping us all occupied. I've even been able to publish a new book in the midst of things. Release date is June 1st for Drop Dead Cowboy!

Today's question to the authors is: All books go through multiple edits. What have you learned are your problems, and what irks you about editing?

I've learned I am passive, repetitive, and wordy. LOL!

Okay, that was the short answer. In truth, like all writers I've come a long way from using mistakes like having hands reaching for objects instead of the character reaching for things. My characters don't roll their eyes in every third paragraph anymore. I've also cut back on my usage of "that" and about a zillion "-ly" words. Yup, those were bad habits. So was my severe overuse of exclamation marks!!!

That's not to say I never use any of those things. When I'm writing in the heat of the moment, all bets are off. Then I put the book aside for a while and when I dig into edits....

Lots of red ink!!

Sometimes those chicken scratches help to clean up the manuscript and tighten up the story.

Sometimes I write copious new sentences only to cross them all out later.

Always editing!

One of the things that helped to shape my writing style, is reading Robert B. Parker. He uses concise language, as well as leaving most of the finicky details to the reader's imagination while weaving a great story.

Repetition is another nemesis. I tend to repeat phrases or words several times on the same page. Sometimes even in the same paragraph. While writing the draft, I tend to write first and think about the grammar later, trying not to edit as I go. Word program usually catches spelling typos, but not always, especially if they're real words or the right word but wrong spelling.

Making sure names and titles are consistent through the entire manuscript is another thing that can cause issues. I've been editing my novel and discovered at one point Jack was called Jake. Hm, forgot to change that a couple times. That's when the Replace features come in handy. I did kick myself though considering this was a second edit. Oh well!

One of the best memories of when I first started writing was of my editor at the time who used to nag me about my use of exclamation marks. Where a single exclamation mark used sparingly in a novel has much more impact and looks far more professional, my first novel was riddled with them. To the point my editor would send me emails that looked like this:

Please!! Stop using so many exclamation marks!!!!! I am sending this back!! Fix it!! I don't want to see another exclamation mark in this or any other copy!!!

I got the hint. I can't even write an email without hearing her voice in the back of my head.

I can't wait to see what editing issues our other authors have dealt with!

And now off to see what my fellow bloggers have to say about humor in their writing...

Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/
Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea
Victoria Chatham http://www.victoriachatham.com
Beverley Bateman http://beverleybateman.blogspot.ca/
Helena Fairfax http://www.helenafairfax.com/blog
Anne Stenhouse http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com/
Anne Stenhouse http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com/
Margaret Fieland http://margaretfieland.wordpress.com
Dr. Bob Rich https://wp.me/p3Xihq-1UN
Rhobin L Courtright http://www.rhobincourtright.com

Friday, March 22, 2019

Round Robin Blog Fest March 2019

Welcome back for another Round Robin Blog Fest!
I'm so happy to have copies of my two newest books now in hand!

It's been a long month for me after having arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn meniscus in my knee at the end of February. After two and a half weeks off work, I'm back on my feet and returned to work this week. Tired and recovering from a cold, I'm ready for a good weekend off. But first....

The question posed for this month's Round Robin Blog Fest is: How do you self-edit your books before submitting or publishing?

The past few years, I've learned a great deal from my agent, my publishers, and my writing group when it comes to editing. I've learned to more or less edit as I go, but usually don't do a solid edit of my own work until I finish at least half a rough draft. From that point, I print a hard copy, edit the first half, then move on to write or fill in the missing pieces of the second half and keep the flow going along smoothly.

Over all, I tend to write in chunks when I get the time and weave those chunks together later. One of the things I have to watch out for is changing tenses. Where some books I write in Third Person, the one I'm currently working on is in First Person.

My biggest quirks I need to watch out for when I edit, aside from the tenses, is to keep my writing active rather than passive, and not to repeat words.

Once I get the whole book together, I give it one last edit and run spellcheck to catch those silly things I may have missed. Then it's off to my agent and/or publisher. Generally, I'll get more edits back from them to tweak the things I missed. Usually, they involve commas because it seems no two editors can agree where the commas should go! Some use the Oxford commas, some despise them.