To edit or not to edit?

by Carysa Locke

This is a question I have seen bandied about writer’s forums, groups, and pretty much anywhere authors gather. Editing is a huge piece of publishing our work, and hiring an editor can often be the most expensive preparation for publishing. It is no mystery why many authors seek a less expensive option to fill this need. For me, though, a copy editor is worth their weight in gold.

I use three words a lot in my writing: finally, quietly and slowly. I kind of knew this but didn’t really know it until my copy editor included a note when she returned my latest manuscript: You use these three words a lot. You should think about other ways to say these things. This was one of those light bulb craft moments for me. 

I went through my manuscript and removed nearly every instance that used one of these words. Most of the time, it was completely unnecessary and in fact, disrupted the flow. It was a change that I felt elevated my writing to a higher level. Not only did it help me remove pesky adverbs that didn’t need to be there, but it changed how I was handling my dialogue tags. Many of them just weren’t needed.

Thankfully, this happened before the work in question went up for publication. I sent my copy editor a note, thanking her profusely for pointing out the issue. We all have –isms. Things in our writing that we tend to do particularly in a first draft, which we may not catch on our own when we revise. Some of these –isms speak to style, and some of them, like in this case, are just a thing that needs to be brought to our attention, so we can become more aware of it and fix it.

A lot of other writers may think I waste a lot of time sending out for edits and then going through and checking each one, deciding whether to keep it or leave things the way they are. For me, though, it will always be a part of my writing process. Hopefully, the next manuscript my copy editor goes through will come back a new note for me. Something I can learn from.  

*****

 

Pre-order link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BAC847M/

Pirate Bound:

A desperate gamble… 

Sanah would do anything to protect her little sister, even if it means taking refuge with ruthless pirates. But the psychically Talented pirates terrorizing Commonwealth space are not quite the monsters she has been led to believe. When Sanah's empathic gift shows her the truth behind the stories, she is no longer certain who the villains are in her world. 

A race on the verge of extinction… 

Dem’s only goal is to protect his people, especially since a deadly bio-weapon decimated their population. Only a handful of women survived, and every day is a fight to rebuild. With Sanah’s empathy and her sister’s rare ability to heal, they could be the salvation Dem and his people have been looking for.  

A dangerous secret that could destroy everything… 

But how can Sanah trust Dem with her life? Especially when he’d kill her if he knew the truth.

Guest Post - PK Hrezo - Editing

Editing

 

by PK Hrezo

When I first started out writing novels, I knew very little about story editing. It wasn’t til someone pointed out my sloppy style that I realized I had fewer skills than I thought. You mean there’s more to writing stories than just making stuff up??

Oy. Totally clueless.

I bought my first writing guides ever: Self Editing for Fiction Writers, and The First Five Pages. And boy did my writerly world shift. That was about five years ago. Since then, I’ve devoured multiple writing guides, written seven novel length stories, and exchanged critiques with some very talented authors. This has helped me develop the editing methods I use today.

Most of you probably have your own methods by now, but it’s always interesting to see how others work, and adapt new techniques here and there. I draft fast, without looking back (as tempting as it is) and wait a bit before reading what I’ve got. For my first read-through, I use Word so I can clean up sentences here and there while I focus on plot, characterization, and big story issues.

Afterwards, I leave it alone for a few days, then send it to my Kindle and read it as I would any story I just downloaded. This is the biggest help to me. I catch so many things I didn’t see the first time around. If you can’t send it to a tablet, change the font on your manuscript and re-read it that way.

I have checklists I use after this second round of edits, and I’ll leave you one of them at the bottom of this post. After using these checklists to dig deeper into my story and characters, I go back through the story again and deepen the point of view, weed out extra words and flowery prose, and add as much voice as I can to mundane sentences.

Then, it’s off to my trusty CPs, and later, to various beta readers. I try to find at least one new beta reader for each new story. Fresh eyes are extremely helpful. I should add, I do my own editing, but I did hire a proof-reader for my self-published book, Butterman (Time) Travel, Inc. My CPs are very skilled and amazing at what they do, so I really get the benefit of a content editor when they read my work.

With sci-fi stories, as you know, there’s an extra element for consistencies and technology plausibility, so I also seek out scientific-minded beta readers to pick out any issues there.

In regards to setting, since that’s a big element in sci-fi, here’s some food for thought: How does the setting affect your character’s movements and experiences? Have you revealed the setting through character reaction, instead of simply describing it? Try having your characters manhandle the props to enhance the setting as well as character emotion.

Here’s a story checklist I acquired from somewhere on the Web, so I apologize for not being able to give credit to who it came from. These are valuable points of interest:

1. How can I make the protagonist likeable or at least relatable?

2. Are both the protagonist and the antagonist extraordinary in some way?

3. Do they both care passionately about something?

4. Is what they care about at the heart of their opposition?

5. Is the antagonist just as strong or even stronger than the protagonist and just as compelling or intriguing?

6. Do all the main characters have genuine flaws and eccentricities?

7. Is there opposition between what the protagonist wants, her external goal, and what she needs, her internal goal?

8. Is the protag going to experience a change of fortune: from good fortune to bad, from bad fortune to good, from good to bad to good, from bad to good to bad?

9. How can I use the setting and season to make the situation worse for the protag?

10. How can I make the setting more interesting and challenging?

11. Are the protag and antag struggling within a situation readers haven't seen before?

12. How can I elevate the concept?

13. What extra coolness factor can I add?

14. What twist can I add to make this unusual?

15. Are there logical connections between characters, plot, and theme(s)?

16. Is the theme universal?

17. Does the protag's struggle exploit a universal fear?

18. Are there high stakes--terrible consequences--if the protag fails?

19. Does she have to make an impossible choice or sacrifice that will make her pay personally before she can win against the antag?

20. How can I provide a test at the beginning of the manuscript to show off the trait the protag needs to change before she can win?

21. What makes her the way she is, and how can I show that to make her initial failure understandable and relatable?

22. How can I make the stakes even higher at every turning point while keeping them relatable?

23. Have I got enough of a coolness or fun factor in the mid section to sell the premise and carry the second act?

24. How do I keep the protag in conflict between two emotions so she has to fight to resolve her feelings?

25. How can I exploit the situation and main conflict to force the characters to make active choices?

26. How can I limit each of the character’s choices to force them to choose between something bad and something worse, force them into bad decisions, or push them into doing what they least want to do?

27. How can I make characters behave in the most unexpected way that fits within their motivation, personality type, and background?

28. How do I introduce a new conflict before resolving an existing one?

29. What danger can I keep threaten, what information can I promise, what expected emotional crisis, confrontation, loss, or decision can I foreshadow to keep the reader eager to read?

30. How can I push an expected outcome into an unexpected direction?

31. Before the climax, how do I make it clear why the antagonist is the way he is, and how do I make him sympathetic?

32. How can I apply lessons the protag has learned and show her character growth in the climax in a way that will echo the test she failed at the beginning?

33. How do I make it clear enough why she has changed enough to choose differently than she did in the initial test?

34. Can I make every conflict in a subplot real and hard to overcome?

35. How do I resolve all the subplots and weave them together more tightly?

36. How do I show the arcs for each of the main characters?

37. How do I most smoothly deliver all the missing information before the climax scene?

38. How can I the climax the toughest challenge in the manuscript?

39. How can I make the resolution truly satisfying?

40. How do I make sure I've kept my covenant with the reader?

If you need more checklists or worksheets, let me know and I’d be happy to forward them on. I’ve collected quite a few over the years.

I’ve also found that reading a very well written novel prior to going through final edits on my story, helps me really put on the polish and make it shine.

How about you? Any tried and true techniques you’d like to share on editing?

PK Hrezo is the author of Butterman (Time) Travel, Inc., a new adult sci-fi romance, and Fearless Fiction blogger at http://pk-hrezo.blogspot.com

She can be found on Twitter at @pkhrezo

And Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/authorpkhrezo

Writing Workshop - Choosing Your Storyteller

Points of View in Writing, by C.E. Kilgore

So, you have your story plotted out, your character sheets prepped and your universe building on its way. Looks like you are just about ready to start writing a great SFR! 

Hold on a sec – I hate the stop you when you're about to get started, but there is still an important decision to make. Which of your fantastic characters is going to tell this story you have rolling around in your head?

Who you decide to tell your story can make a huge difference in how your story unfolds and how your readers are able to connect to it. For example, you may have a group of space rebels fighting against a tyrannical overlord. If you choose to tell the tale through the overlord’s perspective, well – that would certainly create a different tale than if you had chosen the captain of the rebel space cruiser, right?

Ah! You say you are writing in the third, so you can give an objective point of view? It’s true that when you write in third objective, you can head-hop around from point of view to point of view, but you need to still choose a focus. In SFR, this is typically the two protagonists. If you try to give too many points of view, you  risk muddling your story and exhausting the reader. You also need to choose a main point of view. This will give your story impact, allow the reader to create an emotional connection to the story and pick a team to root for.

When you are writing in the first person, choosing your point of view becomes a critical decision. A common tactic in romance is to perspective-hop in a see-saw fashion, alternating the chapters from one perspective to the other. So, if your love interests are a space captain for the rebel alliance and a commander for the imperial fleet, you would have one chapter in the captain’s perspective and the next chapter in the commander’s perspective – and then repeat this alternation every chapter.

If, however, you want to tell your first-person story without alternating, then you have to really think about which character you want your audience to connect with. Do you want to tell the story of the captain fighting for her beliefs while she falls heads over heels for a stubborn commander? Or, would you rather tell the story of a powerful commander who has to question his own imperial system as his heart begins beating for the beautifully strong rebel captain?

Hint – there is no wrong answer. 

It’s a personal choice, but you should consider who is best to tell the story. Are there certain goals or ideals you want the reader to understand? Is your chosen point of view unique, or has it been done a million times? Is your chosen point of view something that the reader will be able to relate to and connect with?  

With my own series, I use third person, but each book chooses two main points of focus. I do include side chapters that give the story from an alternate perspective, but I keep the focus of the story on the two main characters. This wasn't always easy, as my series are character-driven stories. 

Choosing who gets to have their say and who has to remain on the sidelines is never easy, but it's important to keep your story tight and let your main characters shine.  

To see how I chose to handle my storytelling points of view, you can download a free copy of Ghost In The Machine (Click Here) 

__________________________________________

C.E. Kilgore is a self-published author of Space Opera and Contemporary Romance. Check her out on her website, cekilgore.com, Facebook or Twitter. She is always open to questions about writing and self-publishing. For self-publishing help, check our her blog, TracingTheStars.com

SciFiMagpie--Editing Tips and a Free Book

Hello hello!

My name is Michelle Browne. I'm a member of the SFRB, and I'm not just a writer--I also edit! Today, I'd like to share some tips about exposition and world-building. Not rushing through the first chapter is vitally important if you're trying to sustain your readers' attention. Let's talk about why.

In addition, you ought to know that one of my books, The Underlighters, is free on Amazon from today to October 31, 2013! Be sure to have a look when you need a break from writing.

All right! So--how do you establish a setting for your readers without cramming too much information down their throats?

World-building: historical and scientific details

In the manuscripts that cross my desktop, I often find myself cutting and paring away chunks of exposition or blatant references to specialized knowledge. Science and history tend to be the most common focal points for these. It’s important to avoid barraging your readers with details from your research, because rather than adding realism, it tends to kill the flow.

For instance, take the following paragraph.

“Alex crossed the historic Rue d’Day Street, home to the Molkovian revolution in 1985. As he walked into the café, he admired the many posters of Herr Somerfeldt, the Molkovian revolution’s leader. He sneered in disgust as two Kratzenofficers munched their pastries and loudly complained about the posters. Alex, being a zunterfeldt—a half-Molkovian--had a degree of protection under the law, but not enough to get away with much. He accepted his anchovy cappuccino and walked out, keeping his head down.”

First of all, the pacing in this paragraph is off. The description is rushed, and historical name-checks substitute for actual use of imagery. What does the street look like? Are there lots of people on it? A mere line or two could tell us more than the name-checks.

Then, when we discover Alex is a zunterfelt, we get a line of info-dump. Instead of having the narrator mention this, we should show it. Here is a revision that still makes use of the historical touch-stones, but doesn’t force the research down your throat quite as ostentatiously.

“Alex scuttled across the Rue d’Day. The grand street was lined with old buildings and bustling with citizens. The glass storefronts were loaded with choice pastries, couture fashion, and sparkling jewelry, but Alex kept his eyes on the café.

He walked through the door, the bell’s harsh voice jarring his thoughts. A couple of Kratzenofficers munched their pastries in the corner. As he waited for his anchovy cappuccino, he could feel their eyes drilling into his back. A zunterfeldt like him couldn’t take any chances with bad behavior. From the ceiling, Herr Somerfeldt watched benevolently. He took reassurance in the long-dead revolutionary’s smile, but darted out, cappuccino in hand, without a word to any of them.”

The same holds true for scientific information. If we get a long scene where characters vomit information at each other, the reader will usually become bored and distracted by technical details rather than focusing on what the technology does. Remember, actions speak louder than exposition, and imagery is more important than a user manual. Use emotions to underline information’s importance, and try to work it into the atmosphere of the piece. Information alone doesn’t generate an atmosphere.

Furthermore, make sure the information is actually vital. Are you going to reveal it later? Will the reader’s understanding of something truly suffer if it’s not there? Worse—is the information killing the action, or even giving away a future plot point?

While exceptions to this rule do exist, and examples of breaking it abound, keep in mind that info-dumps of research are still a bad habit. Sure, there are times when info is engaging, but the closer to the middle you present the info, and the smaller the chunks, the happier your readers will be. Research, like other forms of exposition, should be a treat—salt the text with them, but don’t overdo it. After all, too much salt causes hypertension and high blood pressure, and too much exposition has the same effect on your editor. For readers, it can be a soporific. Don’t put your readers to sleep.

*****

Hungry for more? Want to see world-building in action? Don't forget to check out The Underlighters, free from October 29-31, 2013. 

Nightmares are bleeding into her waking world. Children are going missing. To save them, she must overcome her wreck of a personal life and a closet full of skeletons. She doesn’t know whether the horrors in the shadows are real...or if she is going mad. 

18-year-old Janelle Cohen is an electrician in an underground city. The world above has been swal-lowed by mind-destroying Dust. Her small life changes forever when a dragon attacks her on the way home from work. 

Her friends worry that she has the Fever, Dust-induced insanity. A terrifying trip to the surface of the world, the ancient and abandoned Up, deepens the nightmare. With no world left above, she and the other Crows cannot afford to fail… 

5 stars: “…You will be rewarded with a dive into the depths of imagination that may leave you questioning, breathless and inspired.” –www.TracingTheStars.com

5 stars: “… Engaging, ground breaking prose that is not afraid to test the reader’s boundaries. “—Sara Celi

5 stars: “…A wonderful read that is full of life, nightmares, fear, and dreams.” –Casey Peeler

*****

Thanks for dropping by the nest once again. Don't miss any of the phuquerie. Find Michelle on Twitter, Facebook, and on Tumblr. This is your darling SciFiMagpie, over and out! 

ONLINE CLASS: The Art of Critique TODAY!

New Class: The Art of Critique today!

It’s time to step up to the big time—getting critiqued and giving critiques as a professional writer.

In this class, we’ll look at the attendees’ manuscripts/WIPS, learning how to analyze a story on different levels. WIPs are expected to be shared with the class for discussion. We’ll have guest speakers as well as contests and prizes.

When you apply for the class, tell them Alley sent ya.

Go here to register: http://www.fthrw.com/workshops/wkshop_2013_02.php

Questions? email me: Pat.Hauldren (at) tx.rr. com