The Writer's Connection, ^SM
a publication of The Virtual Writing Coach ^SM
 

 

"The Creative Process of Writing is a
Liberating and Therapeutic Experience"
 
www.virtualwritingcoach.com

September 2004
 
In This Issue:
 
1. Preview

4. Getting into Action
 

 

1. Preview
 
The Writer's Connection ^SM explores the creative process of writing and the interplay between thoughts, feelings, and actions. We are an interactive community of authors and readers who share ideas to enhance our knowledge, skills, and experiences in writing fiction in any genre, but our emphasis remains mystery and suspense thrillers.
Published monthly, the Newsletter offers writing tips for authors, coaching suggestions, editing, and marketing information.
 
Topics are presented from the perspective of Keith Barton and represent only his ideas on producing your first manuscript, and are provided to the general public. Because we are an interactive community of writers, other viewpoints are welcomed and may be printed in future monthly newsletters with permission from Keith Barton.
2. Publisher's Note
 
September, 2004
 
Dear Writer's Connection ^SM Subscriber,
 
This month features advice for editing your writing.
 
3. Editing:  Are we having fun yet?
 
Editing is much different than the creation of your story. You've already put your manuscript aside and basked under the sun, delighted that you have finished your first novel. Dreams of a best seller and speaking tours aside, you eventually must get down to the business of "editing your baby." This is not a fun job, to say the least, but an important writer's tool. Don't be fooled by others who call themselves "book doctors" to do the editing for you. Besides the simple grammatical mistakes not caught by your spell check, you will notices tiny flaws in character development, timelines, plot pacing, etc. This is not evident in the first draft unless you work from a highly evolved outline, but most writers write on the fly and worry about the edits later. I prefer this method, especially for thrillers because second-guessing yourself on the first draft takes away from the creativity and passion driving your story.
 
Now for some basics:  It's best to work from your word processing program because of ease of deleting, adding, and moving material. Most of your edits will be deletions, especially adverbs, run-on sentences, and stilted dialogue. You'll be surprised but you will delete about fifteen percent of your manuscript. Much of this material is "filler" and adds nothing to the storyin fact, it is distracting and annoying to the reader and slows down the pacing. Next, you will discover inconsistencies in your timelinesan event that was to take place Tuesday morning on page 126 suddenly is followed twenty pages later by an important precursor to the event on Thursday morning. Not only will you insult your readers, but the word, amateurish comes to mind. When you're setting up your plot, be careful to check your timeframes. An example follows to prove my point. In my second novel, Camouflage, I arranged for an escape from the prison using scuba gear. The equipment was conveniently aboard the boat that was moored twenty yards from shore, but I had forgotten to place the gear in the boat on my first draft. My editor caught this (who wouldn't) and I had to quickly add a few sentences to place the gear on the boat before the daring escape. I've also had two different license plate numbers for the same vehicle; this may be a minor point to some, but the sleuth had taken down one plate matching the vehicle and the same vehicle suddenly turns up with another plate three chapters later. I wish I could say that I purposely had the villain change out the plates, but this was sloppy editing.
 
Ask the following questions when editing: (From the Novel Writer's Toolkit by Bob Mayer, Writers Digest Books, 2003)
Is there continuity?
Does the story flow logically?
Do these words have a purpose?
Do they relate to my story?
Should I tell this now, or should some of it wait?
Is my timeline consistent?
Are my characters consistent?
Are my transitions subtle but clear?
Is this section necessary? Can it be cut without affecting the main story?
 
One last, but most important pointremember to put your ego aside when people you trust come back with eleven pages of "suggestions" to improve your manuscript. These folks may be your critique group, editor, agent, or publisher. Although you are the author, you must trust the judgment of professionals who have been at this business of writing much longer than you.
  

4. Getting into Action
 
"Getting in to Action" is a monthly feature of The Writer's Connection ^SM . In this section of our Newsletter, we will discuss action steps the writer can take to improved his/her knowledge base in writing novels.
 
This month's recommendations:
 

 

1. Read another author to study style and story ideas; pay attention to dialogue; it should be snappy and define your characters. A simple "he said or she said" will suffice; forget about adjectives in describing a scene. Let your dialogue carry your scene.
2. Read your story out loud to see if it flows smoothly. Typically stilted dialogue will show up here.
3. Remember your audience (the reader). Don't foreshadow too much of your story and don't lecture the reader. Read some short stories in your genre to check on pacing and transitions.
 
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