The craft of writing

 

To paraphrase Emma Darwin, “conscious craft has become intuitive craft” in my own writing.

I noticed when I did my second draft of FRIDAY NIGHT MURDER how often I had filtered the scene through the eyes of my main protagonist. I also noticed how easily I was ripping out the filtering words, without actually thinking about it.

To me this was a sign that I am improving. I also noticed how often I changed -ing endings to -ed endings. I think I even went for direct thought instead of having my chosen character think aloud. Why was he so nervous? Instead of  Jess wondered why he was so nervous.

The third draft suffered more of the same. No doubt one or two examples will have escaped the editing scissors but hey! It is a good step forward, especially since I was doing it without being told to do it or because I’d read an article somewhere.

Editing skills

 It is an interesting experience going back over stories written as long ago as 2014. I realise now that an editor would have been useful then, but I did not have the confidence to approach one. 

Didn't know enough to say if I wanted copy-editing, proof-reading, structural edit or one of the other many "edits" that are offered today. 
I would have learned faster; but in a sense I've done it the hard way - always my path! I've learned by reading, reading about writing and writing, which is never a bad thing and talking to other writers via the internet. also by looking at tv and published stories with a more critical eye. 

Reading about it and never doing it is not going to work. Now I think I've got it; or I've got it as far as I am going to take it. At my age, I'm not going to have forty years to hone my skills further!

Today I am beginning what I hope will be the final edit/run through of my latest work in progress - a further installment in the Matho story. TRIUMPHANT QUEEN  may well be the title, unless I come up with something better. Now as I go through the printed pages with my coloured pens, I spot things much more easily than I used to. Re-arranging sentence so they sound better, collapsing two sentences into one more pithy arrangement; spotting fullstops
and commas lurking in the wrong place and changing singe quotes to double quotes. I've come down on the side of double quotes lately; I just think they look nicer on the page. 

How long will this take me? I'm not sure, especially as I am looking at an earlier story at the same time. Variety is the spice of life, so they say; let's hope that doing two stories at once will prevent the bordeom that comes with doing only one.

Editing and writing - the difference!

Friday 29^th June

Sunshine continues to blast out of a clear blue sky, though when I woke yesterday the world was swathed in mist and I was chortling at the thought of a cool day. By 9.10am the mist had vanished and there was the sun again. My swimming is improving to the point of 14 crossings of the pool while dh lounges on the side counting them off on the fingers of both hands. Nothing to write home about for the excellent swimmers out there, but for me, it’s good!

I’m done with the wip but for the last chapter, and I want to sort out some twists in the storyline before I attempt that. Things grow as you write, don’t they, and a few tweaks are needed to get everything in line. All this exceedingly hot weather means I can concentrate on writing, or rather editing. I need to check for single v double quotes, since I first began this story using single ones and then decided I didn’t like them. Much as it grieves me to agree with any reader of the USA who insists on them, I do find them easier on the eye. (Must be my sight deteriorating as I get older, as I never used to mind which type were used.)

Then there are all the repeated or missed words, typos and most of all correcting any errors in names or facts. One instance of Justin has cropped up already in the first two chapters instead of Jehan, which is the name I finally decided to give my Frenchman. Most of all it is smoothing out the writing, making sure pronouns don’t confuse the action and strengthening the verbs. If I can think of a prettier or more interesting way to say something, I’ll use it. There’s so much to look out for that I do only half a dozen pages in one burst and then do something else for a while. Tim benefits, as that often means walking the dog around the fields and lanes!

Editing

On my first run through of Banners I've cut 21,000 words. Yikes! Taht's a lot of words, but I'm not done yet. I'm half way down the list of  "unnecessary words" and taking out almost every one except where the sense is altered. So often removal of the word means nothing is altered, which is the true mark of an amateur writer. I console myself with the thought that I wrote this at least fifteen years ago, maybe even longer than that. At the writers' meeting on Monday I recevied various suggestions - make it two books being the one I've given the most thought. These days the average word count seems to be 80,000-100,000 and at 147,000 Banners was way too long. Still haven't decided, but the way the word count is whittling down, I don't think I will need to divide the book. Other suggestions were to revamp the whole thing - title, cover and interior, so now I'm scratching my head about new titles. Incorporating the words "duke" or "you, me and us" won't quite work for something set in 1034AD. 

My worst fault was adjectives, over describing, and trying to report every little action. If I remember correctly I used "laugh" 141 times, and removed most of them, so  when I read through again I'll find my characters a serious lot who never smile. "Turned" is not on my list of unnecessary words, but I think it should be and I shall certainly add it. Many sentences were pedestrian, often beginning with a pronoun or name and some were so close to repetition that I removed them. Editing teaches an author a lot about writing. Those authors who rely on an editor to smarten their work - do they learn more easily when someone tells them what to add or remove? I suspect that doing it yourself is the more effective process.  


Once I've completed the unneccessary word list, it will be time to read it through and see if I've left any glaring holes which will need a newpiece of writing. I also need to conside if the story hangs together as it should.  I thought I had omitted to mention the king's death, but yesterday found the scene where his death is reported, so that worry has gone. It is such a long time since I worked on this story that it feels quite new and a little unfamiliar. An odd feeling to have when I wrote it!

Banners and book promo

My watch tells me it is 29th February, but I know it is the 1st March. I shall struggle for ages to alter my watch. It is one of the things I happily hand over to dh, who manages it with no trouble whatsoever, but for me, it is like those child-proof pill bottles and  every other kitchen and bathroom appliance that employs such caps and tops. No child is going to get into them, and neither are many women and men who don't have the requisite finger strength. Old people don't have a hope. Do the manufacturers and designers ever think of this?

It is a bright frosty morning outside, with a sunshine and a blue sky, so the moment my post-shower hair is dry enough, I shall head for the great outdoors. Then I shall be concentrating on editing Banners of Alba when I return. I was surprised to see it was published ten years ago at 147,000 words, so now I'm aiming to bring it down by forty or fifty thousand. Quite a task, and much editing as I go. Reassuring in a way, in that I can so quickly see where I need to make alterations, which  proves I must have learned something in the last decade.

I'm finding it good fun to make up these little banners to use in promo on Twitter and Facebook.

I'm sure people get bored with seeing the same cover photos at full size which are pushed out everyday - and yes, that's what I used to do - but now I find these little chaps and chappesses much more user friendly.

But first of all I need to try and make some alteration to my Microsoft Outlook account in order to stop it periodically deleting all my e-mails.

Editing blues and Silverwood

Still editing hard. It's a drag as it takes so long, but  - just to be contrary - I quite enjoy it.
It is satisfying to improve something, because once it is published and someone - me, anyone - discovers a mistake or a typo, then it is mortifying, and not easy to rectify. Much easier to catch all the errors at the editing stage. 

I especially want it finished before the end of the week as we are zooming off for a few days away catching the sea breezes, and I don't plan to lug a laptop with me. So, I'll have to keep plugging away until I get it done.

Just when I was planning to upload  my book to Kindle in the very near future, the download version of Build Your Book for Kindle refuses to download. I've had it on my pc since 2012 and used it several times, but now, for some strange reason, it has gone  baulky and sticks at 95%. Infuriating. I'll just keep trying it and see if it untangles itself soon. 

Out of curiosity I opened the post that came unsolicited from Silverwood Book Publishing. They offer to publish my book for me, for a small cost. There are three options, Bronze, Silver and Gold. I clicked on Bronze and was surprised to find that the package would cost me £999. Good grief. I opened the Silver option and my eyes opened wide - the cost is £1,999. Good grief again! How many aspiring authors can afford those sort of prices? There must be some, otherwise Silverwood Books wouldn't be in business, but really - how many copies would you have to sell to  pay for the package? Would you ever get into profit? I doubt it. 
PS I didn't bother opening the gold option. 

Final check.

Easter has come and gone and the cul de sac is quiet. So many people have gone on holiday it is amazing. We stagger on, weeding the garden if it is sunny, hiding indoors if it is not.
DH contemplates mowing the front lawn but no decision has been made as yet. Grocery shopping has been accomplished, so the fridge/freezer are stocked again. We shall not starve!
True to form, one of my teeth began to ache as soon as it was certain the dentist would have locked up and gone home for a well-earned rest. I begin to think this toothache is psychosomatic as it always acts up when I can't reach any help - Christmas, hols in France, now Easter.

Editing is just about done. I'm thinking about THE QUEEN'S COURIER as a title, but am still trying to dream up a better one. This is the second story about Matho and his adventures as newly established courier. I suppose technically it is the third story about him, because he first figured in FAIR BORDER BRIDE alongside Harry and Alina, though in a minor role. It has rolled in at almost 94,000 words though at one stage before editing it was about 104,000. I think that means I'm getting better at editing! A few little tweaks, then print out and read through as a final check.

Third Edit

I'm well on the way with editing The Queen's Courier for the third time. The end is in sight, which gives me the energy to carry on, because editing takes so much more energy than writing.  Instead of enjoying getting the story down the best way I can, my critical sense has to work overtime and spending too much time at it makes my brain hurt! It is demanding, tiresome and so necessary.

Have I weeded out all those unnecessary words like "almost, just, felt," and the rest? Yes. The book is at least 500 words shorter because of that exercise. Have I checked for formatting errors, like repeated chapters - I don't know how that happens, but it has, occasionally - indentation slip ups, font size changes, or even worse - heaven forbid - Font changes. Yes, and many more. I have to be extra careful about a missing v - my keyboard refuses to print a v unless I hit it really hard, so every now and then I get eery instead of every.  Most annoying. (And yes, I've tried several times to clean out whatever it is that stops it working. Possibly dog hair, or my hair curled around the spring. or whatever it is that makes it work. The fault certainly isn't anything visible)

Then there are the ungrammatical sentences. How could I have written such a thing? But I did and it must go. Either that or it needs to be assimilated into another sentence. Reading back like this, I can see where one sentence will do the job of two, and do it so much better - and sometimes, more gracefully. If only I had seen it on the first draft!

POV slips have been my major bugbear on this wip. I've intensified the use of Deep Third for each character, though there are times when it is inappropriate, such as opening new chapters or scenes. Then the scene must be set and that is hard to do unless the readers can relax knowing you have only one character - and how rare is that? I've decided I'm not altogether a fan of Deep Third anyway, and perhaps won't use it again.

Best of all are the deletions. Repetitions, saying the same thing three chapters apart, info dumps, backstory that isn't required - they all go. I'm maybe six or seven thousand words lighter now than when I began this last edit, so that is all to the good.

PS I apologise to the people who read my last post before I checked it over and corrected all the mistakes!

Rain, editing, dentists and holidays

 The rain goes on. We don't go for walks any more, Tim and I - we go for a splodge. Wellies a necessity, rain proof clothing a boon and off we go. In a strange way it is invigorating, and we can always come back to  nice warm house and a cup of coffee.
Good weather for editing, I hear you say. Well, yes, and I am. But I've found that I can only do so much before the eyes glaze over and I've stopped - the critical faculty ceases to operate. So at the same time as editing the beginning of the book Queen's Courier (the sequel to Abduction of the Scots Queen) I'm seeing the last few chapters through the critique group. This might sound as if it would be confusing, but it has advantages as well because each edit deepens the characterisation - or I hope it does - and refines the plotting. Working at both ends of the book means I am familiar with it in a way I wouldn't be if I was working from a-z each time.

This week I've had lots of dental visits, too. Three in a week is too much for comfort or a good night's sleep, but hopefully the root canal and the abscess are now history and I can banish the Paracetomols to the back of the drawer again.

Another good thing - we've started to think about holidays in France and possibly a week in Kielder Forest before the midgies emerge - and that means pre-May. They're nice thoughts to curl up with as I glance out of the window and contemplate the third walk of the day with Tim. Wish me luck - it's raining again.

To edit or not to edit?

I knew it couldn't last. Our beautiful sunny days have gone, and we've got dank, dismal weather now. Though it is not particularly cold. That must be still in the pipeline.  So, time to get down to work. There's housework, of course. There always is, but I prefer to save that up and do it in huge blasts - then I can see where I've been!

Instead, let me think aloud about the current craze in self-publishing, which is that we should get our stories professionally edited before we self-publish. I wonder if that is strictly true, or is it simply another bandwagon? I sit here and think back over the freebies I've downloaded from Amazon and I have to agree that  yes, many of them would have benefitted from editorial skills. That isn't to say that it would have made the stories any better, but it would have made them more readable.

On the other hand, if English is your subject at university level, and you've read all your life; if you are happy to consult Fowler or Quirk now and then for the correct style rule - or perhaps Lynne Truss these days - do you really need it? Some of these editors charge as much as £800 or £900 for 100k manuscripts. That's a lot of dosh to pay out.

In a way it is akin to putting a new type of barrier in front of wannabee authors, few of whom can afford such fees. If you self-edit your own work five or six times over a space of months, surely you can catch the errors? Sometimes Amazon software puts a glitch in the work, too. I know I downloaded and  "proofread" one of my self-published books just to see how it came out, spotted an error and went back to my original only to find it error-free at that point. I'm not trying to claim my work is perfect, far from it. But in that instance, the error came from the software. Presumably if you paid for editing, that sort of glitch could still occur.

One aspect of having an editor work with me that appeals is having them comment on the storyline, characters, etc. Now that sort of editing may well persuade me to try it.