 For Authors: May 02, 2012 Issue [#5027] |
  For Authors
This week: Edit Thyself Edited by: KimChi  
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| Hello, I'm Kimchi. Here I hope to share tips on the art and craft of writing, from idea to implementation, from editing to submission. Have an idea for a topic, tricks for phrasing? All suggestions are welcome. |
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Edit Thyself - Three Steps
If you're like most people you can spy someone else's comma splice from 100 feet away, but rebuilding a single paragraph of your own work requires 2 pots of coffee and 8 chewed pencils. (Or maybe that's just me?)
Editing your own work will always be, well, hard work. Or at least harder than ripping into someone else's work. It's difficult to roll up the mental blueprint of what we want our story or book to be and focus on the physical structure of what it actually is. We're too close to the situation.
Learning to correct our mistakes is integral to writing well; a lifetime process of recognizing the repeated errors and stale themes and repairing them. Editing yourself is vital to those seeking publication. While an editor or reader gives suggestions, the author is the only person who can mold his ephemeral idea into a universe teeming with unique characters. He needs to know how to spot a cliche and vary the rhythm of a sentence in addition to proofreading for mechanical errors.
Following is an overview of my system of editing merely as an example. In future issues we can explore each step in more detail.
1) Judgment
How do you know if your work is "good" unless you give it a grade? Pick any system you prefer; WDC's 1-5 stars, the grammar school A-F, or a percentage. If your story is not perfect (and it won't be on the first edit) you'll need to find out where the item needs tweaking. I find it easier to "see" my errors by putting on a teacher's cap and using concrete numbers for analysis.
An example of my grading sheet (coopted from an editor friend):
Character - 0-2
Originality/creativity - 0-2
Plot - 0-2
Conflict - 0-2
Dialogue - 0-2
Not only do I get an overall idea of how much work my story needs on a scale of 1-10, but I can also pinpoint where it needs editing. Note there is no category for technique, grammar, etc. not only because it's the last step of the process but also because editors expect a certain level of professionalism in submitted stories.
2) Create a process
This is the hard part, but you only have to do it once. Ideally the finished product can be used on every new story to find the sticking points. The main idea is to create a system that works with your style while pinpointing your strengths and weaknesses.
An over view of my process:
a. Print out the story and let it sit at least a week.
b. Read through and grade it.
c. Answer questions about each category:
How is this original or creative?
Does the plot have holes?
How can I make the characters more real? Etc.
d. Read the story aloud and go crazy with the red pencil, circling the items on my "no-no" checklist such as weasel words, passive voice, poor dialogue etc.
Now I have concrete issues to correct. This doesn't mean I have the knowledge to fix them, but at least I am aware of them.
3) Break it down.
I start with the biggest flaw and work through each issue; conflict and plot first, supporting details and dialogue next, nitpicking over grammar and word order last. I've learned over the years not to get sidetracked with line edits or minor details, otherwise I'm wasting time perfecting sentences that might be deleted.
As this is a process and not a race, don't try to edit the story in a single sitting. Take time to absorb the lessons of each area before moving on to the next one. Attempting to crash-edit a work is overwhelming and leads to frustration.
No one really likes to edit but with a bit of organization and prioritization and a lot of practice the task becomes easier. Please join me next month as I share some ideas on creating an editing plan that suits your style and needs.
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Advice from Friends
Revision has more than four letters. It is not a dirty word. It is a clean word, actually, as the writer will be cleaning up what ever it is he has just written.
True writing is revising and rewriting. A writer needs to revise and rewrite to discern the subtle tones inside his story and to offer them to the readers with greater depth.
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I've been getting notes back from reviewers that said things like "wow, you really like the word 'brushed', don't you" and "there's a lot of whispering going on in this story" and "Enough with the lip-biting already". This lead me to the painful admission that I have several repeated words besides the standard 'that', 'just', 'almost', etc, in my story.
Whether you've just joined the site, of you've been on it since the beginning, reviewing is complicated and difficult to master. Keep in mind that you'll be reviewing not just the work of your peers, but your own work as well.
What steps should you take in editing? It can get pretty confusing.
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Waiting inside my teacher's desk
is the red pen.
It appears in secret, its existence
evident on returned once-white papers.
"Edit Points"
Edit Points (EPs) are an innovative, totally unique, and extremely powerful way to gain detailed feedback about your work. |
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