A horror writer's blog

Seven Deadly Sins of Editing

And you didn’t think there were sins for editing.  A lot of first time writers do them, and probably even some who are published (not that they will admit to it,) but editing is something that needs to be done to really hone your skills and make your writing better.

First Sin – Thinking you are ready for publication.

You have written your prize winning, ready to be published novel.  But I warn you, it isn’t as easy as you think.  Before you go firing off your novel to the nearest publisher, go through it and make sure that it is perfect, because nothing less than perfect will be accepted.  Just because it is finished, doesn’t mean it is FINISHED!

Second Sin – Spelling

The first and most obvious step is to do a spell and grammar check.  Most document programs have this, so use it.  Set the spelling for your country (US or UK for English) and stick with it.  There is nothing worse than coming across “realise” and “realize” in the same document.

Third Sin – Showing not Telling

The next step would be to make big highlights across your document.  Using your word find, highlight in different colours, all of the following words:

Was

That

Saw

Felt

Has been

Which

Any words ending in -ly

Some programs also allow you to see how many times you have used these words in your text.  Do take note of this, because you want to get rid of at least 90% of these from your story.

Keep an eye out for the following words: Saw, felt, watched, thought, noticed, knew, heard, decided, realised.  These are all telling words.  Don’t tell the story, show it.

Example – She knew that he was coming for her

Revised – A shiver ran up her spine.  He was coming for her.

Example – He watched out the window, waiting for her to return

Revised – He looked at his watch, then back out the window.  She couldn’t be far away.

Fourth Sin – Missing Senses

Make sure that all five senses are engaged in the story.  Tell us what the characters can smell, see, feel, hear and taste.  These are powerful words that can draw the reader in and make them feel like part of the story.  It gives a sense of time, drama and suspense, to leave these out would be just telling a story.

Fifth Sin – Sad beginnings, lacklustre middles and droopy endings

Start your story with a bang.  It doesn’t have to be an explosion, but with something exciting happening.  If the beginning is dull, no one will read past the first page.  Action is a great way to start – think argument, car chase, sniper taking his first hit, let your mind go wild.

Example:  The loud roar frightened her and she plugged them with her fingers, trying to crush out the hissing sound.

Does your story have punch and impact.  Do all of the storylines come to a satisfactory conclusion.  Does the middle lack some type of impact?  Keep working on it, add more conflict if you have any troubles (try Internet Public Library).

Make sure you have a strong ending.  No one likes reading a story only to have the ending rushed and ending quickly.  Draw it out if necessary, add suspense.  This is the end of your story, if you want it remembered, make it brilliant.

Sixth Sin – Not printing it out.

Print out your document making sure that your manuscript is double spaced, so you have room to mark up any changes you want to make.  This is important.  If you don’t have access to a printer or enough paper, buy some.

Read through your story aloud because that will really tell you where you have mistakes.  Where you come across a highlighted word, reword your sentence or remove the offending word.

Don’t be afraid to mark up your manuscript – be prepared to write all over it, change words, rewrite scenes, use different coloured pens if you need to.  Remove scenes that don’t lead anywhere, or don’t tie up any lose ends.  This will make your story stronger.

When you are happy with it, make your changes on your saved document, first saving it as Version 2 (e.g. Happy2.doc).  When you are happy with it, the final action is to carry out spell and grammar checks.

If you think that your manuscript is still lacking, go through it and edit it again.  Sometimes it can take two or three passes before you are ready to move on.  Be prepared for the editing process to take twice as long as it took you to write it.

Seventh Sin – Thinking you are finished.

If you like the finished product, congratulations, now you are ready to pass it on to be critiqued – make sure that you have some reliable writer friends who like reading your genre and can pass honest opinions onto you, tell you where you need to work on your piece or praise those parts that they like.  (The praise is important; it lets you know where you are going right.)

You will still need to work through the comments that your critiquing partners have made, but remember this – it is only their opinion, but if two or more comment on the same area, then perhaps you need to do more work on it.  You need thick skin to deal with this process.  Remember, they aren’t there to put you down; they are there to help you improve your work.  Critique others work and you will soon see where you need to work on your own.

One more piece of advice for writing – Once you have finished the editing process and shipped your story off to several publishers, don’t sit back and wait.  Start on the next story, don’t wait for the money to roll in, because sometimes it takes years of writing and hundred’s of rejection letters before you will receive that one acceptance.  Be prepared, have other stories ready to go as well.

Karen Johnson Mead

www.catherinemede.com

facebook:  Catherine Mede Page