|
|
|
|
It's half-term here, which means my working schedule is a bit different from usual! Our kids' lovely nanny had them all day yesterday, and so I've managed to completely revise the Blogger's Guide to Irresistible Ebooks, which was getting rather outdated. Look out for more news on the new version in a few weeks...
:-)
(If you already own Irresistible Ebooks, don't worry: you'll get the updated version and the new bonuses for free.)
I've also been proofreading Dominion, the third novel in my Lycopolis trilogy, and that should be out by the end of the year.
But even more exciting ... thanks to my parents coming to babysit, Paul and I are going out to see Thor: Ragnarok
tomorrow night and then we're off to see Metallica live on Saturday! AND we get to enjoy the extra hour in bed when the clocks change, because we'll be staying in a hotel far, far away from our kids.
Woo!
Whether your weekend looks set to be action-packed, writing-filled, or just plain normal, I hope you have a good one. And now, on with the newsletter...
|
|
How to Line Edit Your Work |
This is part of our month-long series on editing. You can find earlier parts in the newsletter archive here:
"Editing" is, for me, normally the stage from Draft Two onwards. It may overlap a little with the revision stage, which we looked at last week, but it involves a different set of skills and involves much less intensive change.
This stage can be surprisingly enjoyable – it’s the point where a handful of fairly minor changes can make a clear difference to the quality of your
work, and it might feel like it's finally all coming together!
Some authors hire a professional editor to do the line edit. I'd definitely recommend that you get an editor involved if you plan to self-publish ... but it's a good idea to at least have a go at your own line edit first.
Here's how to go about it:
#1: Decide How You'll Actually Make the Edits
When
you're doing a big-picture edit, you're not generally making the changes as soon as you think of them – as many will affect several parts of your work. In a close edit, though, you've got two different options: - Mark up your manuscript with suggested changes, e.g. by printing it and physically writing on it
- Make the edits straight into the manuscript
You can also go for a third option, which gives you the best of both worlds: use "Track Changes"
in Word (or the equivalent in your word processor of choice). Set it so that you see the "Final" when looking at your manuscript. Now you can type in your changes as you go along ... but you'll be able to easily switch the view to "Final Showing Markup" to see what you edited, in case you change your mind.
#2: Make Your Words Pull Their Weight
If you have a tendency to be a little wordy (I know I
do!) then the editing stage is where you make sure every word pulls its weight. Cut out sentences or phrases that add nothing, or that are unnecessarily repetitive. Look for strong verbs and precise words that say exactly what you mean.
In fiction, watch out, too, for any places where you've over-explained something. Trust the reader to understand without having everything spelt out. (In non-fiction, it can be more important to spell things out clearly: you may want to
check with a beta-reader whether your writing is clear without seeming patronising!)
#3: Watch Out for Repeated Words
If you have the same word twice (or more) in fairly quick succession, it can look a little clumsy. Watch out for any words that you’ve repeated like this, and look for a synonym. Don’t worry about extremely common words like “the” or, in dialogue, “said” – those won’t stand
out. Look out, too, for words, phrases or descriptions that you repeat rather too often over the course of your whole book. I have a lot of "blinked" and "breathed" and characters looking pale.
#4: "Get in Late, Get Out Early"
My wonderful editor Lorna Fergusson taught me this. Start a scene once the action has begun, and get out straight
after the climax: don’t begin with scene-setting and end with a trailing-off – it diminishes the impact.
With non-fiction, of course you do need introductions and conclusions to your blog posts / book chapters / etc – but keep them focused and to-the-point.
Close editing can be a challenge, but hopefully a good one! It's where you can really bring your skills into play: during the drafting and revising phases, you're quite
naturally focused on the big picture of character arcs and plots, but when you do a close edit, you can spend your time finding just the right word or the perfect cadence for a sentence.
Next week, we'll be taking a look at proofreading ... and whether you should proofread your own work. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
