nikkianne

A few posts ago I talked about procrastinating and why I keep putting off editing. I talked about making a list of things to do for editing and I finally did! I call it my 'editing outline' and I've posted it below in hopes that it may help you too! After each item, I've added a more in depth description in italics.

Editing outline

1. Write filler scenes and bridge gaps (Here I went through my manuscript and identified each scene that I felt still needed to be written. I skipped around a lot in my first draft and didn't worry about connecting the dots so much)

2. Identify and evaluate all plots and subplots: keep, improve, trash (Here I identified all the plots in my story and gave them a brief outline. For example, the main character's relationship with her rival and how I want that relationship to evolve)

3. Identify and evaluate all characters: keep, improve, merge, trash (I named each character in the story, even if they only had one line, and wrote a sentence or two about them and what role they play in the story. This allowed me to see which characters play similar roles and may be combined into one. It also provided a new perspective on the characters and helped me identify things I wanted to emphasize in some)

4. Outline and rate all scenes for suspense, relevance , interest: keep, improve, trash. Create scene timeline throughout calendar year (I haven't done this yet, but the idea is to help me see the overall flow of my story and identify scenes that need to be jazzed up or eliminated)

5. Fix all plot holes and inconsistencies noted in black book (In the planning stage I wrote a lot of my background information in a black lab book I have. As I was going through if I got an idea or realized there was an inconsistency in my story I'd jot it down, so I'd be able to go back and fix it later)
   

6. Grammar, punctuation, word choice, repetition, story breaks (ie. Chapters), etc (The technical side of writing. I sort of have my story divided into sections, but not formal chapters so I need to go through and find logical breaks. I did start doing this earlier but I found all my chapters started with a new day in the story. That may be okay, but I wasn't sure about that yet so I decided to leave it)
   

7. Reread story 

8. Repeat 1-7 as necessary

I am finding this outline works great for me! I am very goal oriented, so crossing things off my list really motivates me. I am never in a place where I don't know what to do, because I have this whole huge outline to tell me!

So in the true spirit of procrastination, I have even been avoiding things that take me away from my WIP (like blogging). Instead of editing my WIP I am going to tell you all about the issues I have with editing my WIP.

When I was writing my first draft, it was very exciting because the words were pouring out of me and I was writing 4000, 5000 and even 6000 words a day. It was a literary rush! I was going at such a break neck speed that whenever a teeny thought of doubt popped into my head about a character or a scene, I just brushed it aside with "It doesn't matter! This is my first draft! I'll worry about it when I start editing."

Now I am editing. I'm not pumping out thousands of words a day. I'm deleting words! I can't just fly through my MS. I have to stop and look at every little thing and figure out how best to word this sentence or find a better word to explain that emotion. When I was first writing, I was creating. Now I am refining. I once remember in a church service someone comparing the pain and struggles in our lives to sculpture. The person said that humans are like blocks of marble and that God sends unhappy circumstances into our lives to chip away the ugly bits and create a beautiful statue. That is sort of how I feel about my MS. I am chipping away all the ugly and unnecessary parts. It's time consuming and hard! It's tedious!

I am also really afraid that I am chipping away all the wrong parts! What if what I originally wrote is clearer than what I've reworded it to say? What if this scene is necessary? Am I losing an important aspect of this character by removing this line/paragraph/page? It's really nerve wracking for me. But I keep telling myself: this is your first real attempt at a novel. You will learn more. I also take some solace in my alpha and beta readers. Although I am not ready at all for them to read anything, I do trust their judgment in reading my story. I have saved my original first draft. I will save my second draft and third draft and so on. That makes me feel safer as well. Because if I do get rid of something, it is still there in another draft.

So I am going to swallow my worries and push my nerves aside and jump into editing! Well, right after my half hour lunch time tv show! ;)

Ciao!

PS I would definitely appreciate any advice/encouragement you have!

I have been working construction with my boyfriend the past little while because things have been very busy and he needed another person to be able to keep up with the work. I rarely ever call him my his first name and usually address him as 'honey' or 'baby' or an even mushier name I've given him, but won't repeat here. :) He told me to stop because if I ever accidentally called him 'honey' in front of a client it would look bad. Confident that I would never be so unprofessional I brushed his warnings aside. Guess what happened last week? Not only did I call him 'honey' twice in front of the client, but I also lost my balance and grabbed a certain part of his anatomy to steady myself *blush*.

This got me thinking about other not so good habits I have when it comes to writing.

1. Waiting to be inspired - writing is not something that takes place during enlightened moments. I very firmly believe that anyone can become good at anything, they just have to put in enough time and effort to realize that dream. The same goes for writing. If I hardly ever write of course I will write poorly. I become a better writer by writing and reading too! which takes me to my next bad habit

2. Taking up someone else's 'voice' - as I mentioned in the What I'm reading section what I read influences how I think and feel and write. I am a HUGE fan of Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters. They use an older, more proper English. I love the British sensibility in writing, but I'm Canadian. Although I try to mimic the great British authoresses it doesn't sound right, my story doesn't flow and everything feels forced. I think reading books has taught me much more about writing than any English class I took, but copying someone else's voice is not one of the things I should do.

3. Improperly placed punctuation - I go through phases where I am attached to certain types of punctuation. Mostly it is the semicolon, but lately it is the dash! In editing my WIP I have had to take dozens and dozens of dashes out. I guess not all of them are improperly placed, but they are definitely excessive. I use Conan the Grammarian's website to help me sort out my issues

4. Changing my verb tense - this is sort of linked to the last as it is a grammatical issue, but it is of a slightly different nature than my punctuation issue. I am always moving from past tense to present tense to future tense. For me this happens A LOT when I skip around in my WIP. For example, if I am writing a scene that will support a future scene that I have already written, I often write the new scene in past tense.

5. Not planning enough - "Failing to plan is planning to fail" (Alan Lakein). I know some writers do not plan at all and they just fly by the seat of their pants. Although I am not a meticulous planner, I do need to have a rough outline of how my story will progress. If I don't plan I will write as much as I know and then panic because I don't know how the story will end or what should happen in between the beginning and end. This is usually a cyclic process for me. I write all the major scenes and then leave blanks in between. As I am writing scenes that I should write in between will come to me and I just type up little one liners in my manuscript about what needs to be written. This will happen A LOT in the editing process as I realize that I have left important things out or have not emphasized a point enough. I even have a little black book to jot down ideas, plot holes and information about characters (ex. physical description, full name, job, etc).

I am aware of these habits and I am making an effort to overcome them before they come back to haunt me.

What are your bad habits?

So I finished the first draft of my novel on Monday. I told myself to leave it for a few days and then go back to it. I got so excited at being done I emailed my alpha readers and told them I hoped to be done revisions by the beginning of April. I haven't looked at my manuscript yet but I know that planning to be done by April is probably a little too ambitious.

I don't really have a clear beginning. I just sort of jumped in where the action started and went through the story, leaving myself notes to introduce this character and explain that place when I got back to it. Also, whenever I got stuck in a scene, I just skipped it and went on to something I knew. I'm also not satisfied with my ending. I just sort of ended it. I want it to be a cliff hanger, as I have at least two more books in mind but I think after rereading, I will find that it falls very flat.

But I guess that is what a first draft for. It is basically the skeleton of the story. Some parts will need to be fleshed out and I guess some bones will get tossed (maybe skeleton was a not good analogy)?

I've never been much for editing, but that is what is ahead of me. I find if I know what I am going to do next, I can keep working. So my plan of attack is to go through a bunch of other authors' blogs and try what they suggest. That way I can figure out what works for me and be super thorough (or so I hope).

So, let the editing begin!