Servusamanu.com

I read through my story once, fixing up the grammar, filling out the continuity, rewriting a few sections that obviously needed it.  From there I wrote up some ‘artifacts’, basically small out-of-story vignettes that flesh out the story a bit without being part of the strict narrative.  Because I have three plot lines I broke the story in three and read each plotline from beginning to end.  Within that edit I polished the chapters and tried to make them each exciting, worth reading, well-written etc.

Now I’m on to my final beginning-to-end, nothing skipped, edit.  This is, hopefully, the edit where I sit back and enjoy the story.  I’m not sure it’ll quite work out like that, but it’s coming together.  Once I finish that I’ll have a few friends read it and then…

Well, we’ll see.  One thing at a time, eh?

Until next time, Adieu!

I’m finishing up the last of the ‘artifacts’ in my story.  Basically, I’m stuffing fictional primary sources between my chapters.  They’re meant to pull the reader in and give them the sort of background information that a person in my world would already know.  I don’t need to have a character write out how the local government works because that’s something every character in the world should already know.  The question becomes, how can I tell the reader things without dumbing my characters down?

My solution has been artifacts.  I’ve got one for each chapter so far, but we’ll see how many make it into the final draft.  I like the idea, but my worry is that they will become burdensome.  Not every reader wants to know everything about the world and if its not strictly pertinent to the story would it be better to leave it out?  Brevity is always desirable, but there’s a different between redundant wordage and ancillary knowledge.  The first is like wading though mud, the second is a short scenic detour.

So far I’ve been happy with the artifacts because they’ve given me an opportunity to play with a number of different styles.  I have a court transcript, journal entries, advertisements, a travel itinerary.  I’ve been able to write a poem, a few scripts, and even a short homage to hard-boiled noir fiction.

While I have enjoyed writing the artifacts, the same thing that makes them enjoyable is potentially a downside.  By changing the voice and tone so dramatically, I threaten to dilute the ‘brand’ so to speak.  My artifacts are relatively short, but in total they come to around 25,000 words.  That’s a good fifth of the novel.  Editing will cut that down some, but not enough if they aren’t any good.

I’ve yet to make a final decision.  That’ll be a decision for a later article.  THis weekend I’ll be starting the final edit so I’ll have a few things to say there I’m sure.

I’m almost done editing my story or rather, I’m almost done editing it for the first time.  I only have a few chapters left before I can say that all of it has been looked at, at least once.  Whew!

I think editing might be more time-consuming and exhausting than the writing itself.  Writing is, by and large, quite fun.  I get to translate a few disparate ideas into a cohensive story.  Toss in some dialog, describe something cool I saw on television, conjure up some funny names.  Stories practically write themselves on the best days.

Editing, however, what a plodding, boring, experience!  Each chapter is apprixmately two thousand words.  I spend a good twenty minutes just making sure the grammar falls in line with ‘standard written english’.  From there I read over the thing, change out words, add specifics, straighten out any continuity problems, and tidy the language up.  Step three normally involves picking the whole thing apart, sentence by sentence, trying to find ambiguity, remove wordiness, and get a picture of what makes this chapter important.  The last step, or what should be the last step, is a matter of propping up the style, making it fun to read.  Sadly, that last step takes me hours on hours on hours.  I’ve yet to get through a chapter in less than three hours and a few have put me out at least five.

And once I finish, I start the whole thing again.  I have to say, I’m getting bored with my characters.  They keep running through the same plot over and over and over again.  Just another few weeks though, or maybe a few months, and than I can put the whole thing down, nicely arranged, and say, “My novel is done.”

I cannot wait!

I’m over two thirds done. I’ve got around ten chapters left.

The end is always the worst. Starting out the ideas are fresh. If it doesn’t work, so what, it was fun to play around with. A hundred thousand words later the doubts are a little more poignant. It’d be a shame if the last few months were really just ‘practice’. Is each chapter effective? Is the story effective? Is it entertaining? I keep saying that’s a job for editing, but there’s only so much that can be salvaged. Is the story any good? We’ll see…after I finish it.

It is a cool feeling though to almost have a manuscript done. A hundred thousand words printed feels hefty no matter what font you use. There’s a sense of accomplishment in holding a brick of paper that has your own words on it.

The next few weeks will be interesting. Once I actually get the whole thing done I’m taking a few weeks off. I’ll be reading the last couple of years worth of Nebula and Hugo award winners as well as The Secret Atlas trilogy by Michael A. Stackpole. I might also pick up some more research books on future technologies for my story. Once I’ve, hopefully, mostly forgotten what I’ve written it’ll be editing time. And well, that’ll be the summer. Cheers!

I have been working on my novel for about three months now. I don’t want to give anything away at the moment and there is not much to say anyway. I am not nearly as far in as I would have liked to have been and I’ve certainly had a lot of trouble with specific sections.

More than anything I’m trying to find a voice. My plot is solid. It may not be the cleverest thing ever devised, but I feel that confident that it is at least a little bit interesting on a certain core level. My characters are unique, the settings are exciting, the framework is very workable. I have everything in place…except for the actual writing.

How much dialog? How much internal monologue? How much narration? I have had a lot of trouble finding an acceptable balance.
If anything I tend towards too much dialog. I love dialog and I love writing dialog. I find conversations come to me not as individual words or pieces, but as a fluid dynamic that flows naturally. It is the easiest thing for me to write. Unfortunately, that becomes boring and leaves out too many details. Natural conversations are not going to describe every setting. They cannot completely flesh out the history and society of a universe. It is just not realistic for dialog to encompass everything.
Monologue is dangerous. Internal monologue can be so powerful, but it has to be done right and I do not trust myself to hit it squarely. Ignore internal monologue entirely and you neglect a opportunity to tap a character’s emotions. You force your reader to guess at their thoughts, which can be good, but it can also lead a lot of ambiguity in a story that will only confuse readers. Alternatively, explain everything in monologue and there’s no longer a story, just a string of events.
Narration is similar. I like using narration because it gives me an opportunity to cover things well beyond my characters and also to input a lot of humor, completely outside of the scene in question. This is the best of use narration, but I’m also telling instead of showing. You can’t engage a reader with narration, only inform them. My novel is science fiction and so I have a little leeway to explain circumstances, but I still feel like I am running close to boring the reader in minutiae.

It’s just a tough predicament. I’m hoping in editing I can tweak the balance. Right now, as I slog through the middle sections of the book, it’s hard not to second guess, but I’m committed to finishing it.

What keeps me on track is ‘the plan.’ I’ve got my outline, I’m confident in my framework, and I know that with enough editing and enough research I can patch up the holes, smooth through the worst sections. Hopefully I’ll have more information as I get closer to the end.

It’s important. It’s just a shame that it’s so hard. Writing is an art not a science, but editing is even more capricious. I’ve taken bad stories and edited them into something interesting, but I’ve taken rather clever stories and made them into dreck just the same. Editing is a difficult, time-consuming, and horribly subjective process that make or ruin any writing.

It may be subjective, but it’s not without rules. Below are a handful of websites with suggestions on editing. Some of them are well-known and fairly. (Less is more) Others are far more obscure. (Don’t norminalize your verbs).

10 Tips For Effective Editing

Improve Your Writing With These Editing Tips

How to Edit your Own Writing

And a few tips of my own:

Change the font on your manuscript so it looks different: It helps you read writing you are already intimately familiar without filling in the gaps with what you remember.

Reverse Outline: Go through a story or chapter and create an outline of the major points. Match this to your original outline to see if you said more or less than what you intended.

Keep Revisions: Keep saved versions of older edits. Feel free to tear your writing apart since you can always look back at what you had.

Good luck!