IWSG - Pass the red pen

There I was thinking my bloghop duties were over for a few days, at least, and then I look at my blog feed and everyone has realised that it's the first Wednesday of the month, and you should know what that means by now...

Click here for the linky list of members

I have decided to query agents with my latest novel. I had planned to simply pep up my synopsis and send it on its way, but I couldn't remember the story! So now I am reading my novel for the first time since before Christmas.

I thought it would be an easy recall the story and write the synopsis type job, but as I read, I can see parts I would love to rewrite. I'm battling against myself at the moment, because this poor story has gone through so many rewrites over several years I can't see how I could do better.

I still have half the book to read, so the battle isn't over yet. On the positive side, I think I might have nailed the synopsis... maybe.

Do you find things you want to change on your final read through?

Have you ever forgotten the story you told?

Do you have any general querying/submitting advice?

(UK and US methods vary greatly, so some advice might

not be suitable for me, but will definitely help others)

Story Sprouts blog tour - MATCHED! I Now Declare You Writer and Editor

Today it's my great pleasure over my blog to Alana Garrigues and Nutschell Windsor who are on a massive blog tour, with their book Story Sprouts. They are here to talk about how to train your editor... that's right isn't it, Alana?? 

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Nutschell and I are so excited to be here for a stop on our Story Sprouts world tour. We'd like to thank Annalisa for hosting us today, and send a big virtual wave to all of you readers!

Today, I'd like to talk about a topic that can stir up a lot of feelings in a writer - the relationship between a writer and his/her editor. Done well, and editor can make an author's words to transcend every imagined possibility. But a bad relationship can send a writer into the depths of anger, despair and doubt - feeling either misunderstood or inadequate.

As a freelance journalist, I am fortunate to work with an editor I trust intrinsically, one who is both wise and supportive. This editor makes changes and cuts stories when necessary, but always stays true to what must be said. Every change enhances the story. Part of that is a relationship based in trust and respect for one another's contributions, and part of that is my responsibility, as a journalist, to morph my style into that of the newspaper or magazine I write for.

In the beginning of my writing career, I did not realize the impact an editor could have on a story, nor did I realize that the red pen mark-ups would not be sent back to me for final review. I did not know that my story could, and generally would (particularly in the beginning), be published with a brand new title - sometimes even a new lead paragraph. It surprised me in the beginning to see my name on a piece that was 80% mine, and 20% edited.

Three years in, the percentages have inched closer to purely my words (about a 98/2 split), but I am no longer surprised when paragraphs are altered slightly to clarify or add pizazz, and generally, I nod my head and agree that whatever change lies in my story was the right decision. 

The writer looks at craft; the editor looks at readability. Two vastly different skill sets, both important. I am fortunate to have experience as both, in large part thanks to my Publications Editor board position with the Children's Book Writers of Los Angeles. 

As the co-editor of CBW-LA's Story Sprouts: Writing Day Workshop Exercises and Anthology, I recognized that for many of our contributing writers, this would be the first time submitting a piece for publication … and their first time having someone edit their words. Initially, I planned a pure copy edit of their pieces. 

However, as I read through the submissions, beyond misspelled words and improper grammar, I noted run-on thoughts, accidental changes in voice, confusing side story lines, and structural issues that could be fixed by simply moving paragraphs around. 

The stories were so strong, beyond these minor imperfections, so brilliant for one day workshop submissions, that I wanted to help the writers shine while remaining true to each of their voices. 

As Nutschell and I reflected on the acceptable amount of editing, she agreed that as our author's first publishing experience, it was of utmost importance to remain true to their voices, while exposing them to the real world of publishing, edits and all. As educators in the world of publications, we agreed that an authentic experience meant editing the pieces as any magazine or publishing house would.

I knew that if I edited the pieces and emailed them back to the writers, as suggestions, a banter would open up that could go on far beyond our three month publishing schedule - and it would give them a false sense of the publishing world. I also knew that for the writers to be exceptionally proud of their work, which was being presented to a wider audience, some editing beyond my planned copy edit was necessary. 

So I set to work, making notes on my print-outs of each submission, tweaking and massaging, until stories came out the way the writer would have intended if they had been granted another hour or two of revision time. I didn't change anything to look like they had months or years to write - each submission is still clearly raw and in the moment - but it looks just a little bit more polished and refined than the original. At the same time, each author's voice is authentic and true; each piece is uniquely individual. 

My hope is that each author looks at his/her piece, and sees that same improvement that I see in my own writing post-edit. I also hope that as each of our writers continues on their journey, they, like me, will find editors they trust and see the extent of editing shrink with experience.

Clearly, the relationship between a writer and editor varies between freelance writer, staff writer, and author. Expectations also vary greatly when looking at indie publishing versus traditional publishing. 

The closer you are to producing content for an audience determined by the traditional publisher - whether that is a news organization or a publishing imprint - the more you will turn over control of the final edits. Many books you see on the shelves have entirely new titles and some heavy internal edits. By the time they have been published, the author's idea has become a group project, for better or worse. 

Indie published authors who work with editors have more control over the relationship with the editor, with the author in a position of power to accept or reject suggested changes. Sometimes, this can be a detriment to an author, particularly a new author. Inflated with pride over having finished a first book, s/he may reject excellent feedback from a line or content editor whose advice is sage. However, the relationship also has the potential to be transformative when the author and editor respect one another and take each others' style and voice into account. Indie authors should look for an editor who is a chameleon, familiar with the genre in question to offer valuable market feedback, but able to adapt to the author's individual style. Set expectations. How long the edit will take, payment terms, how feedback and commentary will be relayed (comments built into Word are convenient to accept or reject), whether you prefer to speak and check in over email or over the phone, whether it will be a line, content or copy edit, or some combination of all three. (It makes more sense to save the copy edit for after any line or content edits, as those will affect the structure of your story and may result in major scene rewrites.) Ask for a first page edit to see how the editor works, and if you feel good about the relationship, make a contract. Then, trust them and take their advice.

The relationship between writer and editor must be rooted in trust, and once you find an editor you love, reward them with word of mouth and repeat projects.

Cheers, and best of luck finding just the right editor to help you pop! Be sure to share your favorites in the comments, if you found an editor you'd like other indie authors to check out. They'll appreciate your support!

STORY SPROUTS: CBW-LA WRITING DAY EXERCISES & ANTHOLOGY 2013

·         Paperback: 240 pages

·         Publisher: CBW-LA Publications (October 18, 2013)

·         Edited by: Alana Garrigues, Nutschell Anne Windsor

·         Language: English

·         ISBN-10: 0989878791

·         ISBN-13: 978-0989878791

·         Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches

·         Shipping Weight: 13.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

STORY SPROUTS 2013 ANTHOLOGY STATISTICS:

·         19 Authors

·         38 Combined Anthology Entries – 2 per Contributing Author

·         6-hour Workshop

·         10 Writing Exercises (included in Story Sprouts)

·         Dozens of Photo, Character and Conflict Prompts (included in Story Sprouts)

·         240 pages

BLURB:

What happens when linguistic lovers and tale tellers workshop together? Inspiration. Wonder. Discovery. Growth. Magic.

Brave and talented, the writers featured in this anthology took on the challenge of dedicating one day to the raw and creative process of writing.

A rare view into the building blocks of composition, Story Sprouts is made up of nearly 40 works of poetry and prose from 19 published and aspiring children's book authors.

This compilation includes all of the anthology writing exercises and prompts, along with tips, techniques and free online writing resources to help writers improve their craft.

BUY YOUR KINDLE & PRINT COPIES FROM AMAZON

LINKS:

Learnmore about Story Sprouts 

Jointhe Children’s Book Writers of Los Angeles

Find Nutschell at:                                                          Find Alana at:

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My new book is on its way!

Yesterday, I received the first set of edits from my editor for my next book, Our Beautiful Child. Yay!!

You may or may not know that my publisher, Vagabondage Press, are American. So, the hardest part of the whole process is changing all my beautiful British spellings into American. In Cat and The Dreamer, the first book they published, my spellings were preserved which I was surprised - and happy - about, but policy has obviously changed.

I love British spellings, but after a while I started to accept the changes that involved 'u's, and the replacement of draught with draft. But then I hit the word omelette which doesn't have the te in the American spelling. After publishing my short story Omelette in That Sadie Thing I'm rather attached to the spelling, and currently I've overlooked it. It's very possible I will change it to chicken pie or better still pasty just to avoid dealing with it!

The other thing I hadn't fully appreciated before is how many commas American's use. They are everywhere - the British style (or maybe just my style, I'm not entirely sure) seems to have simplified the use of commas. But my editor would have put one after the but at the beginning of this sentence. In the end I've just gone with it, otherwise I would have ended up unediting all the editing she'd done... Not a good way to conduct a professional relationship!

On the plus side, she has added a couple of semi-colons, and by now you should all be aware of my addiction to them!

UPDATE: I thought I'd email my editor, just to double-double check, and I can keep my British spellings. D'oh. If I'd emailed her before this post, I wouldn't have had to write it! Now I'm going through the ms again.

What do you think about American v British spellings?

Do you have an opinion?

How are you today?

How do you guys do it?

My manuscript and my cat

I have a confession: I don't know the difference between a CP and a beta reader... In fact, I don't even know whether there is a difference.

I've only ever critiqued for one author, and it wasn't so much of a critique as me just saying "That was good" about fifty times.

The problem is, I can read through my own work and spot the moments when the ideas are muddled, or the pacing is wrong, or I've accidentally mentioned that my tee-total bridesmaid is happily downing whiskey. I know what just doesn't feel right.

But - but! - if I read your book, my thoughts will fall into two categories: good and bad. If it's good, I'll happily tell you and shout it from the rooftops. If it's bad, I'd probably rather change my name and make new Facebook and Twitter accounts than actually mention it to you. And that's if I actually notice the problems in the first place. I just don't analyse other people's work the way I do myself - I accept that that's how you want the story to go, especially in genres that I don't usually read.

Second confession: I've read more out-of-comfort-zone novels since I met you guys and started blogging than I ever did before. Because of that, something that I don't think works might be the key feature of the genre you're writing in. And I don't want to show off my ignorance!

So, my plea today is: tell me how you get so great at critiquing, please, because I'll probably need to trade favours soon!

Bang on target

Because I am deep in NaNoWriMo, this is another post about it. Feel free to stop reading now - normal service will be resumed in December...
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Oh, you're still here - good!

Last night, for the first time, I hit the target. On day 18 the target was 30k. I sort of wanted to go a bit over, even an extra word or two would have be great - but the scene ended perfectly at 30k, so I saved the document and closed it down. It's waiting for me now, I can hear it calling.

As you know, I started November with a title "The Day Nothing Happened" and a first line "Yesterday something happened". Then it turned out, as I started writing, that quite a lot was happening, and I changed tense - half-way through - to past tense. So the first line no longer fits. Argh! I've never had to rewrite a first line before, it's usually the one fixed thing. Anyway, that's something to think about in December - I'm not going to bother changing the present tense at the moment, I need to push on and finish.

From the initial idea of having an explosion in a hotel, I've managed to get five separate story lines - the survivors of the incident all have their own stories to tell. One woman who was trapped has post-traumatic stress, another woman used the chaos to run away and pretend she was dead, another kidnapped a coma patient. Then I've also got a pregnant widow, and a man who's trolling Facebook - although that story line isn't fully fleshed out yet.

It's been fascinating seeing these stories coming to life, and my characters having their own thoughts about their situations. None of them are related at the moment, and I'm unsure whether to force them together, or to leave them separate and just passing each other randomly in the street. I know, as a novel, they should be connected by more than just the explosion because at the moment they read as intertwined short stories.

But again, that's a question I'll be able to answer in December. The first thing I plan to do is print out the MS and cut it up, putting all parts of the same story lines together to make sure they are complete and don't have huge gaps. Then I'll be able to see if they can slot together. There is a precedent of leaving them separate - eg. Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk, and probably lots of others I can't think of at the moment. But whatever happens, I'm definitely hoping this book will turn into something and not be left in a drawer.

Is your NaNo project something long term, or just a collection of words?

PS. I am still reading blogs, but commenting on all of them is too time consuming at the moment. I hope you understand. 

The telling and showing balance

I've been editing some of my previously published stories for a collection I'm hoping to put together. It's a really fun project - some of the stories are pretty darn completely perfect and don't need any editing at all, others needed a bit of updating (a couple were written before mobile phones became common, one needed Facebook mentioned). And one needs a whole rewrite.

And that's the one I'd like to talk about, obviously.

Yesterday, I made a start on it, and realised I tell everything and show nothing. This is bad. All the advice points to showing not telling, and it makes sense - it keeps the prose varied, it draws people into the story, it even breaks up the page because speech and action naturally have more gaps.

So, I got out my red pen and started slashing. It was a massacre!

And then... I read The Beacon by Susan Hill (not all of it yet, so this isn't a review... but I have read the ending because I do that!)

There's an awful lot of telling in this short book, but it works - for most of the story so far, a woman is alone in her farmhouse after her mother dies and she's recalling growing up.

In my story, a homeless girl is telling us what her day consists of. She's so busy surviving that conversations with people don't have much meaning to her... so writing conversations would jar against the story. Wouldn't it?

What are your thoughts about showing v telling?

Have you ever written a story/novel that is mostly telling?

Do you have any tips for me?

Today's IWSG is brought to you by the letter O

Posting today because Alex is! :-)

Oh dear.

I've come to a realisation.

My writing has definitely improved! Yay!

How do I know? Well...

It all began about a month ago when I realised that I have a good number (about ten) short stories that have been published and/or won prizes over the course of the last... ahem... eighteen years that very few people would have ever read. This is because they were published in very small press magazines, or they won prizes but weren't published, or they won prizes and were published in little more than commemorative booklets.

So, I thought I'd gather them together and ebook them. Easy, I thought, they've already been published so I won't need to do much to them. And in some cases that's true - some of them don't need anything more than a little updating (I've got at least two stories where the characters are queuing to use a phone box!).

In others... oh dear...

You might remember me mentioning one particular story where I dreamt the opening lines, woke up, wrote the story without stopping, barely re-wrote and had it published within the year. I've spoken about it on this blog, I've mentioned it in my comments on other blogs...


Yep - that story is awful! Okay, not awful, but not very well done. The prose is clunky and repetitive, and there's a lot of telling and not showing; some of the sentences make no sense. And yet it was published - I earned the grand total of £12 for it!

The premise is brilliant - I still love the idea, and the characters, but it needs some serious red-pen intervention before I'll let anyone else read it. I've already gone through it once, cutting and adding, and moving and slashing - and now it's in a folder waiting for me to be strong enough to go through it again.

So, this month's insecurity is that as a writer I have never been as good as I'm going to be, and yet those stories I think are not so good will always exist. Someone, somewhere might have a copy of the magazine - as I do - because their story is also featured. Which means one day, they might find it and flick through it and find my story before their own, and possibly even read it... and I have no control over that.

My advice: always be as good as you can possibly be, and then maybe you won't have an oh dear moment of your own!

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It's been a while since I included the list of IWSG participants, so here they are. If you want to know more, please follow this link to Alex J Cavanaugh's blog.

Murdering my darlings

Phew... the past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of activity, without a single word of new material written. So, at the weekend, I put all thoughts of marketing for Cat and the Dreamer on hold and got out my soon-to-be-submitted trilogy of novellas and read them as a whole, and - yay! - they worked. I held my breath, I got goosebumps, I wanted a character to do the opposite to what she was planning. I got caught up in my own stories!

Except for one. The second story in the collection was the first to be written - written eight years ago, to be exact. And as I was reading, I spotted a lot of changes that needed to be made. Even the first sentence, which I thought was spectacular when I first wrote it, now seems dated and cliched. And then, I saw it. I saw the worst piece of writing - a whole section that I'd shoehorned in, because I needed to get my character from C to D.

Out came my red pen, and... my darlings are gone - all 2000 of them. Murdered, slashed... gone :-(

Deleting words is not usually something I do. Not because they're all good, you understand. But because my work is usually shorter than I'm hoping and I spend a lot of time increasing the word count.


Currently there's nothing instead - just a big gaping hole in the plot. In this section, the MC has to lose her job,  introduce another character to the guy she likes, watch them flirt and then have an argument with him. It sounds easy enough, doesn't it? But the spectre of the old version is lingering. Even though I'm sitting down with a completely blank piece of paper, with my beautiful fountain pen poised, I'm struggling for inspiration.

So today's question is: have you ever needed to delete huge swathes of your work, and how did you fill the hole it left behind?

The random sounds that make up words

When I was little, I liked to say my name out loud, over and over - because eventually it sounded foreign and unfamiliar. Even words we use all the time, like the can sound really peculiar the more times you say it.

That's the feeling I'm having with the latest round of Cat and the Dreamer edits. The more I consider whether that word, the comma is correct, the more removed I feel from the text, until - after reading the sentence over and over - it makes no sense. Argh!

I hope this is just my perception and it will all make total sense when it's finally finished. But it does spookily echo a dream I had the other night - my first sentence was gobbledygook, and I when my eyes focused on the text, I'd misspelled 'stuck', among others, and I woke up in a complete panic.

(On a related note: I spell-checked this post because I wasn't sure how to spell gobbledygook. The spell-checker had that word, but doesn't know spookily! How strange!)

Nudging Fate

I believe in Fate. Totally and absolutely. I've always known I was going to be a writer, for example. If I hadn't had that certain knowledge, I think I'd probably have given up by now and be spending far more time down the gym and in the pub. But knowing it would happen has kept me writing.

Sometimes, however, Fate needs a bit of a nudge. I have to get really depressed about not having a short story published for a year, before I get an email saying I'm being published. The very morning I mentioned to Hubby that money was tight over January, he got a phone call for a block of work.

And, after I splurged my insecurity about not hearing from my publisher last Wednesday, today I received the first edits!

So, thanks to everyone who commented and gave such wonderful advice - you were absolutely right!

It was a strange feeling looking at my story with all these marks that I hadn't made. With the stories I've had published, they've been printed as is - I've had totally control and totally responsibility.

I had a quick read-through this morning, before getting down to actually working on it later today, and it took me half an hour! And that's only for 83 pages. I can't even begin to work out how you'd edit and proof a novel-length piece of work.

I've realised that I over-use commas - they've been deleted all over the place - and my maths is bad. In one scene, there's a difficult sum. And, even after using a fractions calculator twice, I got the answer wrong. How embarrassing!

So wish me luck! I'm diving in...