At any given time, the articles and books I read about writing relate to what I’m trying to achieve. I’m now in the process of editing a Romantic Suspense novel and I’m forced to ask myself what to keep and what to chuck. In other words, it’s time to be brutal.
If you’re a writer, you know how easy it is to get stuck on bits of your writing that you feel a story can’t live without. Taking out the sentences and paragraphs we feel are wonderfully written often lightens the prose, which makes for a better read.
Apart from taking out crutch words and unnecessary tidbits, I’m forced to look at each scene as a single unit. I check for the following things:-
ü Does it have a snappy opening line? One that will force the reader to carry on?
ü Does the middle live up to the beginning? Or does the scene start to drag?
ü Is any new information revealed by the end of the scene?
ü Does my character and plot develop?
ü And at the end, do I leave on a note that will carry the reader forward to the next chapter?
The checklist above can’t be applied while editing for grammar nits. It’s too important to lump with anything else, which is why most writers edit each chapter several times.
The last step for me these days is to test the validity of each scene. Sometimes I get all the excess material out and at other times, yet another round of trimming is required. That’s when lean, fluent scenes emerge.
I guess at some point, we’ve all been fearful of not meeting expectations – whether it has to do with responsibilities on the job, at home or in school. Many of us face challenges head on and fight until we emerge victorious, or fall flat on our backside. That’s the point at which we get up, shake off the dust and continue along our chosen path.
And so it is with writing.
In the last few weeks, I’ve been working with a new critique partner. She’s a great reviewer, catches all the emotional and motivational elements I sometimes overlook in my characters. She also does a sterling job of pointing to the useless bits of information I drag into my stories. I’m encouraged to dig deeper into my characters, explore what goads them into action and so emerge with tighter, more involved writing.
Today, she looked at a chapter which involved my hero. She noted that the chapter could have been better written and that I needed to dig deeper into my character’s psyche. I’m not exactly shaking with fear, but I am daunted by what I need to achieve.
Can I internalize this man’s torment over the possibility of going to jail on a murder charge? Will my writing stand up to the test? I guess there’s only one way to find out. I must tackle the task head-on.
She offered to compare the edited version I need to come up with, against what I’ve already written. I quailed at the thought of the job to be done, but I gotta admit I felt better after reading her morale-boosting comment about my ability to edit my own work.
So, onward I go, reworking my hero’s mindset, conscious of the fact that I have standards I must meet so my story will shine.
Wish me luck!
I figure now is as good a time as any to collect my thoughts and update this blog. I’ve neglected it for months. Not a good thing, considering it’s one of my links to the writing world. But you know how it is – a project grows demanding and before you know it, there’s no time left over for anything. But I’m taking a new approach. I’ll use my blog time to clear my thoughts and assess where I’m going with my work.
As of right now, I’m waiting to hear back from a publisher as to whether they’ll publish one, or the other, and maybe if I’m lucky, both books I submitted to them. It’s been six months, but I’ve kept myself occupied so as not to pull my hair out while I wait. I’ve written and edited extensively during that time and still I haven’t achieved as much as I’d like.
My current editing project is Hardware. An editor is interested in that one, but would like me to do some work on it before she makes a decision one way or the other. I’m enjoying the transformation I’m seeing, based on the editing she wants done. It’s given the story an additional spark, which is the subject for a whole other blog.
Amazing that I’ve been at this for a while and every so often someone makes an observation that snaps the proverbial light bulb on and my writing takes on new life. I’ll probably post an except from that book when I’m satisfied I’ve edited it to death.
While I concentrate my energies on Hardware, I’m also thinking about the unfinished project (Sweet Music Man) my critique group is helping me with. I need to wrap my head around that one. D’you ever get to the point in a book where you make your characters lose everything and then find you don’t have the heart to continue writing, at least for a while? That’s the point I’m at with this story.
Gotta get out of that funk though and wrap it up.
More anon.
