Editing is Hard Work - How Do You Know Your Work Is Good Enough

Sarah Duncan has been running a great series of posts on editing. The latest one is here. The big thing is that editing is hard work. I can hear my inner student SIGH. I hate hard work or at least I did. I have learned to love it. Back when I mentioned I was on the 27th draft of August Rock people were amazed so I outlined my process (here). It's long and there are no short cuts. But in the past I would try and find them...The result was that I short changed myself and didn't get the result I wanted (an agent, a publishing deal and an audience for my stories).

Look at it this way...if you want muscles you need do strength training (unless you are still growing when it appears that food and sleep are the only requirement - casts glance at sleeping teens). If you want to be a concert pianist then you practice. If you want a publishable book you have to write, rewrite and edit. I know there may well be a few cases out there where the first draft was flawless but they are rare. So if publication is your goal embrace the work.

For make no mistake it's work and at times I rebel against this. I am lazy at heart. I don't want to read the damn thing 300 hundred times. I don't what to check my verbs, adverbs, adjectives....I don't want to look at each chapter, scene, paragraph and sentence. But I must if I want readers to love the story and not feel the writing. I make sure that each word, each sentence and so on is there for a reason - and just because I like isn't good enough. As Donald Maass reminds again and again in his books...tension is the key to page turning quality...this of course is another matter altogether but while you are examining your writing so closely that should be in the back of your mind....more on this later.

So coming back to that issue...how do you know your work is good enough? Does every word in your story carry its weight and move your story forward? Each sentence? Paragraph? Scene? Chapter?

Now be honest...have you looked that closely? If not check out Sarah's posts because they are a good starting point.

Head-space and Editing

Head-space is a funny old term...but an important one when editing ,well, for me any way. What I mean by this is the ability to think of the story or large chunks of the story as a whole. In theory this should be easy but I find that in practice it can be very hard, especially for the writer. I don't know about others but when writing I am intent on the that scene, that moment in time and frequently can forget the everything else like how it fits into the story and all it's ramifications. My heads starts getting fuzzy just thinking about it...But boy is it important. Think of it as a camera on close focus and then pulling back to wide angle...I'm struggling to pull things into focus in wide angle....

At the moment I using draft 26 of August Rock as the starting point and draft 3 as a reference point for the of writing draft 27. In draft 26 I knew my voice (discovered it writing The Cornish House and the books that followed) and I knew I'd lost it in August Rock somewhere between say draft 5 and 25. So my goal for draft 26 was to put my voice back into the story which meant to darken it...not in a bad way but make it deal with more than just boy meets girl. I think on the whole I achieved it. I can't remember what the goal of draft 3 was other than to improve, but draft 3 contains the hero's pov view and lots of deleted scenes that I find I'm needing for their details - those terribly important things that ground a scene.

So for draft 27 I'm changing from 3rd person to 1st...this does not just mean changing from she to I - oh, how I wish it did. It means re-envisioning each scene and rewriting it. In my head it's not what does Judith see but what do 'I' see and feel. What am 'I' thinking?

At the same time, I have given a character a Lazarus moment... all the previous drafts the story had begun after he was in the ground or about to be put in it. Now he's alive and kicking for the first 5th of the book which mean I'm moving scenes willy nilly and trying to hold onto so many different considerations that I'm finding I struggle with head space to put the whole picture together.

I think if I could use index cards this would help but past attempts have proved futile. I just feel so spacey and long for the clarity of the first draft when I can just write through the story and not try and weave the old with the new....I wish there was a magic wand to clear away the fog but there isn't. I must use instinct to clear and hope I can fix the gaps later when I feel the story is finally coming together.

Do any of you struggle with head-space?

Growing As A Writer - When Is It Good Enough?

Official Group Photo of the Authors at EAFOL

Yesterday I mentioned I'm on my 27th draft of August Rock. Before I clarify, let me say that I also began book eight this November and August Rock was book two. Just wanted you to know that I didn't spend all my time polishing one book. Instead, I write a new one then go back and take all that I learnt from writing that one and apply it to August Rock or until recently The Cornish House or whatever the current book is.

Also a bit like when you are learning the piano...or at least how i remember it. You learn a piece of music in parts...left hand then right or vice versa. Well for me - with each rewrite I focused on a different aspect because I still had so little experience that I couldn't do an edit for pace, look at spelling and at continuity at the same time. Each phase of editing was new to me so they had to be kept apart. I still can't do all the editing required in one pass...

So if I were set my process out it would look like this...

a. write dirty first draft
b. leave it alone and edit previous book
c. maybe write synopsis for story now that I know my character and what will happen thanks to step a. I also look at this point to see if I have any themes - I usually do but I don't know them or see until the first draft is done
d. look a the twists and turns of the story...are there places where i can turn up the heat and make things worse for my heroine? This draft is about upping the conflict and also beginning to look at pace
e. leave it alone and rework another story which is at a different stage
f. at this point I look at the words...in the past this might have been a couple of drafts, but now seems to be one. I look at verbs - am i always using the same one? Are they strong enough or are they fiddly? I look at word choice - again am I always using the same ones - I get certain words into my head and use them to death...
g. rework another script
h. now I look at sentencse and paragraphs... do they vary? are they in the right order? (see my comment yesterday about page 2 of The Hunger Games - boots before trousers) are they necessary??? This phase hits on my key weakness - repetition.
i. work on another script
j. look at the story at a whole again and break it into chapters - make sure that each chapter grabs you at beginning and end. Finally does the promise of chapter one get fulfilled in the last chapter...

Long process isn't it and now with adding an agent and an editor it becomes longer...
k. agents sees things I've missed and I work on her suggestions
l. editor can see the book as whole in a way I don't think I'll ever be able to...so I will rework again
m. copy editing...who knew my characters sat up so straight so often!
n. proof reading...
o. letting go....

It is true a book is never 'done' until it's published...

Looking at my 'process' above, it sure seems like a lot of work and it is. But I can hope that as I grow as a writer somethings will become instinct, but i know it will always be hard work because I always need to be pushing myself to be a better writer. And by that I mean in the technical/words department and in the story stakes...I was never going to be a concert pianist - i didn't have the passion, skill or most importantly the hunger. However I want to be the  writing equivalent of of that and that means all this 'practice' draft after draft will help me reach my goal - being read.

So now I'm working on August Rock with new eyes...and it's exciting and scary. I want it to be better, need it to be better...

How many drafts do you do? And how much do you try an achieve in a draft?

How Do You Know It's Good Enough - Part 2

I know I owe you a few posts about the Emirates Airlines Festival of Literature but I keep coming back to the question of how do you know when your work is ready. This of course does tie into the discussion that came up at the panel on First Fictions...

First off let me state...the first draft is never the one to send.

And in my case nor was the sixth for The Cornish House. It was the seventh.  At the moment I am working on book two of my contract with Orion, August Rock. This will be draft 27, yup 27. August Rock is the book that i really began to learn the skill required to write and I wrote the thing to death. Now I am trying to breath life back into a good story...

This morning in order to find a scene I had long since cut, I went back to 2007 or to be precise draft two (remember nothing is ever wasted). Now the scene is written in a point of view that no longer exists but the concrete details of the setting were what I was looking for...they are like gold dust. Much of the writing made me wince...and yes, this version was submitted and rejected. And boy do I know why now.

So I come back to when is it ready...first, it's not ready because you are heartily sick of it or your brother told you it's good, unless of course your brother is Jonny Geller. It's not ready if it's still filled with mistakes..grammar, spelling or otherwise...

Luigi Bonomi stated clearly in the First Fictions section that the spark has to be there in the first three pages...ideally on the first.

So they are not going to see the great story if they are pulled out of it by mistakes...I know there are huge success stories out there with bad writing but they are few. More importantly is that what you want people to saying about your book...great story but crap writing. My hope is that my writing serves the story...it should be invisible.. But that's me and others may well feel differently but never does bad writing help a story unless that what's it's about...Saw a link again this morning to the book HOW NOT TO WRITE A NOVEL...it had me howling with laughter which of course is it's intention.

So as a test - pick out your favourite book in your genre and then your book and have someone else read the first three pages aloud... now in all honesty how does your compare? Good? OK? Needs work?

Don't submit yet if your in your heart know that it needs a bit more work but you're thinking ...surely the agent/publisher will see through that...they won't. They don't have time. Treat them with respect and polish that submission to within an inch of it's life...you may only have one shot.

ps...I can tell I am truly a nerd now thanks to being edited - copy edited and proofed. In the fabulous YA book the HUNGER GAMES I was pulled out of the story on page two...

'I swing my legs off the bed and slide into my hunting boots. Supple leather that has moulded to my feet. I pull on trousers, a shirt, tuck my long dark braid up into a cap, and grab my  forage bag.'

I was out of the story...trying to figure how she put her boots on before her trousers...what type of boots or trousers can you do this with... Yes I know I am very sad...But I need to hold onto that to apply it to my own work....but not in the first draft- there my characters run free and dress as they damn well please

Reading and Books Set in Cornwall

First I'm not sure if I've posted this before but it's certainly worthy doing so again. Over on Read_Warbler's blog, she has a wonderful list of books set in Cornwall here.

And this leads me on to reading of which I have been doing a fair bit- both novels and research. I tend not to read novels or more correctly more recent ones when I am writing a first draft for fear that the writer's voice or style will creep into my head and then into my work. However when I'm rewriting/editing it's different....so recently I have read some fabulous books - THE SOMNAMBULIST by Essie Fox, JUBILEE by Shelley Harris, HARNESSING PEACOCKS by Mary Wesley and a book I won't name. I won't name it because I didn't like it. I made me angry. I found the writing sloppy and the head hoping annoying and plot trite. It held me back on other books for a long time. I could only take about ten pages at a time and at one point I threw the book out of the bath and across the room. Yes, it made me that mad...

Now I know you are wondering what book and what writer but I won't say...you are also wondering why I persevered???? Well, this book has sold in the shed loads as have all this writer's books. I felt there must be something to learn from it aside from how not to head hop....

Let me jump away for a second...because in Harnessing Peacocks there is some head hopping but it didn't upset me - the changes were pretty well signalled without me having to go back a reread the paragraph to find out which head I was in...so let's just say that it was head hopping well done, but when rating the book on Goodreads I gave it a 4 even though I loved the story....

So I found myself wondering does head hopping bother most readers? Do they notice? Is it just a thing that pisses off writers like me? I have tried to remember my reading days pre-writing to see if I can remember if it upset me or pulled me out of the story....and I can't.

Let me just say...I love books with multiple points of view, but not in the same scene... or page but definitely not in the same paragraph....but I may be alone in this. Also I found it frustrating investing energy in minor characters whose head I was in for maybe three scenes then they were never heard from again (there has to be another way to get that information to the reader in my opinion)....enough said...

Now, I had to stop reading another book recently but not because it was bad...in fact it was the exact opposite....just too good and written in first person and that's what I'm trying to rewrite August Rock in so I'm afraid I will try and copy the excellence and fail....I will tell you this book though - Julie Cohen's THE SUMMER OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY. It will have a wait a bit more until I am sure of my voice in the first person...

On a final note...I was interviewed for radio here in Dubai regarding the upcoming Emirates Airlines Festival of Literature...and they asked my most feared question which I'll blog about tomorrow.

Oh and it's so exciting...on Monday evening I'm going to the Orion author party!!!! Will try and take pictures to share...just not sure what I'm going to wear yet and oh, what shoes to wear.....

A Tale of Two Prologues - THE CORNISH HOUSE and AUGUST ROCK

Now I know I've posted about this before but it has come up again on twitter because I axed my prologue again in the rewrite process....No, I can hear some of you cry and hurrah from the rest.


So I thought I would share my thinking...as muddled as it is. First though let me state that as a reader I kinda like prologues but as a writer I'm not to sure.


So both THE CORNISH HOUSE and AUGUST ROCK have had prologues, in fact AUGUST ROCK has three different ones. The most recent prologue for AUGUST ROCK died this morning when I 'merged' it into chapter one, scene one. AND no, I didn't just relabel it. 


When I met with my brilliant editor Kate back in Decemeber to talk about what i was doing with August Rock we spoke about pov. I knew with certain clarity that AR needed to be written in first person but THE CORNISH HOUSE was written in third...another story on that another time...


So I had sent her before the meeting a few chapter rewritten in first to see if she was 'cool' with it...she was but the prologue wasn't right. She knew why I wanted it there but the voice was too old. The heroine Jude is supposed to be 13 in the prologue....


I went away from the meeting thinking - worrying I know...it should be a doddle to make the voice more youthful. Well, it wasn't. Believe me I tried. The reason it wasn't ...because what I wanted to convey wasn't what a 13 year old girl would think or see even if she was mature....


That left me with a problem. I needed that prologue because without that knowledge the bomb that drops in chapter one scene two wouldn't have the impact I wanted....


Well, I chewed on that for a week...and finally I realized that by sacrificing my best opening linse ever ...The incoming tide lapped over my red toenails and wet the brilliant white lace of my wedding gown. Tears caused it all to blur to pink. I hate pink not that anyone had cared or had listened.


I could do this. I had to start the story sooner and build those thoughts (the important bits of the prologue) into something that was happening right then and there...


So i sacrificed my best opening (although those words are now later in the chapter) and altered the timing of the scene (only by ten minutes)and was able to to lose the prologue and I think it's much better for it....

My experience of prologues was slightly different for THE CORNISH HOUSE. But again it involved some of the best writing I have ever done (and now no one will see!). I can't tell what it was, but I needed that scene right there at the start of the book to focus me while I rewrote it. By putting it at the front I couldn't forget it and nor could my heroine Maddie. 


Confession to make. I did try after that rewrite to put that scene in other places later in the book, but in the end the emotion was the page without the need of it...in fact I think it's stronger because it isn't there.


So prologues....ask yourself ..
Why? What is the scene doing? Teasing? Relaying important info? Character stuff? Foreshadowing?


Once you know the purpose you then then ask if there is a different way to achieve your goal...then ask is it a better way? If yes, then ditch the prologue and kill those darlings....What's your take on prologues?
 

New Year - New Book

Well, it's not a new book exactly but August Rock. Yesterday I began the rewrite...gulp. I know what I need to do which is good but that dreaded fear that it won't be good enough is seeping in. I know this fear can be helpful. After all it makes me work harder to make the book better. BUT I need to keep it in check because if I let it run it could stop me writing!!! And that must not happen at all costs...

Julie and Martin Warner, owners of the South Cafe, with post card of  THE CORNISH HOUSE

On a fun note, in the days before Christmas I received wonderful post cards made from the cover THE CORNISH HOUSE. I just love them. On the back it says 'wish you were here'...so I snapped a few pictures of the post card on display at our favourite restaurant, South Cafe, which features in the book and you can find South Cafe on Facebook here.

Now must stop thinking of the wonderful lunches we ate there over the holidays and think about being a 13 year old Victorian boy named Toby....

New Steps Ahead

As some many of you have been kindly following THE CORNISH HOUSE's progress I realize I have been remiss and haven't provided you any updates. This summer, as you may remember, I did the BIG edit and ripped the first third of the book apart (learned a huge amount - like how to kill more darlings than I even knew I had- whole chapters went- and that Inner Voice is always right). I was scared to send the edits in. Had I made the book worse and not better? Had I failed my characters? These were the questions that the crows of doubt were asking?

Instead I should have been listening to my inner voice, which agreed with my sage editor on pace, which was much of what the edit was about...also about giving my reader more of what they would want...This is a new step because aside from a trusted few...well, readers have been very limited in number. And this is what I am taking into the work I am doing on AUGUST ROCK.

But back to my edits on TCH...if I had been listening to my inner voice who was pleased the work I wouldn't have sweated so much waiting for the verdict. I thought I'd need to go in and rip some more, but no! Agent loved it and so did editor and so did Biddy (who read through the first four chapters...reassurance and hand holding were required!).

The email from editor arrived last week saying yes...I'd done my work well (phew) and those few things i didn't agree on (Inner Voice spoke on not changing some things) were good now that other changes had taken place...the journey was there...the reader would follow.

Now comes the copy edits...gulp. New stage. New skills needed. I should have them in about two weeks...as a dyslexic I am expecting the whole book to be covered in red...

Speaking of covers...I've had another glimpse and it's close but i still can't share it with you...soon, I hope.

Edits and Cornish Research

On Friday evening I pressed the send button on the edits! I know I will have more to come, but for now they have gone. YAY!!!!

While I was doing them I did manage to do a bit of research...one piece for THE CORNISH HOUSE and the other for AUGUST ROCK and we did it on the first of August which is appropriate for AUGUST ROCK....

On the first August with the spring tides it was perfect for exploring coves along the Helford River that are rarely accessible and one of these coves is used in a new scene in THC. The first draft of the scene I had written from memory but I need to verify my facts....

As you can see from the photos the tide was way out - a spring tide. It is during tides like this that August Rock becomes visible above the water of Falmouth Bay. Normally the reef is hidden and only the green buoy alerts the mariner of the peril at hand. 

I have several scenes in AR, in the water around the reef. Therefore I had to know what it was like. So I volunteered DS1 who is an experienced scuba diver to jump overboard, snorkel around it for me and take pictures. The day wasn't ideal for photography because it was overcast and the conditions were not those I was writing about, but it was better then no idea at all.

To say that we were all a little bit uncomfortable about anchoring our boat so close and chucking DS1 out of the boat was an understatement. It was a good exercise in 'how would my character feel' - dry mouth, heart racing, sweaty palms and excitement. I experienced them all while I watched him fight the current and paddle about.

Working Mums and Edits

It's a good thing I checked on-line yesterday....because I discovered a wonderful article in The National (UAE) by Alice Haine...A Mother's Dilema.  The article features four different mothers and I'm one of them. You can read it here. If you scroll through the pictures at the top I'm the third one (the one with all the books behind me)....

This past week I met with my editor to discuss the edits...and despite my nerves it was brilliant. I am so excited about about them now that we have talked them through and done a bit of brainstorming. For so long as a pre-published writer I have worked hard in my own little head battling out scenarios....now I have two people (my editor and my agent) who will listen to my ideas and help me figure out which one is the best. Brilliant.

The other big news that came out of the meeting is that THE CORNISH HOUSE will be out in May 2012! Gulp.

No time to think about that...edits to do on TCH and a complete overhaul of AUGUST ROCK...

Filling The Well and Edits and Books

I haven't posted in ages...exam revision (DS1's  and DS2's) and general STUFF. However I have been to Cornwall which was glorious and it did refill my well so to speak. Below you'll see some photos I took on a walk with DS1...this walk was for my work on AUGUST ROCK (did I tell you that AR is book 2?). I also did some work on THE CORNISH HOUSE and a posted a little bit about that over on The Heroine Addicts blog here.

Also to replenish my inner resources I have been reading. First up was the biography of the writer Mary Wesley - WILD MARY by Patrick Marnham. WOW - she packed about ten lives into one.

Next up was GETTING AWAY WITH IT by Julie Cohen. Now Julie is a great friend so i suppose my view is biased but it is a fab book that deals with hard issues with such humour...her heroine is very kick ass too. I have always loved Julie's books but this one was a real step up in emotion, issues, and she made me cry (and blush too as I was reading one scene at the breakfast table when DS1 wandered in...I hasten to add I was blushing before his arrival!).

I am working my way through Stephen King's ON WRITING (enjoying it) and have just started reading the SOMNAMBULIST by Essie Fox and would be engrossed in it now but last night the edits arrived for TCH....a touch distracting....but I may just put the edits aside and enjoy the book for the rest of today....












I'll leave you with a glimpse of beauty...