I'm deep in the edit cave and working the kinks out of The Outlaw's Rebel Lady. I made a list of things as I worked through the second draft and now I'm shining up the manuscript to send to my publisher. What things am I doing in this incarnation of the novel.
1. Using the 'find' feature to check for repetitive and weak words. Some of mine, very, actually, obviously, and the worst, just. I've already done this in the 2nd draft but it always needs another look.
2. I check the timeline again. I usually pretty good with this but it needs to be perfect.
3. Dialogue tags? Are the ones I have necessary? Do I need to add some so the reader understands who is speaking?
4. I am writing a romance, so can I make the hero and heroine click more? Add a little more sexual tension?
5. Does every scene and chapter end in a way to make sure the reader wants to keep reading?
And here's the big thing. I want to have this draft done by next week at this time. Good thing we're supposed to have snow for the next two days. Hopefully, we only get the couple of inches they're calling for and not 30 inches like that last storm.
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What's New?
We had our writers' meeting last Saturday. It's always fun to get together with other writers. It's a really talented group but also very enthusiastic. Our president allowed time for some discussion of industry news and concerns. One of the things discussed was Amazon's new attention to books that have quality issues brought to their attention by complaints. Though some people are concerned, the majority feels this is to address books with major formatting problems or so many misspellings that customers find them unreadable.
Another issue discussed was the writers who have gone the self-published route and have now abandoned it. The most common reason is the amount of work they have to take on themselves. All writers now have to do the majority of the promotion for their books but don't we all just want to write? Many of these writers turning away from indie publishing are looking to small presses. Now if we all can survive Amazon's takeover of publishing.
Personal News
I decided on my A to Z Blogging Theme. I enjoyed my theme last year but I'm going to like this one even more. And the theme we're using over at IWSG, is going to be fun.
Last Friday, my oldest son, the one who got married last summer, asked me to spend the day with him. He scheduled a car inspection. So I picked him up at 8 am. We went to Starbucks until the bookstore opened at ten and hung out there until his car was ready around 5 pm. I took along a book I knew he would like, Son of the Black Sword. He brought his computer to take care of some emails. I took along a paper copy of my book to work on the above 3rd draft. And we talked about books, TV shows and movies, teaching, football, family, and all kinds of stuff. The day was the best gift a mother could ask of her children. He read the entire book, by the way. We both recommend it.
How many drafts do you do of a book before you send it to a publisher or agent? Have you heard about Amazon cracking down on quality of book editing? Did you come up with your theme for A to Z Challenge?
37 comments:
Hi Susan - how lovely to spend the day with your son ... and do lots of catch up, reading etc. Glad the writing group is being successful .. and those words for snow - it's amazing isn't it .. lanugage - love it! Cheers Hilary
Just is a pet word of mine.
Cool you had the day with your son. Can't believe the inspection took all day though.
Heard about Amazon being picky with formatting but not editing.
Enjoy your snow! All we got was rain...
Still not sure if I'm going to do the A-Z, but I have a theme figured out if I do. Too bad it's probably really generic.
I haven't heard about Amazon taking aim at the terribly edited, but it doesn't surprise me. Hopefully, they have competent people review the claims before taking titles down. Heck, I'd do it... free books!
I'm with you on "just" and also for me, "that."
Hunker down in your snow cave/igloo and get those edits done. Stay warm!
I have the same repetitive words in my manuscripts. Thankfully I have great CPs that catch me on those things. Sometimes I only have three or four drafts, but other times, it can be a dozen. It depends on the story. Have a good week! :)
I generally do about three drafts. And I, too, have a list of overused words. Just is at the top of it. I also have some timeline notes—I think I have good handle on it, but I want to make sure.
While going indie was more work, I liked the control.
The only thing I liked about having a publisher was having a tested and seasoned editor.
I am glad Amazon is doing some cracking down with books that might not be edited or poorly edited. Nothing worse than reading a book and finding lots of typos or things that just don't seem to flow.
How neat with the day you spent with your son; so true that is the best gift a parent can get; getting to spend time with an adult child and better yet it was his suggestion :)
betty
I'll write one draft and then do dozens of edits on it.
I wonder how many books Amazon flagged for bad editing?
The find feature is definitely helpful. Just is a word I use a lot, too. Really is probably my worst offender, though.
That's great that you decided on an A to Z theme! I'm between two ideas now but I'm leaning towards one of them more at this point.
Overused words are a shocker for me. Some of them just smack me in the face when I read what I have written. Then I look them up in the thesaurus and think there was a better word all along. lol
The book sounds great. I try to bounce around and read many different books and writers. However, I want to read that one when it is published.
I love the thoroughness of your checks. We check for roughly the same things, minus the sexual tension and plus consistency - like in one scene the character's phone is a flip phone but in a later chapter it's a brick style. I know it's tiny, nitpicky stuff, but it still matters.
On that note, I say good for Amazon. If you can't upload a book that's properly formatted and not riddled with spelling errors, you don't deserve to be a writer. Imagine if you were a musician and tried to sell an album that was full of bum notes, the timing was off in certain spots, and tracks were often split up in the wrong place. Writing isn't easy, but it's not hard to be professional.
Best of luck with your edits! Sounds like you're doing everything you can to make this book as tight as possible. The repetitive words you listed are the same ones I'm often guilty of, too. (I also tend to abuse "even," welp.) Hope you're able to wrap up this draft as soon as you plan!
I love the Find tool. It is such a life-saver. I have a long list of words I look for as soon as I finish writing the first draft and I cut, cut, cut. I always feel so much better once I do. Looking for more places to add sexual tension or emotion is another thing I do.
Thanks for sharing your editing journey. That find, replace tool is fabulous but can be daunting when the whole document shines up yellow, threatening to explode due to repetition :) Have a great week.
That's a handy checklist. Glad you had a good day with your son, good luck finishing your draft :)
Those are great tips! I do all those things during revisions. And I revise more times than I can count. The image about the words for snow made me laugh. I'm still on the fence about A to Z. I'll have to make a decision soon. Good luck with your edits!
Good that amazon is cracking down on books with a huge number of misspellings. Just and seemed are two I keep using over and over.
I think it's good that Amazon looks at what people are posting. No one wants to spend their money on junk full of misspelled words or bad formatting.
I think it's good that Amazon looks at what people are posting. No one wants to spend their money on junk full of misspelled words or bad formatting.
Please, no more snow...
It would be nice to be able to read a cheap book and know that it wasn't full of errors. Amazon's always a bit of a bully with this stuff, though.
I'm glad Amazon's cracking down to be honest. And yes! I've chosen my theme and have already begun working on my posts. I overuse 'just' as well. Every single manuscript. You'd think I'd learn!
I have a theme, I think. Still working on it though.
Self-pubbing is a hard slog, but I'm doing as much promo now for myself as I was when I was with small publishers, so I guess I'm kinda in the same place I was before.
Editors and beta readers point repetitive words out to me. I'll find many myself, but I need to do a better job.
I've come across some unreadable books. An editor is a must for self-published authors.
Great post Susan, I have just sent my manuscript to the publishers so I wait with bated breath as to how much editing I will have to do.
Good luck.
Yvonne.
5 good ideas for revising. I've already used the Find feature to weed out repetitive words, but it's always good to do again.
Glad you had a nice day with your son!
I like the sound of your writing group. "Amazon's takeover of publishing"-- well put. They are into helping writers self-publish, they are traditional publishers with at least a dozen imprints at my last count, they are bookstore, distributor and marketer-- all the biggest and widest of each one of the publishing hats they wear. Good luck with your edits! It's pretty exciting to be on the last leg of that journey.
I think your list is very comprehensive, Susan. I'm in the middle of doing the exact same thing. I kinda love this part.
The number of drafts depends on the novel, but it's fair to say 3-5 big revision drafts with multiple self-editing passes to the final manuscript. I'm revising a manuscript now and rediscovering how much I enjoy this process, probably more than the original writing.
I love the glimpse into your process. I don't let anyone see my manuscript until at least the 3rd draft. In a couple weeks I'll be tossing one of those at a developmental editor. My last novel only went through 8 drafts, surprisingly, and only 2 were big revamps. Here's to learning from the process and getting faster!
Drafts? Depends. For Newstead, I must've had a hundred. For my later projects, usually three.
I love the methodical approach you take for self-editing. I wish more authors did this.I am sure your editor appreciates it.
I speak from experience, as I have taken several freelance editing projects, and many have handed it over to me - after the first draft. Can you believe it? It was then that I decided to take on a project only after I glimpse 5% or the first few chapters. It was such a frustrating experience!
I'm good with Amazon cracking down on books with major issues, but I'm hoping they have solid safeguards in place so one person cannot launch a crusade against someone they have a personal issue with by having their friends report the book. I hope you got some good writing time in during the storm!
Thanks for the third draft tips!
a day with your son sounds like a blast. I hope my kids still want to be around me when they're older. LOL. I'm not sure how many drafts I do. I have the bad habit of editing and rewriting along the way. By the time I do "the end" it's usually the version I like minus the fiddly stuff my editor catches and then I just do a clean up before setting it for pre-order. I wish other vendors(kobo,BN and apple) would be as active with their "publishing arm" as amazon is to keep the field leveled but alas...they're not being as savvy even something as simple as the reports and dashboards or ease of uploading.
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