I finished my new book this week. Not A Hundred Thousand Dragons which is out in May – that’s sitting safe and sound in Severn House – but the one after that. Phew! As anyone who’s ever written a book will know, there’s a huge, yeasty feeling of benevolence to all mankind at this point. That’s because the really hard work of making the damn thing up is over and I can get stuck into the editing. I say editing rather than re-writes, because the word re-write makes me feel depressed. It’s as if all the work you’ve done has to be done again, whereas with editing you’re building on what’s already there.
If anyone’s unpublished and sending their book out, don’t skimp on the editing. Don’t skimp on it anyway, but particularly if you’re unpublished. I did read a How-To book by an American author who advised sending it to a professional at this point. Hum. They charge an awful lot of money and the advice isn’t always good. However, it can sometimes help to have a fresh pair of eyes, so if you’re tempted to go down that route, why not look out for a Writers’ Conference which offers one-to-one consultations? And you’ve got a lot of fellow writers to go to the bar with afterwards, which is always a plus.
So how do you go about editing? Well, in one way it’s very simple. There’s continuity errors to be picked up, for instance. If your hero has brown eyes on page 12, he’d better not (unless it’s a plot point) have green eyes on P212. He doesn’t have to be like David Attenborough and always wear a blue shirt and white trousers, but I read a book (publisher and author nameless) where a baby changed its sex, name and nationality. As this particular baby was quite important to the plot, it was bewildering. Someone should have cared about this poor infant; it was definitely a case for a literary version of Childline.
Editing allows you to pick up on the more breathless coincidences (or, at least, conceal them better) and make sure the hero doesn’t suddenly possess physic abilities (like, how does he know Aunt Augusta hid her will under the loose floorboard in the haunted house? Meredith Maltravers was in the next room/down the pub/studying penguins in Antarctica when Juanita and Gertrude thought they’d seen a ghost and heard the creaking floorboard but really it was Mr Nasty, the Hidden Hand of Surbiton, creeping round the aforesaid haunted house to alter the will and replace it so that Aunt Augusta’s short-sighted lawyer will be convinced that she’s left her entire fortune, plus the cats, to a man she’s never met.)
Most of all though, editing allows you to look at your pride and joy, your very own book, with a reader’s eye. However, this reader has a blue pencil and attitude. Is it boring? Take it out! Why is Meredith so long-winded about penguins? Does he think he’s Ernest Shackleton or someone? Shut the man up! Does the story flow? Does it hang together? If think it was Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch who said, “Murder your darlings,” (he was talking about literature not family life) but I really don’t see why you should. If a passage works, then that’s fine. If it doesn’t, then it has to go, but it might fit better somewhere else.
And look at the first page. On the wall beside my desk is the mantra, Who are they? Where are they? What are they doing? Answer those three questions in the first sentence and you’re off to a good start.
Dolores, I've just finished the first round of editing for A Very Private Grave--my first-ever time to work with an English editor after 30-some published books, mostly set in England and mostly available from English houses as well as American. Well, I've never had an editing experience like it. She was soooo good. Soooo thorough. Soooo right. Which leads me to wonder if the (generally acknowledged in most circles) excellence of English writers over American is due in a large part to your editors. Hmm--that could be a doctoral thesis at least.
ReplyDeleteOn the technique side, After two times through re-writing on the screen, I am now at the point of having no idea what the thing looks like. I'm dying to get alone with the hard copy which will be entirely it's own experience.
Donna Fletcher Crow
Thanks for the comment, Donna - and what a great vote of support for your editor. I don't know if there's any difference in quality between British and American editors. For instance, Jane Finnis's editor is Barbara Peters of Poisioned Pen, and Jane thinks she's the best editor ever.
ReplyDeleteI know exactly wht you mean about having looked at the MS so closely, you can't see it any more. We are need some distance from our work, so we get bring our own, refreshed eyes to bear.
Interesting thoughts, Dolores and Donna, and good luck with the editing. And yes, I feel I'm very lucky to have Barbara Peters as my editor. She's extremely good at her job, knowledgeable and straightforward; and - just as important for me - she's someone I like and trust. Even when I was new and my first novel was a mess - I mean, it needed some work - no, I was right the first time! - even then Barbara treated me with kindness and respect, and helped it to stop being a mess and become a readable mystery. She also has a lovely sense of humour; she calls herself TEE - The Evil Editor!
ReplyDeleteWell, Jane, something certainly happened on the way to the Forum! Your first novel was terrific! (In case anyone doesn't know, it's GET OUT OR DIE! where Roman settlers in Ancient Yorkshire have an uneasy relationship with the native Brits.)
ReplyDeleteBarbara Peters is certainly doing something right, as her company, Posioned Pen, is so respected.