Our family's Capital Room Bar is decorated from head to toe for Christmas, including "snow" in Florida. (You know you're in a really upscale bar when the menu of holiday cocktails comes in a Santa stocking.)
On Friday, Nov. 29, my daughter, Susie, sang several sets of Christmas Music, accompanied by a jazz trio, at The Capital Room Bar. To view a short video, click here.
ADVICE ON EDITING
This is far from the first time I’ve held forth on my particular method of editing, but as I plow my way through the creation of The Phantoms of Lark House (somewhere around Book #53), it seems like a good time to bring up this controversial subject yet again. I admit I haven’t read any “how to” manuals in a long time, but I suspect the advice has not changed much from when I was a beginner. Over and over, one sees (or hears), “Finish the @#$% book!”
Now this might be a good idea if you’re a procrastinator, if you find it difficult to make yourself sit down and write. I have never had that problem. Always a part-time author, I sit down six mornings our of seven—faithfully—and work on my current WIP. Some mornings, I am creating; others, editing. But I do it EVERY SINGLE DAY (except Sunday when I sing in the choir).
I have never followed the advice of “Just plow your way through the draft; edit later.” I cannot even imagine working that way. So, without looking at what I’ve previously written on the subject, below please find Grace/Blair’s method of editing.
EDITING AS YOU GO
WHAT IS EDITING?
If you think your every word is perfect prose the first time around, you likely need an ego-ectomy. Admittedly, a few, a very few, authors are so prolific they must come close to that golden achievement, but 99% of authors don’t. Maybe 99.9% don’t. And you should never be upset you are among the vast majority who lay out words, puzzle over them, agonize over them, always striving to make them better—more colorful, more graphic, less cliché. We find places where we meant to get across a certain point, but somehow it never made it out of our head. The fix? We revise—changing, inserting whatever it takes to make it right.
Or maybe we went off on a tangent, writing beautiful passages, none of which contribute to the story—paragraphs that don’t move the story forward or give readers information they need to understand our characters or our plot.
Editing is making your manuscript better.
Editing again makes “better” sparkle.
Editing is what lifts your story out of the mundane and makes it shine.
PREPARATION- before setting Word One to the Page.
Plot. I have a general overall idea of the plot in my head. I scribble a few notes. (How my plotting method differs from the so-called “rules of writing” is a whole ’nother blog.)
Characters. I begin my Character List with the names of the people who appear in my first scenes. (Really annoying to have to stop mid-sentence and create a name or leave a blank space to be filled in later.) I make an effort to add each new character to the formal Character List so I’m not caught, flat-footed, fishing for a name (or location) in later chapters.
Setting. Having a basic setting fixed in your mind is essential. I may have an opening scene in the dark side of London, but I need to be ready to describe the great opening-up to the English countryside as my hero ventures out of the city. (Or your heroine comes to London, to Brighton, to a country house in Yorkshire, etc., etc.) Readers want not only to see your hero and/or heroine but the setting you create around them.
WRITING.
I never rush. Sometimes the words flow; sometimes, I sit there and play with one sentence or a single paragraph, persisting until I find it at least passable. I usually manage one-third to one-half a scene at each sitting. (Again, I am a part-time author.)
EDITING.
Here is where my method differs radically from the common advice. I know from long experience that reading over my work shines an instant spotlight on where I could make it better. I may add a single word, a sentence, a whole paragraph or two.
I edit hard copy, because that’s what works for me. (If you can edit on screen, fine.) I edit after EVERY CHAPTER.
I get out my angled lap table, red pen, highlighter; sharpen my pencils, and go to work—adding, deleting, clarifying, making a complete mess of my neatly typed pages. And yes, I’m then stuck with inputting all those changes. But, oh, the satisfaction of knowing the manuscript is now so much better.
Frankly, because each chapter builds on the ones that have gone before, I don’t see how anyone can wait until the end of a book to edit it. Surely so many juicy bits, even whole characters, could fall by the wayside. Not to mention that the thought of a FIRST edit of an entire manuscript makes me nauseous. Too big a task.
MORE EDITING.
After editng each chapter separately, I edit again after five chapters; i.e., I edit 1-5, 6-10, 11-15, etc., all the way to end of the book. Therefore, when I begin my first top-to-bottom read, I am on my THIRD edit of each scene.
I used to do only one full run-through. In recent years, I’ve done the top-to-bottom twice before running a final Spell Check and calling it quits.
Which Editing Approach is Right for You?
Only you can decide. My goal is to make newbie authors aware that there are DIFFERENT ways to edit. DO NOT let so-called “expert” advice turn you from the method that works best for you. I happen to believe “polish as you go and do it frequently” makes a better book, but if “dashing through a draft” keeps you from slowing to halt . . .
Nuff said. Stop, consider your options. GO!
~ * ~
For your Holiday reading . . .
Though A Gamble on Love was not written specifically for the holiday season, there is a long holiday scene in which many of the details are thanks to a class I took through the RWA's Beau Monde, lo, these many years ago.
Miss Aurelia Trevor has a problem. Until she reaches the age of
twenty-five, she will have no control over her beloved Pevensey Park,
and by that time her unscrupulous uncle will have run it into the
ground. Marriage to someone other than her uncle's leering son is her
only way out, but, one by one, she rejects the men on her list of
suitors. In desperation, Aurelia does the unthinkable. She hires a
solicitor to find her a husband strong enough to stand up to both her
uncle and her cousin. And soon learns the truth of that old adage: Be
careful what you wish for.
Thomas Lanning is a man of the City. Unlike Aurelia, who stands to
inherit vast land and wealth, he has made his own place in the world. He
is not at all tempted by the suggestion of marriage to an heiress, but
other considerations, such as a power base for a seat in Parliament,
tweak his interest. Plus an unexpected twinge of chivalry when he hears
the full extent of Miss Trevor's difficulties with her uncle and his
family.
Aurelia, who only wants to live in peace on her acres, finds she has
acquired a ready-made family in Thomas's younger sister and brother, as
well as a head-strong husband whose campaign for MP fills her household
with a shockingly odd assortment of characters. It seems her marriage
of convenience is fast becoming a marriage of inconvenience. Just how
far will this strong-willed pair bend to accommodate each other? And
will they do it before it's too late?
Below, two novellas, written for Christmas anthologies, both tending toward being tear-jerkers.
After suffering social disaster at her very first ball—severely
aggravated by the horror of an unfeeling family—Miss Pamela Ashburton
hides herself in the country, expecting to live out her life as a
spinster. Major Will Forsythe, injured in body and spirit at Waterloo,
comes to the country to escape the concern of well-meaning relatives.
Privacy, peace and quiet—that's all he wants. Until he meets a holiday
sprite in search of mistletoe. And the Christmas spirit, in the form of a
cluster of white berries, gives them both a second chance.
Marriage, yes. Love, no. Lady Christine Ashworth's glorious Season in London comes to an abrupt close with the death of her father. Her home now belongs to someone else; her fiancé is conspicuous by his absence; and her younger sister is as miserable in their new home as she is. What can she do but accept an offer from the despised heir, even if Christine now considers all men anathema, particularly the perfect stranger who has taken her father's place?
Author's Note: This novella was first published in a Christmas anthology as THE LAST SURPRISE, but I always felt it needed more scope. Therefore, ten thousand-plus words have been added. A LADY LEARNS TO LOVE is a poignant tale of those faced with tragedy, amplified by unforeseen circumstances, who still manage to survive, aided by the spirit of Christmas.
~ * ~
For a link to Blair's website, click here.
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Thanks for stopping by,
Grace (Blair Bancroft)