Novel Craft Editing Workshop: Content Editing Checklist

Content editing, also known as substantive or developmental editing, involves reading through your work, while ignoring the small lapses you see, in order to evaluate its structural soundness. While content editing, you should ask yourself if your novel is coherent, logical and complete. Here's my checklist:

Plot

• Is it believable? 
• Is it predictable?
• Are all needed elements included in your first chapter? (I'll go into detail about this in a future post.)
• Are there plot holes? 
• Could you tighten tension and pacing?
• Have you included twists?
• Does your story evolve naturally?
• Have you included enough subplots?
• Does everything weave together smoothly?
• Does it resolve well?
• Is something missing? If so, what?
• Have you proved your theme?
• Does it drag on too long or conclude too abruptly?
• Have you tied up every thread?

Characterization

• Are your characters' believable?
• Do their motivations ring true? 
• Are their fears realistic?
• Do their personalities have depth?
• Do they speak differently or all sound the same?
• Is all speech appropriate to the time period?
• Is the dialogue natural?
• Do they have distinguishing characteristics?
• Does the plot flow from their desires and fears, and are these consistent in proving your theme? 
• Are your characters' reactions missing or implausible?
• Have you made your main characters' deepest fear come true in the black moment?
• Is there definite growth on the part of your main character toward a personal epiphany?
• Do any other characters experience epiphanies? If so, do they grow toward them?
• Does the climax and resolution evolve from your characters' motivations?

Setting

• Is your story's setting dominant or nonexistent?
• Is it believable?
• Is there something missing? What?
• Have you anchored well enough in the time period?

Areas to Revise or Delete

• Instances of telling you should change.
• Inconsistencies
• Retellings
• Back story dumps.
• Scenes that don't take the story forward or that seem weak.
• Anything that might work better at a different place in the story.

Content editing isn't the easiest part of the editing process. Bear in mind that how well you handle this first process determines the ease with which you'll go through the rest of the editing processes. 


If you have anything to add to my list, by all means, leave a comment and let me know.

Take a Time Out

As we struggle to find time to write, market our books and sell ourselves, it is important from time to time to step back and get in touch with the personal world we live in. Like you, I am challenged to set goals and follow through with plans of action. But I know that unless I make the people around me as important as my personal goals, my accomplishments will shallow. It is in our relationships that we find significance and meaning.

This summer, I extend a challenge to you as I do for myself.

· Spend one whole day with your spouse away from your home. Leave cell phones at home. Agree that for this one day, you will not talk about work, the future or home jobs. Instead, focus on each other. Walk. Talk. Be silent. But be together. Get to know each other on a deeper level.

· Spend a day with each of your children alone. Don’t sit on the park bench and watch them play. Become engaged with them. Create a safety zone where your child or teen can genuinely talk about their concerns and feelings without reprimand or sermons. Listen. Encourage. Validate.

· Find one person you don’t know very well and connect with them. Don’t tweet or write on Face Book walls. Put down your blackberries and laptops, take your face out of the computer screen and get to know someone in real time. Look them in the face and in the eye. Become interested in who they are. What do they like to do? What are they struggling with in life? What are their fears and anxieties? Connect.

· Practice communication skills. We often think communication is all about speaking and forget it is more about listening. Give that person your total and undivided attention. Give feedback, and ask questions to be sure you understand what the other is trying to say. Eliminate judgment, put downs or ridicule (which is often very subtle). Instead of offering solutions to problems, offer understanding, validation, and acceptance.

· Take a walk with God. Don’t limit the time, or try to create a special feeling. Don’t worry about what you are going to say. Allow Him to lead. Simply “be” with Him.

We get so mired in the urgency of life that we lose our sense of self and our connection to those we love. Stepping back and being mindful in the moment with God and others can help clarify what is really important in the overall scheme of things.

Blessings for a meaningful summer.

©2011 Marlene Anderson, MA, LMHC, NCC

I will not be posting for two weeks as I am going on a singing trip. My next posting will be in July when I will start a series on communication.

Novel Craft Editing Workshop: 5 Ways to Edit

Editing. We love it. We hate it. Few remain neutral on the subject. It takes time and energy to follow inspiration, develop plots, and create first drafts. But it doesn't end there. We get to tell our stories draft after draft, again and again. With that as a given, and in light of the need to produce excellent manuscripts to survive as writers, shouldn't we train ourselves to edit well?

Much as a vegetable garden takes the work of cultivation, planting, watering, weeding and harvesting; bringing a written work to the table doesn't happen without blood, sweat and tears. Expect it, and you'll be ready when an honest diet results in growing pains. You'll develop your author muscles as you work "in the field." And when that field is plowed and ready for its next planting, you'll sigh with contentment.

I once worked as a field laborer at an organic farm to receive a share of food from a community-supported agriculture (CSA) farm. The first morning that I showed up for work, I had no idea what to do. Someone had to teach me. I needed to know which crops in which field required attention on a given day, where the tools were, how to use them, and even how to apply different styles of weeding. And when harvest time came, it demanded even more finesse. Why do I bring this up? Because editing is a lot like farming. Just as my skills as a home gardener wouldn't see me through working on an agricultural farm, so do instinctive editing efforts become inadequate for refining a publishable work. It takes more. Good instincts give you an advantage, but conscious knowledge will take your manuscript farther on its way to becoming publishable.

How to Edit

Terminology varies, depending on the source, but editing can be divided into four categories, which I will call content editing, technical editing, copy editing, proofreading and hard editing. I've listed them, below, in the order you should work on them.

1. Content editing involves reading through your work while ignoring the small lapses you see in order to evaluate its structural soundness. Are all needed elements included in your first chapter? Are your characters' motivations believable? Is your setting nonexistent or dominant? Does your story evolve naturally? Are there plot holes?  Inconsistencies? Retellings? How's the pacing? Could you tighten the tension? Where are there instances of telling you should change? What more could or should happen? Have you tied up every thread? 
2. Technical editing is where you double check facts and historical details.
3. Copy editing your manuscript (also known as line editing) is when you go through your manuscript, line by line, to improve usage, punctuation and grammar; adhere to stylistic precedents; and check spelling. It's senseless to put this earlier in the process, when so much else is in flux.
4. Proofreading can be fun when you see it as a scavenger hunt for typos. You should proofread your own manuscript, but then get others you trust into the act. This is where multiple sets of eyes comes in handy. 
5. Hard editing usually comes from an editor other than the author. Trust me when I tell you that you are too close to your work for objectivity. The fact that you wrote it means you may take certain details for granted and thus omit letting the reader in on them. You need hard editing even if others laud you for your critiques because it's hard to spot your own errors and vulnerabilities.

I'll cover each of these in detail in upcoming weeks. As always, I welcome your comments and perspectives.  

What kind of World are you creating

When we are young, we can’t wait to take the reins of life and live it our way. By middle age, we begin making excuses for our bad choices and lack of personal responsibility. And when we become senior citizens, we can’t wait to get off the work train, sit back and enjoy our entitlements.

As I reflect on the world around me, a world that seems to be going faster and faster, demanding more and more of us, I see the lives of people begin to unravel. Pressures lead to short cuts; which lead to excuses; which lead to subtle lies; which lead to blaming and shirking of responsibility. It is considered “cool” to get away with something; to live any way we choose. There is an arrogance as well as a sense of entitlement that has become pervasive in the world today. As technology makes our lives more transparent, there follows a bolder “so what” attitude.

As writers, fiction or otherwise, our words carry weight with those who read our stories. Whether writing books or blogging, we are challenged to consider the message we impart. As Christian writers we are mandated to share the love of God through Christ. I believe what we write must also reflect not only the struggle of mankind with good and evil, but the need for personal responsibility. As writers, our own lives are held to a higher standard.

At a time when we struggle to keep up with all the latest technology to market our books and sell ourselves, I propose that we also step back and get in touch with the personal world we live in. Have we deliberately set aside time for our families and with God? Or are those times sandwiched in between the busy schedule of sending in query letters, twittering, and finishing publication deadlines.

Like you, I am goal oriented and need a plan of action in order to accomplish things. But I am reminded constantly that unless my personal goals are secondary to the needs of the people around me, they will become meaningless. Am I available when a friend calls? Do the people in my life know that they are more important to me than my schedules? Do they know that I take seriously what it means to be a Christian and follower of Jesus Christ? Does my daily life reflect that walk instead of just the talk? It is a challenge I take as seriously as my writing.

©2011 Marlene Anderson, MA, LMHC, NCC

Developing Your Character

It may just be me, but I find that my lead characters in the fictional stories I devise always have at their core the characteristics I long to see in myself. I place in their persona the needed determination, the will to press on, the hunger for truth and a compassion for others that affect every decision they make. The “good guy” never uses foul, vulgar language. They never take advantage of another person and always seem to find the creative resources necessary to escape the ever present trap set by the “bad guy.”

This is not without trials, however. Dangers lurk and troubles loom as my “hero” presses further into his purpose. The story unfolds and their personalities deepen. They grow in wisdom, avoid earlier mistakes and overcome past failures. Finally, ultimately, they climb the final mountain, overcome the last obstacle, defeat the villainous foe and win that ever-elusive victory. As I write the final page, I look back to see the challenges my lead character had to endure to achieve the final triumph and I know that it was good.

Have you ever heard the statement: “Art imitates life?”

If we are willing to launch our fictional characters into situations that are necessary to make them who they need to be so that they can achieve the final, ultimate victory, how much more in real life does God send us through the refining fires of experience to shape our character into the image of His Son? Romans 5:3-4 says, “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

If we, as authors, know that our characters need to go through the cauldron of difficulty in order to become the hero of the story, where did we get that idea from? It comes from the fact that, in reality, God does the very same to us. Art does imitate life, for in life we all have to face trials of many kinds. It is through those very trials that we develop the character needed to face life heroically.

Do you believe that God wants you to be victorious? Do you believe that God wants you to overcome the failings of your past and the obstacles of your future? Do you believe that God has no “ordinary” children but has nobility planned for you? Victory, nobility and the power to overcome is all won through the crucible of circumstances that the Divine Author of life has purposed for His storied characters.

It may just be me, but I long to see those noble qualities of my lead characters mirrored in my own life. If we sent our “heroes” through difficult circumstances to develop their character then know that God will send us through the trials of life to develop our character as well. It is the only way we will ever see the qualities of Christ mirrored in our lives.

©2011
Rev. Michael Duncan

Reflection

Last weekend, Memorial Day, was a time of reflection, remembering and re-visiting our grief for those we have lost on the battlefields; a time of honoring sacrifice and duty. Sacrifice, duty and honor are words we repeat and hear every year. They ring true and for a moment, we reflect on what they mean to soldiers in combat and to us. But then we shift our attention from the holiday break once again to life as usual. But as I resume my usual routines, the words of sacrifice, duty and honor remain in the fringes of my mind.

As a counselor, I listen to stories of people’s lives that often resemble combat zones. The bombs are not ones that rib apart the physical body, but instead rip apart the soul and spirit; the bullets, the careless words we shoot out of our mouth either in the heat of the moment or careless consideration with the targets being our loved ones, family, friends and neighbors instead of enemies.

Military personnel go through rigorous training to become soldiers. They learn the benefits of discipline, from following orders to taking care of their gear and becoming personally responsible for their actions. They learn that sacrifice, duty and honor are part of developing character in order to live principled lives. Could we learn something from that military training? Can we hold ourselves to a more disciplined standard that leads to self regulation in all areas of our life, not just in a social or work setting? If we did, would we listen to our spouses and children, think twice before saying something hurtful or careless, and take responsibility for our responses to whatever is happening.

Self regulation and self discipline are more than establishing good work habits that enable us to set and reach goals. It is also the basis for being good neighbors and friends. It is establishing a code of ethics based on forgiveness, understanding, negotiation and consideration. It is setting a higher standard for our actions and behaviors. It sets boundaries we honor and keep. Without self discipline we will drift from one experience to another without purpose or meaning. Without self regulation we will not be in charge of our lives. And we will become vulnerable to minefields of self destruction or the destruction of other people.

I challenge myself to be more aware of the things I do and say and I extend the same challenge to each of you.

©Marlene Anderson, MA, LMHC, NCC

Novel Craft Editing Workshop: What I Learned From Edits

Signing my first book contract ranked somewhere between graduating from college and giving birth. It's hard to describe the elation of a dream come true. I didn't come off my cloud for several months, right around the time the first of several rounds of edits for DawnSinger hit.

I would like to say that my novel needed little revision, but that wouldn't be the truth. Besides the fact that I had a lot to learn, there are stylistic precedents for fiction. In this workshop, I hope to impart what I learned during my edits to save you time and trouble.

The Novel Craft Editing Workshop will cover organizing for editing as well as how to evaluate content, find overused words and phrases, rectify common mistakes and get the most value from every scene.

Join me each Saturday in the coming weeks and we'll work together to bring excellence to your novel.

© 2011 Janalyn Voigt, author of novel books

7 Ways to Rev Up Your Writing (and Yourself)

I plan to pick up a rock from somewhere special, perhaps a sandy beach or along a beautiful trail, and emblazon one word on it. You’ve probably seen such rocks in gardens and windowsills, engraved with PEACE, THINK, or BELIEVE. My stone will read Dream.  I’ll build a garden around my rock in a place where it’s easy to drink in the joy of nature. There’s something about being in creation to help a person, well, create.

As we rush through life, willy nilly, it’s easy to forget to dream. And yet, dreaming is a writer’s lifeblood. Without it we won’t...(Read More.)