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Recently received editor letter for my next book, which is perceptive and insightful. Editing is my favourite part of the process (cutting MS by 22%/culling characters...).
I know this is weird. So, I thought it might be interesting to do an editorial tweetalong thread. 1/?
I know this is weird. So, I thought it might be interesting to do an editorial tweetalong thread. 1/?
Itâll be quite useful for me to reflect on what Iâm doing at the end of each dayâs work, and I know lots of people hate editing, so it might even be useful for others!
Iâm on paternity leave just now, so it wonât be immediate. Iâm just far too tired to do anything...
Iâm on paternity leave just now, so it wonât be immediate. Iâm just far too tired to do anything...
So, here we go.
First thing to do is view any feedback as a positive contribution. Every single part of it - cold criticism is excellent fuel for your creative fire. I got a postcard response to an MS I'd sent out when I was about 25 (the only response I received) which...
First thing to do is view any feedback as a positive contribution. Every single part of it - cold criticism is excellent fuel for your creative fire. I got a postcard response to an MS I'd sent out when I was about 25 (the only response I received) which...
...said simply 'YOUR DIALOGUE ISN'T WORKING'. Great, I thought, and threw myself into dialogue work, reading people who do it well and letting it get under my skin. Alan Bennett, principally, who has that knack of making characters seem real with a single sentence. Anyway...
Every note is a good note.
That DOESN'T mean you have to agree, or realise their demands. But that feedback from someone else's experience of your work should make you reflect on whether you have achieved your goals, or REALLY need that element. If you decide you do, great!
That DOESN'T mean you have to agree, or realise their demands. But that feedback from someone else's experience of your work should make you reflect on whether you have achieved your goals, or REALLY need that element. If you decide you do, great!
Next step, I identify my targets. The editorial feedback arrives in long-form prose, headed for characters and themes, and there can be crossovers and multiplicities of points as a result. Where to start?
I make a table of what I need to do, identifying in the first column each editorial request - and in my own words, so I can check I've understood.
Next column contains my response to that note: a justification, agreement, rejection of that reading... whatever I think of it.
Next column contains my response to that note: a justification, agreement, rejection of that reading... whatever I think of it.
And the final column contains the action I'll take to meet that editorial requirement (if any!)
The clarity of communication through this is fantastic, and means that everything is broken down - no longer a lengthy essay about what's wrong with the book...
The clarity of communication through this is fantastic, and means that everything is broken down - no longer a lengthy essay about what's wrong with the book...
...but a series of actionable steps, paired with my thought process. No more punching at smoke, but a list of tasks to tick off.
Now, Secret Book Three's editorial headlines are...
Now, Secret Book Three's editorial headlines are...
Get to the point more quickly - the introductory pages are nice and atmospheric, but a little slow.
Reduce the MS from 321 pages to around 250.
Lose an antagonist.
Reduce the MS from 321 pages to around 250.
Lose an antagonist.
I love this. I really do - it connects with the single most important step I get my workshop groups to enact upon their writing:
CUT
YOUR
WORK
These seem major, and potentially critical - they're not. What they're saying is that the good stuff is being obscured. Trim the fat.
CUT
YOUR
WORK
These seem major, and potentially critical - they're not. What they're saying is that the good stuff is being obscured. Trim the fat.
First up then - the intro is getting cut down.
Then I'll highlight each use of the antagonist's name in the document, then make another table of each of their appearances, and decide which of those need to go/stay/be combined with another character.
Then I'll highlight each use of the antagonist's name in the document, then make another table of each of their appearances, and decide which of those need to go/stay/be combined with another character.
Combining characters is always great - in The Sacrifice Box, Mario was once two separate characters, but that was too unwieldy, hence the emergence of a vet who runs a chip shop at night (from the same premises). Changes of this nature can be great opportunities.
To work, then - updates to follow!
Had a few days at the MS between parenting the newborn and getting back on the school visit horse. It's interesting, how alien some part of the text are to me. That old chestnut about the benefits of distance and perspective is proving powerfully true - viewing it cold, I can see
so many areas when I'm, to paraphrase @terryandrob, telling myself the story. So much that I don't need, and so many places where I need little bits of context - or where I can plant a little seed for what I didn't know was coming later! It's a fun, but daunting, phase.
Combining the antagonist was one of the first orders of business. I'd said I would make a table of his appearances, and deal with each in isolation: that table has 19 entries. Not so many as I'd thought, but still quite significant in a MG-length book (68k words in first draft)
It has, however, meant that I've dealt with each of those quite calmly, and been able to erase him from the narrative fairly straightforwardly - all without actually touching the MS. That feels good, and much of the work is therefore done before I've even started.
I'm finding a tricky balance at this stage between cutting the text, and the need for additional little scraps of context/info/setting detail.
It's probably balanced in terms of additions and subtractions. This is fine at this stage - I know there'll be another pretty brutal...
It's probably balanced in terms of additions and subtractions. This is fine at this stage - I know there'll be another pretty brutal...
...cut to come, where the character and setting stuff will be taken care of, and therefore the LANGUAGE can come to the fore and be stripped down for best purpose and impact. Then, it'll be goodbye, Commas! Hasta la vista, subordinate clauses! Yippie ki yay, run on sentences! etc
That's the benefit of experience - knowing that there's another stage on the way, and trusting in the process.
So, I edited chapter one with a weirdly fuzzy head on Friday. Went well, but took ages â a whole day on a few pages. Nothing wrong with that at all, but Iâd hoped for me.
A good dayâs work is quite a flexible concept when Iâm writing.
A good dayâs work is quite a flexible concept when Iâm writing.
Turns out I was running a temperature and was ill over the weekend, which included my birthday. Yaaaay.
Still â cut chapter one by 16%, which is lovely, and achieved an injection of pace by moving the critical conversation to the end of the ch. Immediately, itâs more urgent.
Still â cut chapter one by 16%, which is lovely, and achieved an injection of pace by moving the critical conversation to the end of the ch. Immediately, itâs more urgent.
More re-ordering in the second chapter today. Havenât had this before â either itâs because Iâve written the 1st draft in a more haphazard way this time (quite possible); or itâs a result of being alert to the need for momentum/pace since itâs MG (also possible).
Today there was a fair bit of what I think of as filigree â setting details, smells, clothes, language flair and work on the rhythm of the sentence. I was very kind to myself in draft one and allowed it to be the sparse thing I had to be!
Ch 2 bit longer now (thus far...)
Ch 2 bit longer now (thus far...)
Todayâs editing pose. Not anticipating great productivity!
All progress is non-linear, of course...
All progress is non-linear, of course...
Here's a question: how do I unpin poor TerryandRob from this thread? I've looked it up, and I can't click on 'replying to' as suggested. This is how it appears on my screen. Aaargh!
Anyway, with apologies, here's a bit more from yesterday.
Chapter two had 142 individual changes enacted upon it. I didn't feel as though I did that much - the bones of it are still completely in place. Same setting, same two characters, same purpose and outcome.
Chapter two had 142 individual changes enacted upon it. I didn't feel as though I did that much - the bones of it are still completely in place. Same setting, same two characters, same purpose and outcome.
This is how the end of the chapter now looks. Substantially different, with a good bit of reordering, as I'd said. The shifting of these dialogue sequences is necessary for the flow of the thing: it takes it from 'what might they say next?' to 'what these characters would say'.
This is definitely not finished, but is a good example of another reordering process I find myself undertaking: condensing images (I often start with two, and prism and muscles too cumbersome/nonsensical) and placing the one that makes it early/earlier in the sentence.
Again, a work in progress, but another exemplification of a process I find useful: growled for growling, seeking present participles where possible. The last sentence, all in red, is some of the filigree I mentioned: the detail that's being added to add detail/richness/context.
Re the former example - and typo notwithstanding - it's very clear how much sharper this can be by removing 'the' from 'the looters' and by returning to 'casting' rather than 'basking in'. I always try to chase a more declarative sense - and avoid passivity (Stephen King, there).
Last one for today: I've started the next chapter with a line of dialogue. Ordinarily I love this, but I lose a sense of place - too often in the MS it's not clear where we are, so I'm reordering my setting detail from the second page of the chapter to orient before speaking.
Last last one: I've got a greater sense of purpose and clarity here. Again, might be the book, might be experience...
But this is a joy - first drafts are swipes in the dark, while every day of editing DEFINITELY improves the work and therefore = joy.
But this is a joy - first drafts are swipes in the dark, while every day of editing DEFINITELY improves the work and therefore = joy.
