Today Rachel Rossano is stopping by and talking editing.
Editing Checklist
Editing is the necessary evil every good writer endures in
the journey to publication. I used to hate editing so much that I refused to
edit until months (sometimes years) after I finished a manuscript. Now I am
wading through those old manuscripts, bringing them up to date, polishing the
writing style, correcting the cliches, fixing typos, and eradicating my bad
writing habits of the years past.
Here are some items from my editing checklist.
Words that usually need to be removed:
that
- had (frequently not necessary)
-
said (or other dialogue tags when it is clear
who is saying what)
-
was/were/is (can usually be easily replaced by
an active verb)
Words that usually need to be changed for something else or
deleted entirely because I use them too frequently (They are allowed in
extremely small quantities.):
-
look, looked, noticed
-
felt, feel
-
could, would
Things to watch for:
-
Head hopping (switching POV without a break)
-
Poetic or high description from a character that
isn't a writer or inclined that way
-
Pace (Is the story moving forward at an
appropriate pace)
-
Sentence structure (too many long sentences, too
many short, too many of the same kind, or an inappropriate one for the pace,
e.g., a long complex sentence at a point of high action in the story)
-
Guys talking like girls (for example, about
their feelings)
-
Too much crying
-
Conversations that are realistic (sort of) and
dialogue where characters sound like themselves (good thing)
-
Phrases that pull the reader out of the story or
draw unnecessary attention to the POV character. For example, "I looked
up. His face tightened with grief." Deleting the first sentence would
actually make the second stronger by focusing the reader's attention on the
person being observed, not the observer (the POV character). I hope this makes
sense. It tends to be tricky to explain.
-
Telling when I should be showing and the
opposite, showing when I should be telling. The reader doesn't need to know the
minute movements necessary to fix tea. But, she/he would probably be interested
in the physical response of everyone in the room when the hero drops a plot
bomb in the middle of the tea party conversation.
-
Cliches
So, what items are on your editing checklist? I might have
missed something.
Book Plug
Brielle Solarius struggles to keep her village from starvation.
The men rode off to war and never returned. The remaining women and children
face a winter of starvation if they do not find a solution soon.
Tomas Dyrease, the newly made Earl of Irvaine and the village of Wisenvale,
owes his good fortune to his king. When that same king demands Tomas marry the
impoverished daughter of the late Lord Wisten, he obeys. However, no one warned
him that she wasn’t a typical noblewoman.
Duty: a novel of
Rhynan follows their journey from strangers to friends as they face
complications from their pasts and the shaky politics of a changing regime.
Then Brielle is implicated in her cousin’s treasonous activities. Can a
marriage of duty survive treason?
Author Bio
Author of a growing stack of novels, novellas, and short
stories, Rachel Rossano balances her time between the chaos of raising and
homeschooling her three children and the world of drama and high adventure in
her head. With her faithful husband and chief consulting editor by her side,
she dreams of many more adventures to come in both of her double lives. Check
out her work at http://Rachel-rossano.blogspot.com.
Buy Links
Smashwords - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/281699
Thank you,
Rachel Rossano
Website ~ http://anavrea.webs.com/
Twitter ~ http://twitter.com/#!/RachelRossano
Facebook ~ http://www.facebook.com/RachelRossanoRambles
YouTube ~ http://www.youtube.com/anavrea
