How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Editing

During ArmadilloCon I had the pleasure of talking with a woman who was in the enviable-but-frustrating position of having an agent, but her manuscripts were still being reviewed by publishers.  (Enviable because YOU HAVE AN AGENT, and that's awesome. Frustrating, especially at cons, because while you are on the path to success, you don't have that tangible commodity to show for it.  Talking up your agent-having alone just sounds strange.)  She was already worried about what might happen when an editor got a hold of it. What sort of crazy changes might be demanded?

Fortunately, I had just been through two editing processes, and I could reassure her that it wasn't likely to be as radical as the horror stories she had heard. 

In fact, I even wrote an article for Book Country on how my process was. 

Everyone's writing process and editing process are different, of course.  For example, I hear from a lot of writers that editing involves throwing a lot of words away and re-doing it.  I, personally, could never work that way... but at the same time, in my writing process, I cannot do the "just get it on the page and fix it later" method.  Not to say it's perfect when I first write it... not at all.  But if you were to compare the first draft of the first chapter of Murder of Mages to the one I submitted as a final version a few weeks ago, the fundamentals are more or less the same.  And almost all of my "major surgery" edits have been a matter of adding more to the manuscript, rather than throwing stuff away. 

Anyhow, being edited wasn't a scary process at all, thanks to having a fabulous, Hugo-nominated editor (fingers crossed for this year!)  Go and check out the article, and you can see the true finalized-cover of Thorn, including the DAW logo which identifies it as the 1681st book in their 30+ year history. 

Edits and Research and Maps, Oh my!

This blog has, unfortunately for the moment, devolved a bit into "Stuff is happening and I'm busy!"  Today is no exception to that.  In part because I'm finalizing the edits for Murder of Mages so I can turn it in tomorrow. 

On top of that, I've got a fair amount of pre-ArmadilloCon work on my plate.  Part of that is the administrative side of the Writers' Workshop, part is the actual workshopping work for my group, and part is doing additional research and reading to prepare for some of the panels I'm on.

As part of that research, I've been revisiting Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel and Collapse, two books that have strongly shaped my ideas of worldbuilding.  I've also been thinking about the Columbian Exchange, and how that could be applied to worldbuilding.  I'll be posting more on that in the near future.  And that ties into geography, first and foremost, shaping the worlds we build.

And with geography, there's maps.  I've been re-working the maps to appear in Thorn of Dentonhill and Murder of Mages so they are of publishable quality.  Which is an excellent way for me to be productive while the back of the brain churns on writing things. 

So, back to work in the word mines.

Perils of the Writer: The Editing Process

After taking a couple weeks away from Way of the Shield, it's time to dive into the editing process. 

For me, the first step in editing a rough draft is that time away.  One friend of mine said, "Forty days and forty nights."  I think that's a bit much, especially if one is under a deadline.* But you need to freshen your eyes on the project.  So, step away, read something completely different, cleanse the palate.  I took two weeks, which is plenty.

Also during this time: get other eyes on it.  Preferably someone who isn't going to just be all gushy and, "Oh, you wrote a book, wonderful!"  You need someone who will throw a critical eye on it, but also not just be mean.  Critiquing is an art, telling the writer what they need to hear without drowning their baby.  Though some baby killing will come into it.  But good, reliable beta-readers are like gold, and you should treasure them if you find them.

Next for me: change the font you wrote in, and print a hard copy.  This gives you a editing/reading experience that is an utterly different from the writing experience.  You'd be amazed how much that makes those little mistakes pop out.  So many tense/typo/spelling problems show themselves in reading through the hard copy.  The other big thing to do at this stage is figure out when I've tangled up my phrasings, using twenty words when fifteen would do.  I go through with a red pen** and mark the manuscript all to hell.   Here's where I figure out my chapter breaks.  I never do that in the actual writing.  I'm not sure why, it just doesn't feel organic at that stage.

Then next, I go back to Scrivener, and implement the red-pen changes, as well as any new changes I've worked out on going through it there.  That usually catches everything.  I also add any new scenes or tweak existing scenes, based on the notes I get from my beta.

In theory, that's when it's time to send to the agent.  Then he'll usually have notes for another go-round.

And so, time to get to it.  See you all Monday.
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*- I'm not technically under a deadline for Way of the Shield, but by my own standards it's overdue.  Sometimes the only way to get a project done is to behave as if it is under deadline.
**- Actually, it's purple, but the principle is the same.