Distance and Lists in the Editing Process

Teeth and Bones Editing Contest:

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How to enter: Comment on the Novel Matters blog anytime between Monday, September 6th, and Friday September 17th. At the bottom of your comment type TABEC (short for Teeth and Bones Editing Contest). Only comments with these letters at the bottom will be eligible to win (we understand that not all our readers are interested in this level of editing, but would still want to be free to comment and discuss editing - that's the reason we require interested people to please use the TABEC letters at the bottom of their comments). You many enter as many times as you like over the two weeks. Each comment counts as an entry (but don't forget to type TABEC at the bottom of each comment).

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Winner: One winner will be announced on Friday, September 17th at 5:00 PM pacific time.

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The prize: A teeth and bones edit of your first chapter and synopsis by Bonnie Grove. The edit will be on the substantive level (the overall concepts, characters, and themes, etc. of the novel). It will be Bonnie's teeth on the bones of your manuscript.
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The winner will work one on one with Bonnie Grove via e-mail. The winner will consent to having the first paragraph of the work posted on Novel Matters in a before and after comparison. This means the winner will agree to have the first paragraph of your WIP appear on the blog, first as it was originally written, then in its edited form.

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Hemingway once said in an interview that he rewrote the ending to A Farewell to Arms 39 times before he was satisfied. Asked what the problem was, he said, "Getting the words right."

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Editing is all about getting the words right, but it's one of the more difficult aspects of being a writer. Our words mean a lot to us. After all, we put a good deal of thought into our word choices, as well as the meaning that lies behind them. As we write we can carry on our love affair with all those words. But after the writing comes the reality, where we give the most objective look we can to the work itself, free of the emotion that goes into the creation. That's where distance can be our strongest ally. By the time I finished writing Every Good & Perfect Gift I was saturated with the story, and wondered who in their right mind would want to read it. Because, as I wrote the book, instead of starting my writing session close to where I left off, I would read much of what I'd written the day, or week, before, as though I needed a running jump to get back in the story. It was one step forward, five steps back.

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It's unlikely you'll write a novel without looking back to some degree, but the way I was doing it was overkill. Before I could begin the editing process I needed some distance between myself and the manuscript. I had the luxury of time (code for "not under contract"), so I put it aside and went to work on my next project. Later, when I was ready to revise, I started with a fresh eye.

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Sol Stein (Stein on Writing) says, "The biggest difference between a writer and a would-be writer is their attitude toward rewriting. The writer ... looks forward to the opportunity of excising words, sentences, paragraphs, chapters that do not work and to improving those that do." Well, I'd say looks forward to is a stretch, but I do know that editing is a vital part of the process. Jim Scott Bell, in his own inimitable style, says, "Rewriting is what separates the real pros from the wannabes. I don't wannabe a wannabe. I wannabe a pro" (Plot & Structure). And so I pick up my red pen and go to work.

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Let's assume we've completed our substantive edits--so we're not polishing poop, as Bonnie so eloquently said--and now we're onto more specific edits. This is where we cut and/or replace. Following is a partial list of editing points I follow as I revise:

• Cut superfluous words, phrases, sentences--things that get in the way of the story. Use a machete.
• Replace words, phrases, sentences with the right words, phrases, sentences (ala Hemingway).
• No cliches! And there are way more than you think.
• Get rid of italics, even for internal dialogue in many cases. Get. Rid. Of. Them.
• Look for repetitious words and make one of them leave. For good.
• Passive voice should be gotten rid of.
• Any word or phrase I trip over is likely a word or phrase my reader will trip over. And that's a lawsuit waiting to happen.
• Know the rules before you break the rules. Okay, that one's just dumb. But you can look very bad if you break rules by accident. Break rules on purpose and you'll come across like Jodi Picoult. Not that she breaks rules, but wouldn't you like to be compared to her? Well now you can.
• Eliminate adjectives and adverbs that modify nouns and verbs that aren't doing their jobs--the adj's and adv's are merely crutches. Mark Twain said, "If you find an adjective, kill it!" And if they're on crutches it should be a piece of cake. Really, though, I don't want to get in trouble with the law or anything; just wanna write really good books.
• Look for "ing" phrases that I all too often begin sentences with (i.e., following my list, I eliminate "ing" phrases because I don't wannabe a wannabe).
• "Eliminate dialogue tags where possible," she said.
• She tapped her red pen on her chin. "Replace with action tags."
• Get out my list of qualifiers and intensifiers, then Search and Destroy the following (think Hunt for Red October): a bit, a little, absolutely, actually, basically, completely, extremely, just, kind of, mostly, naturally, often, ordinarily, particularly, perfectly, pretty (as an adverb), probably, quite, rather, really, so, some, somehow, somewhat, too, totally, truly, usually, very (not an exhaustive list--it just feels like it).
• When you come across an exclamation point, whack off the top. Make the writing strong enough to stand on the remaining dot.
• Find and replace "have got" in any form. No exceptions!
• Redline the redundant. The list in the Appendix of Write Tight is absolutely essential to this.

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These are some of the things I look for when I revise. (And I've had some fun sharing them with you.) They're not hard and fast rules, but guidelines. For example, I don't automatically, in every situation, delete an exclamation point as I'm editing, but I do stop to see if it's there because of weak writing. Same with some of the words in my qualifiers and intensifiers list. They may have a purpose, may help define a character for example. But again, when I come across one of those words in a search, I evaluate its purpose for being there. What editing points can you add to the list? Which points of mine would you eliminate?