Editing: The Hard Part -

24Mar 2015 by Dianna L. Gunn

The first page of my novel — Care to critique?

I was having a hard time coming up with a blog post for today, then I remembered that I haven't posted any of my personal fiction or poetry here in a long time. I debated sharing some of the background work I've done for the novel I'm editing right now, Moonshadow's Guardian--I've actually shared some of the work done on my main character--but then I had a brilliant thought: Every writer needs critique, preferably from writers with varying skills and experience. And my readers happen to be writers, all with different skills and experience levels. So today I'd like to ask you, my loyal readers, to critique the first page of the YA fantasy novel I'm editing right now in the comments below. If you want, I'll even critique the…

18Feb 2013 by diannagunn

More On Overwriting

Editing, Editing: The Hard Part, Writing

A couple weeks ago I discussed the concept of overwriting, the use of needless words in your writing. Having known about overwriting for years, it seemed like basic stuff to me. So I was stunned by how many of you told me you'd never thought about it before. I was even more stunned when I asked Twitter what to blog about today and RedParrot told me she'd like me to talk more about overwriting. My goal has always been to help you become better writers, and since there's high demand for advice on this topic, I thought I'd discuss a few more examples of overwriting to give you a better feel for it. Last time we discussed overwriting I gave you a handful of specific words/details that can be left…

28Jan 2013 by diannagunn

On Overwriting

Editing, Editing: The Hard Part, Novels, Writing

I don't often discuss the technical side of writing in depth, but after reading the self-published works that inspired last Monday's post, I've decided to discuss the biggest problem I've seen in these novels: overwriting. What is overwriting? There are two ways authors overwrite: with excessive details, and with particularly wordy phrasing. Even a perfectly spelled piece with flawless grammar can be made frustrating if the author overwrites them. It makes a book frustrating to read and in today's fast paced society, most readers will walk away. I'm particularly forgiving of this if the story captivates me, but enough of it will make even me gash my teeth. So today I'd like to discuss some of the things that can--and should--be cut from your writing whenever possible to make it…

13Feb 2012 by diannagunn

Preparing to Edit a Novel

Editing: The Hard Part, Novels

It's that time of year again. All the mistletoe has rotted and half of everyone's New Year resolutions have already been thrown out the window. That first draft of your Nano--or whatever other project you've been ignoring for the last several months--has been sitting in its corner quietly collecting dust for long enough. It's time to pull that tome out and edit. It will be painful, it might be bloody--though I suspect you'll go through more ink than actual blood--but it's necessary. Trust me, your novel will look better without all those tangents and ten page character descriptions. They are extra limbs just getting in the way--I mean, spiders have eight legs but if a human had eight arms that would just be awkward, right? Think of limbs as sub-plots…

16Jan 2012 by diannagunn

Creating your Editing Watch List

Editing, Editing: The Hard Part, Inspirational, Writing

Some of us are instinctively better with grammar than others, but none of us are perfect. We all have to edit our work to make it into something awesome. Every writer makes different mistakes, but individually, we tend to make the same ones over and over again. This is why it's a good idea to create an editing watch list. There are a few things that pretty much every writer does in the first draft that, while not necessarily wrong, don't make the story better. Your editing watch list will contain words and punctuation that you use too often. We all have crutch words and behaviours, words and behaviours that we force on our novels and our characters because we can't think of anything else and we know they need…

05Aug 2011 by diannagunn

Mission Successful

Editing, Editing: The Hard Part, Novels, Workshops, Writing

Last night-or maybe early this morning, who's paying attention?-I finished the current draft of Moonshadow's Guardian at about 48, 000 words. I've decided to celebrate with a day of watching some interesting anime-a Japanese style of animation, for anyone who doesn't know-and some chocolate. Hopefully you're done editing your work by now, too. If not, get yourself a treat and get back to work. Editing is hard work; you deserve to reward yourself every now and then. Besides, what comes after the celebration? Why, more work, of course. Next week I'm going to work on editing the first in a series of short stories focused on a couple vampires while I research locations for the next few. I'm going to write as many of these stories as I can this…

11Mar 2011 by diannagunn

Starting Different Projects

Editing: The Hard Part, Novels, Writing

My writing has hit a low point over the last couple of weeks. It would seem that it took a blow after I finished Moonshadow's Guardian. The story had me completely entranced, and I'm already eager to begin the first rewrite. Currently I am playing the waiting game-with plenty of school work to distract me in the meantime-because I know that you should never start editing right away. However, rewrites are going to begin sooner than I originally planned; I need to rewrite this story, to make some very specific changes to it, to get it out of my system. Some Secrets Should Never Be Known, as much as I love the story, will have to take the backburner for now. I know that I cannot currently give it the…

14Jan 2011 by diannagunn

Breaking Down Big Goals

Editing: The Hard Part, Novels, Preparing to Submit, Workshops, Writing, Writing: The Process

This year I think most of us have big goals and high hopes. Like me, you might be planning to finish rewriting and to submit your first novella. Or you might be planning to write two first drafts and edit the first book. Or you might be planning to write a lot of short stories and send those out. You might even have books with publication dates that you're just itching to sell. On a personal front, you might be planning to quit smoking, eat healthier, learn more. You might have decided that this year you want to work on more non-writing creative projects. You might want to spend this year focusing on finishing high school and getting into university. Whatever your goals are, it's time to take a look…

07Jan 2011 by diannagunn

When to Revise a Novel

Editing: The Hard Part, Novels

Everybody knows-at least, I hope everybody here knows-that all books need revision. Great books aren't written exactly, they're rewritten, and that's a crucial thing to remember as a writer, no matter who you are and how good you think your first draft is. Sure, there might be sentences, paragraphs, maybe if you're lucky entire scenes that will go from draft to draft untouched, but overall, your novel will need revision. There are at least a thousand questions that can be asked about revision, and not one of them can be answered the same way for every person except maybe 'do I need to revise'. Like anything else in writing, it's complicated and there are as many answers as there are writers. The question I would like to discuss today is…