editing -

16Dec 2014 by Dianna L. Gunn

19 Resources to help you edit that novel

I originally started blogging because I wanted to share my journey towards writing success, but now I also blog because I'm dedicated to helping others build their own writing careers. I want to help you not only explore different writing methods, but to master as many aspects of the craft as you can. One thing crucial to your success as a writer is the ability to edit. This is true for writers of all kinds, and especially true for novelists. Now that it's been a couple weeks since you finished your novel, it's time to start thinking about editing. Starting before the holidays are over is probably a bad idea, but brushing up on your editing skills is always a good idea—and if you've been at this a while, you…

19Aug 2013 by Dianna L. Gunn

Focus in on what really matters

Blog Stuff, Novels, Short Fiction, Writing

As a writer with a limitless imagination and an interesting life, it's easy to get caught up in too many projects at once and to end up abandoning things you really want to work on. It's something I do all the time, and this summer I've done it yet again, and realized that I need to change course to truly create the future I want. When you know exactly what you want, it's tempting to try to force it all at once, but life doesn't work like that. You need to choose two or three projects to focus on at a time, no more. You might even want to try focusing on one project at a time depending on your schedule and the kind of person you are. I don't…

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…

21Jan 2013 by diannagunn

The Dangers of Self Publishing

Writing

Self publishing is a growing phenomena with the rise of ebooks. Thanks to numerous self published authors whose books have made it big and already published authors successfully self publishing their back lists and new projects, self publishing has gained a new level of respect in the industry and the world at large. And there are numerous benefits to self publishing--you get total control over your project, you get to keep all the profits, and you don't have to wait for gatekeepers to respond to you. However, there are also several dangers inherent in self publishing. The gatekeepers of traditional publishing certainly aren't perfect, but often if they reject your manuscript it means you need to do more work on the book. It doesn't mean your book will never be…

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…

23Jan 2012 by diannagunn

Editing a Short Story in Five Steps

Short Fiction, Uncategorized, Writing

Over the last week of December and the first week of January, we worked on fairly long short stories. Now it's time to talk about editing. Editing a short story is a much less painful process than editing a novel. It's a shorter process, and if you go through each of these steps you can make it a lot easier for yourself. I recommend taking a day or two away from your short story before you start editing it. You don't want to stay away a long time. Particularly if your end goal is to make money, it's a good idea to have several of these on the market at one time. When I edit a short story, I usually follow these steps: 1. Proofread on the computer. Sure, you…

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…

05Oct 2011 by diannagunn

What to do with Your Dear Diary Project

Journalling, Short Fiction, Workshops, Writing, Writing, Writing: The Process

Now that you've finished your Dear Diary Project, there are several things you can do with it. They range from hiding it in a corner in your basement to trying to turn it into something publishable. But before you do anything with the file or manuscript itself, you need to properly extract all the valuable information from it for later use. Extracting Information for your Dear Diary Project Now, I don't know about you, but my character profiles are pretty messy and I usually don't have much room left on the page by the time I've written a Dear Diary Project for that character. So I like to create a fact sheet, which is a simple list of facts about my character. Things like their favourite colour, what kinds of…

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…