Musings, Essays
  & Articles

- 4 -

When writing a book, creating the words is just the start of it.

Writing a book is not just about writing . That's the easy bit. Most of the work is in the planning, (thinking,) in the structure, (plot,) and in turning the first draft into a readable, enjoyable, quality, novel, which involves reading, re-reading and then reading again. Your idea, your characters, the pace, the style, all of that may be fantastic, but without checking for correct continuity, and lacking a thorough edit, your novel will not shine.

All novels start as a lump of mud dug from the ground. You have to wash the dirt away, inspect what you have got, cut it, shape it, and polish and polish and polish it. Only then will you reveal the glittering diamond.

All good novels must be edited. Preferably get a professional to do it, for you will not be able to spot all the errors. But even then you must do your own initial edit to iron out the wrinkles.


- Read what you have written.
Very few authors can spot their own errors, but at the rough-stone stage your work is not ready for a professional edit, so it is up to you to do the initial clean-up. If you find it difficult to edit your own work, then read it aloud. Your voice will pick up the oddities; where you take a short breath, perhaps there ought to be a comma; a long breath, a full stop. Reading aloud can help your dialogue - will show you that your characters are saying too much or too little.


- Check your continuity.
If your character has blue eyes in Chapter 1, make sure she still has blue eyes in Chapter 36. Keep a book, or cards, with details of each character. Write everything down - do a complete CV. That way you have all the background details and you will know that character intimately.

If there is a lengthy time span or many different places, make a temporary note at the start of each Chapter - these can easily be deleted at the final edit.

For example:
  Chapter 6: Monday night. In the woods.
  Chapter 7: Tuesday morning. Back at the house etc.

That way, when doing your self-edit you can easily check that a character starts out in the woods on Monday night and remains there until the end of the chapter, unless you say he has moved from that location. If a character is sitting in a car talking, make sure you move him out of the car before the next scene. Don't suddenly "jump" him into the lounge with a cup of tea! Editing is all about checking, checking and checking again.


- Fancy words can over-egg the pudding!
If you would usually say: "The pram's wheels were round," why write, "the perambulator's movement mechanisms were spherical." Do not use too many adjectives: "The bright, shiny, glittering diamond sparkled in the dazzle of the hot, skin-burning glow of the golden sun." Yuk! "The diamond sparkled in the dazzle of the sun." conveys what you mean just as well - and reads so much better.


- Don't repeat yourself
Do not use the same words too often. An azure sky creates a lovely image the first time you use it. By the end of the book if you have too many azure skies your readers will be screaming for rain! Make sure you haven't used the same word twice in a phrase or in follow-on sentences unless it is intentional: "He shouted and shouted!"

For instance: "Jesamiah walked to the cupboard, reached for the rum and walked to the chair," would be better as: "Jesamiah walked to the cupboard, reached for the rum and strolled to the chair."


- Try not to start too many paragraphs with the character's name
It makes reading tedious and is lazy writing. Compare examples; which sounds better, this...

"Jesamiah ducked below the door lintel and met with the warm fug of steaming woollen coats, male sweat, tobacco, lamp-oil and smoke. A dozen men sat at tables made from old barrels. The entire room fell stone silent as he strolled in and crossed to the bar where a sallow-faced doxie was propped up by her elbow.

Jesamiah normally would have gone straight to lean alongside her, with a rum in one hand and one of her well endowed breasts in the other. Ah well, business had to come first."

...or this?

"Ducking in below the door lintel, Jesamiah met with the warm fug of steaming woollen coats, male sweat, tobacco, lamp-oil and smoke. A dozen men sat at tables made from old barrels. The entire room fell stone silent as he strolled in and crossed to the bar where a sallow-faced doxie was propped up by her elbow.

Normally, Jesamiah would have gone straight to lean alongside her, with a rum in one hand and one of her well endowed breasts in the other. Ah well, business had to come first."


- Then you are ready for your editor!
A FULL edit can only be done by someone else, not yourself, for you will be too close to the work and you will not be able to see the wood for the trees. Nor is a friend or your husband or mother any good for they will not give you honest, constructive criticism. An editor can tell you that this bit of the story does not make sense, this bit is too slow for the action; this chapter is almost the same as the one before. The next chapter takes the story nowhere - or you need another chapter to explain something.

Your editor will tell you where a scene needs linking or that your character is behaving 'out of character.' Your editor will ensure the continuity runs smoothly, will maybe check that certain facts are facts i.e. "Jesamiah added up the money, twelve gold pieces and six silver, that made seventeen." Your editor will spot the error! Eighteen! (unless of course you write: "Jesamiah added up the money, twelve gold pieces and six silver, that made seventeen, he calculated incorrectly.") An editor will alert you to a character who made one appearance early in the novel and never appears again - is he needed? A good editor is a treasure, for she or he can help turn your little piece of rock into the glittering prize it deserves to be.

A COPY edit is something entirely different. A copy editor re-checks that the blue eyes stay blue, that you have put commas where commas go and full stops where stops should be full. That there is not their, the chapter numbers run from 1, 2, 3, to whatever the last one is. It is not a copy editor's job to do what a full edit involves, and it is only for an editor or copy editor to advise.

No editor has the right to alter your style, to put a pen through great swathes and alter everything without checking with you first - not without giving a good reason why these suggestions have been made. I.e. "I suggest you give this line of dialogue to Captain Jennings as I think the irritation sounds better coming from his lips rather than Jesamiah's."

Then there is another read through, and yet another when the page proofs or proof copy arrives. And then, finally, the real thing. The finished book is in your hands. Proudly you open it at a random page - and you can bet your life you spot a typing error!

Ah well, even the finest diamonds can have a small flaw!

(An extended version of this article in PDF format is available for download here.)