A final check should be tough, comprehensive and even extensive, but it
shouldn’t take longer to complete than the book did to write.
I would
have liked to take a break this week but I didn't and now have various lists of checks to make. In this final edit before sending off to my beta readers, I want to focus on making sure chapters, scenes and sentences do their jobs properly.
Spelling and grammar checks
are so basic that I wondered whether to list them, but no list would be complete
without them. For the most part my inner editor won’t let me get too far away
from any word or phrase that has a red line underneath, so I correct these as I go along.
Note to self: try to keep an extra eye open for sloppy syntax.
Note to self: try to keep an extra eye open for sloppy syntax.
Chapter-wise, I’ve a list
ready for beginnings and endings so I can see at a
glance what is happening at these points. I’m listing the chapter openings because I
want to know I’ve a variety of locations and situations in place; I don’t want
readers to know they’re back in strand A because so and so is waking up in bed
– again. I want to look at chapter endings to check that each has a new
conflict/question to persuade readers to keep going.
My next step is the one
that is going to take time as I'm going to analyse how my scenes match up with Randy Ingerson’s ‘Writing a
Perfect Scene’. This way of looking at scenes takes a little work but the end
result makes for better structure and flow. If mine don’t match up, I'll definitely
look at changing things around but if the original is better than the newly edited version - that
will be the one that stays.
As far as sentences go, I must eradicate - on a genocidal scale - any adverb (think fighting a guerrilla action) which has managed to sneak its way into my writing.
I did ask a tutor once
what was so wrong with adverbs. After all, they exist in our language, we use
them when talking and why do we bother to learn about them in English lessons
at school if we are never to use one? I think that if a verb is strong, won’t
an adverb make it more powerful? Right now they’re ‘out’ but maybe one day using
adverbs will again be acceptable.
But I digress – back to
the check list. When it comes to sentences I wonder, because I’m so familiar with my work by now, if I can slow myself down, stop my eyes sliding along the lines and be critical enough. I’d like to think I have my eye open
to check for strong verbs, interesting details, unnecessary sentences but question if only others will be able to see what works and doesn’t at this stage.
I know there's still work to be done (I'm picturing gladiatorial combat), so for now patience, and what I call, stickability, are the qualities I need to stay the course.
If anybody has any helpful
tips about the revising process and how they deal with it, I’d love to hear what
they are.
Today’s Haiku:
WRITING
white pages wait for
black shapes to emerge,
transform -
paint others’ stories
If you enjoy reading haiku,
my book Gold Dragon Haiku is now available as an ebook at the Amazon
Kindle Store.
Here’s the link:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/GOLD-DRAGON-HAIKU-ebook/dp/B00CLJ0RGK/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1367505326&sr=1-1
Here’s the link to
Randy Ingerson’s ‘Writing a Perfect Scene’. He has a website that is well worth a visit.
http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/writing-the-perfect-scene/
http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/writing-the-perfect-scene/
I keep forgetting to
add this bit, but join me on my Twitter journey at:
teagankearney@modhaiku
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