Love your editor

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It was finally finished. I’d just typed “The End.” Now what do I do?

September 2003. Yes all those years ago. I’d set out on a mission to write that novel the I was always going to write. The previous December I’d read Stephen King’s “On Writing” (it’s excellent BTW – part memoir, part lessons on writing). One of the key takeaways for me was King wrote 2,000 words a day, rain, hail or shine. Being new to all this then I best follow the master’s advice.

Surprisingly, I managed to do this on many of my writing days. I’d offered myself up in a company-wide redundancy program and my amazing wife encouraged me to take a sabbatical to “write that novel I’d been talking to her about all those years.”

I started with two words: “It’s time!” and a story about angels and demons. Then I wrote and wrote. Wrote some more. Didn’t really spend any time studying the craft as I took the view that I wanted to see if I had a story in me.

Lessons in Writing

And there I was. A manuscript. 250,000 words and 707 pages. Can you believe it?

Hey, I was a newbie. Didn’t know what to leave out. Makes me laugh now.

I then re-read it. Made a lot of changes but only reduced the pages by about 100.

I didn’t know any Christian authors and only had limited understanding of the American Christian market. But I knew I needed to find myself an editor. That’s the next step isn’t it? Write it, and then get it edited.

Yes, I’m in awe of those authors who write one draft, hand it to their editor and before long it’s on the bookshelves. Maybe that’ll be me one day, maybe not.

So I googled and discovered Clare on the south coast who edited Christian novels. Before too long I’d sent the entire manuscript to Clare (snail mail) and she did an “Editorial Review” for me.

And then Clare taught me to write.

Editing and more editing

Years passed. Angelguard had been re-written, put in the bottom drawer for five years, and then one of those God-moments occurred when it was clear it was time to dust it off and see how time had improved my storytelling and craft.

So I pulled out Clare’s notes (that I still refer to today) and rewrote Angelguard.

Lion Fiction took a chance on me. Thank you Tony Collins. Tony introduced me to Jan who overlaid even more editorial wisdom to the manuscript. Once we handed it back to Tony who did his own edit to arrive at the final publishable MS: 110,000 words and 323 pages.

Phew. I believe over five or six significant re-writes I wrote more than 500,000 words. But the final version still started where it did all those years ago with “It’s time!”

On Angelguard being published I looked up Clare to thank her for all she did in setting me up. Clare had passed away and I was fortunate to be able to locate her son who lives in England. I sent him a copy acknowledging the significant role his mum played. He hadn’t known much about his mum’s editing work and appreciated receiving the acknowledgment.  

Always Learning

Last week I received some feedback from an editor friend who had generously offered to read some of my latest WIP. Besides the fact I was blown away by her encouragement and detailed response, she provided me with confirmation of a number of areas I was concerned about.

Once again, I received a lesson in how to craft a great story. Further, as often happens, she proposed to kill off a scene that I would consider a darling. Yes, I squirmed at that but sometimes we need to let that scene or character go especially when it will improve the end product.

It gave me such a pickmeup even though I have more work to do.

So here’s to all the editors out there. Yes, I know you get well acknowledged in every book you edit and no doubt your authors love you to death.

To any newbie authors who perhaps have a ready manuscript and/or are in the publishing cycle, love your editor. It may take you a little time to find the right 'fit' and certainly there will be times when you disagree with your editor. Don’t be surprised if they suggest you kill some of your darlings, some of those scenes or characters that you’ve agonized over. Hey, there’ll be other manuscripts where you may find those darlings slot in just perfectly. But after your editor has finished with your MS, you’ll be a better author.

What’s a story you can recall of a particular time your editor helped you improve your manuscript. Was there a darling involved?

Ian Acheson is an author and strategy consultant based in Sydney. Ian's first novel of speculative fiction, Angelguard, is now available in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Angelguard was recognised at the 2014 Selah Awards for Best Speculative Fiction. You can find more about Angelguard at Ian's website, on his author Facebook page and Twitter

The Contradictions of Life as a Writer

Writing is such a fickle thing. I've been at this for a good many years, and you'd think by now I'd have it all figured out. Strangely, the only thing I am sure of, is that to live as a writer is to live with contradictions, things that aren't logical no matter how you look at them.

Productivity is a perfect example. For the longest time I bewailed (real wailing, not just the metaphorical kind) the fact that I couldn't just stay home and write. Imagine how many books I'd write! All the best seller list scalps I could hang on my belt!

Here's the reality - as a painfully slow writer I can spend a few hours writing and produce around 700 words. If my day turns busy and I can only squeeze in an hour? 500. What if it goes completely pear-shaped and I only get 20 minutes? Still 500. That makes no sense right? But there you have it. Turns out for me, 90% of writing is thinking before I go near my laptop. So to 'stay home to write all day' will probably never work for me.

The distraction of real life is another thing I used to kick against. The sink full of dishes, ironing for five, school runs and homework. Wow, just think how much I could write if I didn't have to do all that stuff! And yet it is all that 'stuff' that gives me my best material. For one thing, it doesn't use up much brain space to wash a batch of dirty dishes. Ironing isn't exactly rocket science. So while my hands are busy, guess what is going on in my brain? Plotting, scheming, character arc'ing. The other thing is how much actual material real life dishes up for you. Remember the time you locked yourself out the house in pouring rain or had to roll start your car because the battery died? Dress those up and parade them through your stories and your reader will be going Oh my word! I can relate! 

To be published means you've arrived is just not true. I don't think I'm the only one that lived for that one email to land in my inbox offering me publication. And yet after that happened, I had to face the reality that landing a publishing contract doesn't guarantee that the next book you write will find a publishing home. Getting a contract doesn't rocket you into becoming a household name, or selling millions of copies of your wonderful book. What it does do though, is establish a relationship with a team of people who are in the publishing business. It gives you access to editors who will grow your craft way beyond where you could grow by yourself. It moves you closer to the top of the slush pile for the next book you write. 

Those are just some of the contradictions that I've had to make peace with. How about you? Can you relate? Are there others that you've discovered along the way? I'd love to hear from you.

Dianne J. Wilson writes novels from her hometown in East London, South Africa, where she lives with her husband and three daughters.

Finding Mia is available from Amazon, Pelican / Harbourlight, Barnes & Noble and other bookstores.

Shackles is available as a free ebook from Smashwords.

Find her on Facebook, Twitter and her sporadic blog Doodles.

THOSE PESKY POVs

I did'n wanna do it!

My, how we change as we continue writing. At least that's my experience. POVs?  I luv 'em to bits. I was once happy to let loose and fill my whole novel with every single character's point of view.

But that is NOT acceptable for today's readers. Editors and publishers have told me that in no uncertain terms.  So how to get around it?

I can't help myself, I write them in anyway.  THEN I work out who is the most important POV in the scene and rewrite it according to that. This takes extra work, but it helps me to understand them better. I  give each of the main characters and antagonists, their POV in turn. As to other characters who are needed, they simply shouldn't have their say from a POV. Even so, they can dialogue with a main character, so we do get to know what they're thinking...except when they're being sneaky.

Yes, I admit at first I didn't want to do it...but it works. I had to change my wicked ways and submit to the wisdom of the ages...well, you know what I mean. One important thing I have learned: assimilating my new objectives has caused me to stretch as a writer. And I think what really clinched it was when I read a book with multiple characters and I really didn't know whose story it was! It was well written and with beautiful description, but it left me confused.

Another thing that we agonize over. When to use omniscient voice. Here's a sensible hint from writer Celeste Ng: the omniscient narrator's role is to provide a framework and crucial context and provide outside information as needed. (Me: Agreed, but only in small amounts, eg. fading out from a scene like in the movies etc.)

.Have any of you writers experienced subtle or overt things you've had to change in your work? Or was I the only stubborn writer out there?

Rita Stella Galieh  is a historical romance writer of two published books who blogs weekly at http://inspirationalromance.blogspot.com  Signed Sealed Delivered is now available on Amazon Kindle. She and her husband both script and record radio programs broadcast weekly on FM stations around Australia.