April Hamilton wrote a very interesting post called When Editing & Critiquing, Check Your Personal Opinions At The Door. This reminder comes at a great time because yesterday I sent one of my older short stories to a critique group for the once over.

Luckily for me, I’m not new to the game of critiquing and I’m not in the habit of flaring up when someone tells me something I don’t want to hear. In fact, if I receive a “that’s good” I feel cheated because I want to know what’s wrong and “good” isn’t the same as “great” which isn’t the same as “excellent”, so I’m wondering what needs to be done to make the story better. I want to hear the details, I encourage the reader to tell me whatever they are thinking. And just as the critiquer should view someone else’s message without trying to inflict their own opinion on them, the person on the receiving end must learn how to decipher other people’s suggestions. Because not all suggestions should be taken to heart or implemented.

Journey to Freedom is the title of the short story I have concerns with. It was originally written for a project that involved several writers, so it has had the benefit of other eyes apart from my own, but I’m still not 100% happy with it. For starters, it’s long for a short story. It comes in at almost 6,800 words and I’d like to cut it back to around 5,000 words. I’m hoping the critiques will help me work out where I’ve rambled on a bit much. I think the pace is OK, but I’m uncertain if readers will get the message behind the story, so I’m interested to see what comments are made (if any) about the theme/premise. And, of course, I want to be certain there’s no plot holes. To me, the story makes perfect sense, but what will other readers/writers think, see, not see? I eagerly await their responses.

Originally posted on another site on 2 March 2010.

Have you ever read a book and not accepted the character’s actions? Have you ever declared aloud, “That’s stupid, no one would do that.” I have. And I’ve heard other people say it too. But in all honesty, how do you know how you’d really react if confronted with a axe-wielding maniac or if you unexpectedly found yourself in an unknown world. How do you know how you’d truly feel if a stranger snatched your child from your side and took off with him? How do you know what you’d instinctively do if a gun was held at your head. How would you know, unless you experienced it yourself.

Sitting comfortably in your lounge room reading about a character who experiences these things is not the same as facing the situation in real life. Yes, as you read, you might feel your heart quicken and you may even recognise a quiver of fear run up your spine, but that’s as far as it goes. You don’t have to rely on your legs to carry you to safety. You don’t have to hope your scream is loud enough to wake the neighbours. You don’t have to actually fear for your life or make a snap decision. And in that moment of terror, how do you know you’ll be capable of making a snap decision? You can’t know until you are in the situation.

I didn’t accept this until I reacted to the news of my son’s passing. Being such a practical, straight laced, focused person I never thought for a second that I would collapse in a heap on the floor. Yet that’s exactly what I did. I went down into the foetal position and sobbed. If anyone had suggested that I’d do such a thing, I would have smirked and said, “I don’t think so! That’s just not me.” And I would have meant it, but I would have been wrong.

It’s reasonable to say that you don’t think you’d react in the same way as the character, but you cannot say their reaction is totally wrong. Everyone reacts differently and that reaction can change due to their mental status at the time or the emotional investment they have in the situation or past experiences of a similar nature or just from shock. You might view the reaction of a character in a book as silly or stupid, you may even laugh, but if faced with the situation yourself you will soon discover that we don’t always react the way we think we will.

Many years ago, I wrote a rape scene. I have never been raped, but my instincts told me that I wouldn’t necessarily scream. I think I would, however, fight against the violation to the end and I guess I’d keep all my strength for that instead of wasting it on screaming. I hope I’m never in the situation to find out what I really would do. However, several critiquers told me that the scene was not realistic. They felt the lack of screaming flattened the scene and they urged me to do a rewrite. This brought to mind an incident when I was about 15 years old. I was sitting with my parents, watching a movie, when the loudest, most terrifying, scream penetrated our home and announced that someone was in desperate trouble. We rushed outside, as did a lot of our neighbours, to find a young woman running and screaming at the top of her lungs. The man chasing her quickly took off into the shadows, but was caught by police later. Upon seeing us, the woman made a bee line directly to my father and begged him to help her. She later told us that the man was waiting in the bushes near the bus stop and pounced on her as soon as the bus disappeared around the corner. Her wild screams saved her from events I would rather not think about.

Yet whilst I was thinking about the comments I received on my scene, I concluded that it wasn’t wrong. Just because the majority of readers felt they would scream bloody murder, it doesn’t mean I wrote the scene incorrectly. I decided to keep it as it was. Then…several days later I received an email from a critiquer who had read the scene but hadn’t offered her opinion, but she had seen what the others had said to me. She had taken several days to think about it and then she decided that for my sake (and for the sake of the scene) she had to speak up. She had been raped! She told me that reading the scene bought it all back – the emotion, the fear. She said that despite what everyone else thought, the scene (to her) was more realistic than any other she had ever read. Her experience was exactly like my scene. My words had connected with her on the deepest level and, although she was battling with past demons because of what she’d read, she needed me to know that my scene was good, that it didn’t need changing.

She understood that for me it was just a scene, but she opened up to me like I was another rape victim. My words connected us and she shared so much of her experience with me that saying I was grateful just didn’t feel right…or appropriate. I find myself wondering, all these years later, if she realised her emails boosted my confidence as a writer. If I could connect to one person in that way, perhaps I could connect to others…that thought drove me on.

But why have I brought this up today? On the train this morning I sat behind two young women discussing a book they had both finished reading recently. Unfortunately, I don’t know what book they were referring to, but what caught my interest was their conversation on how they felt the main character’s reactions were totally wrong. When I heard one of them say, “Yeah, but I wouldn’t react like that. Would you?”, it made me think of that rape scene. Surely readers don’t expect everyone to react in the exact same way they do. Do they? As a writer, I must chose carefully how I want my characters to react to the situations I put them in. Are they going to do what everyone expects of them, or are they going to react in the way befitting their personality? I will chose the reaction for their personality every time! To do anything else, just wouldn’t seem right.

I often roam the internet, making my way from one website to another, reading hundreds of words written by other people.  Those words sometimes anger me, at other times they make me cry, but today I found words that inspire.

Some Mad Hope: When Nothing Is Good.

This is a post that reminds us about the small things in writing.  The things that can be tedious and time consuming, but are very important to all writers.  It reminds us that after hours and hours of sitting alone and writing, we then sit for hours and hours alone and edit, before we sit for hours and hours proofreading.

When I read, if I see a single mistake my reaction is, “haha, a mistake!”  When I write, I’m conscious of this but it doesn’t stop the errors getting through.

The author of the post “When Nothing is Good” is correct when she says that nobody notices when everything goes well, but those same people are quick to jump up and down when something turns pear shaped.

I’d like to be remembered for a good story, not for a story full of errors, so I edit and edit and edit some more.  When a story flows nicely, the reader is taken on a lovely journey.  As writers, we have to ensure the reader is so absorbed in the story that nothing can distract them, especially typos, poor formatting and bad grammar.

When I left the train this morning, I did so knowing that the third edit of Mirror Image had been completed. There is something about this manuscript that makes me feel quite positive. I believe it has a lot to do with the theme, which I haven’t publicly shared as yet, but I have a strong feeling this manuscript will be well received by agents. Of course, the standard of my writing will then have to carry it to higher places, such as to the desk of an editor of a publishing house.

When I read what I’ve just written, my first instinct is to cringe and think to myself that I’m vain for thinking such things and I could be sorry I wrote this post at some time in the future. Yet, I’m not a stupid person and I am not vain. It is simply a matter that I truly and wholly believe in this manuscript. I know there is a market for it. The truth of the matter is that it will all come down to two things…1) my writing, and, 2) the cover letter, which I wrote months ago.

There is a quote on my desk calendar today that reads:

“Ideas often flash across our minds more complete than we could make them after much labour.” La Rochefoucauld

How fitting that saying is when I compare it to the cover letter for Mirror Image, where the wording flashed across my mind at the strangest of moments and I had the sense to quickly write those words down. It was complete in a matter of minutes, when I would normally labour for days or weeks over a letter of such importance.

They say you must grab the reader’s attention straight away. Well this letter does that with the first sentence. I know it absolutely. If I were ever to doubt anything (and I do, often) it certainly would never be this letter.

But I jump ahead of myself. First the manuscript must be polished and then polished some more. The third edit is done and I’m really happy with what I have, so it is time to give it to a reader and see what happens from there. Just as I know that my cover letter is perfect, I also know that the reader will have plenty to say once he has read the manuscript. I predict that he will try and persuade me to change certain aspects of the story (and I know exactly which ones), but I will remain strong and focused (unless he can convince me otherwise). I look forward to his feedback. In fact, I crave it.

I feel excited. I am working on something that means a lot to me. I have poured my heart and soul into this manuscript and I feel…that I am on the right road. It is a good feeling.

Benjamin Solah added a post by the same name – How Do I Edit? – to his blog earlier in the week. I found it interesting to read about how someone else tackles the editing process and then I started thinking about how I would answer the same question. I admit it isn’t easy to answer but I’m going to have an attempt at doing so. This might end up being a long post.

My answer relates to novel length manuscripts. To make my answer less complicated I will talk primarily about my current project – Mirror Image – but the steps below are generally what I do for all my projects.

When I start a new project I usually create a document, setting the page specifications to conform to publisher requirements, and save the document in a folder with the same title as the manuscript – in this case Mirror Image. This folder will be found within My Writing folder. So the location would be… My Writing>Mirror Image and the saved document would look like this… Mirror Image V1 10.1.09. I like including the date as it is a reminder of when I started writing the story.

When I move onto the second draft (or first edit of the completed manuscript) I will save the document as Mirror Image V2 29.5.09 and version 1 will be moved into a new folder within the Mirror Image folder called Old Versions. I don’t like clutter or the risk that I might open the wrong version by mistake and not realise what I’ve done. However, I do like to keep old versions in case I go mental and ruin a story by over editing it…or heaven forbid, I delete it by mistake (this hasn’t happened yet, but the possibility is always there). All future edits will be handled in the same way until I end up with a lone document entitled Mirror Image Final 15.7.09. This is the version that will be submitted to publishers.

But how do I get to that version?

The first edit is always done on screen. I read through the document making minute changes such as typos and easy to fix plot errors. I make notes about the not so easy to fix plot errors or character inconsistencies. My only thought in this first edit is to get a handle on how the story reads and you can’t do that if you spend months fixing mistakes, so I want to read the story through in no longer than a week or two.

The story firmly planted in my mind – major mistakes and all – I then let the story sit for a while. Not too long as I find I lose momentum. A couple of weeks to a month is generally long enough. During this time, I’m still working on the story mentally. I’m thinking about how those major inconsistencies and errors can be fixed. Do I need to do a bit of replanning? Or do I need to rethink my characters? Is more research required? If the answer is “yes” to any of these questions then I’ll get started on that, otherwise, I’ll just think about how to make everything more realistic, smoother and truer to what has been planned.

The second edit is where the major changes take place. Depending on what the problem is I might follow a single thread and change it before turning my attention to something else or I might attempt to make all changes as I work my way through the manuscript. In the past I have removed characters, inserted new ones, deleted plot threads as well as created them and I have deleted entire scenes, rewritten others completely from scratch and adding new ones. Editing can be a complex, time consuming procedure, but a writer must be prepared to do whatever it takes to improve the storylines and plots within a manuscript. It is hard work and often monotonous.

At the completion of the second edit, I’ll move quickly into the third edit, which is a repeat of the first edit – mainly fixing up typos and minor errors. Again, I’m concentrating on how the story reads and how everything fits together.

Once this is done, I will consider asking readers opinions. With Mirror Image, someone I trust to be honest and constructive has asked to read it when I’m ready to share it. However, with other projects, I normally turn to writers I know and places like Critique Circle (which was more than helpful when I got to this stage with Cat’s Eyes). I find the feedback from readers invaluable and the manuscript always improves because of it.

Depending on the feedback given, I may have to repeat edits two and three above.

When I’m satisfied that the manuscript has been polished to printing stage, then that’s what I do. I print it out and read it (with red pen in hand). I’m always surprised by the number of typos I still find, but that’s the way of a writer.

Unless I discover something terribly wrong with the manuscript, in which case I could possibly have to do edits two and three all over again, which would be unfortunately at this stage, I would now move onto what I would hope is the final edit stage.

This is when I read through the manuscript, yet again (usually on screen), and make adjustments to anything that I feel isn’t quite up to standard. I will make the changes noted on the printed copy and I might even try to improve word usage (if I think it’s required). With luck, I will be happy and that will be the end of the editing, however, sometimes more read throughs are necessary. How many? As many as it takes!

So, for me, it wouldn’t be unusual to do at least six edits on a novel length manuscript. This is, of course, if I get the storylines and plots just about right on the first draft. Major problems will mean additional edits have to be done. I think I average eight edits for most of my projects.

Just a quick post today.

It’s been a few weeks since I started edited one character’s storyline (let’s call it Storyline B). In my mind, I envisioned the job as being huge and was certain that I would hit a brick wall…and stall! However, like all things that seem too hard, it wasn’t. In fact, the edit went quite smoothly and is now completed.

The Storyline B edit provided a new profile for a secondary character, removal of one thread in the storyline and an overall stronger storyline for this particular character. Having said that, I need to see how it fits with the rest of the storylines, but I’m confident I’m on the right path now.

With this done, I only have the main character to tackle (Storyline A). This, of course, is the majority of the story so it will be a big job, but after working on the secondary characters for a few months, I feel I have a much better “handle” on the entire story. To be honest, I’m looking forward to starting the Storyline A edit. But I’m looking forward to merging all the storylines once again, when I’m finished.

Due to the economic downturn I’ve found myself with less to do during work hours. For the first few days this week I turned my mind to all those rotten jobs – the ones marked “too hard” or just “too bloody boring”. Of course, the jobs deemed too hard never are. They are usually just fiddly or time consuming, but once you get into them they are soon finalised and put away forever. The “too bloody boring” jobs were a different matter. They had to be done, so I forced myself to get stuck into them, but it was difficult to stay awake long enough to see the work over with. I couldn’t believe how fidgety I got and how heavy my eyelids became. However, I did survive the boredom and finished them too. This done, it meant I was left staring at the four walls…and the time dragged like you wouldn’t believe. How I hate that!

I don’t usually write during work hours. There’s too many distractions and I can’t concentrate (yes, I tried it many years ago, but quickly gave it away). However, out of extreme boredom, I decided to revise my habits until the work picks up again.

As you know, I recently finished recreating a character who has a major part in Mirror Image, but she isn’t the main character. Early this morning, I emailed that character’s scenes to myself and when I had finished everything I had at work, I opened the file. Now, remembering the new storyline and character traits, I must edit her scenes. I don’t expect it to be easy, but the end result will be worth the…pain, frustration, time. So far the edit is working out fine, but I haven’t got to the really juicy parts which is where I know whole sections will have to be deleted and rewritten.

Then, of course, I’ll have to go through the rest of the manuscript and fix up everyone else’s perception of this character. I think I’m dreading that more than the scene edit. But it has to be done and once I get that far, I’ll be close to the finish line so I’m hoping that will spur me on.

I actually started writing this post on Sunday 23 November 2008, but never got around to finishing it…or posting it. This is how the post started:

Today, when I complained about the difficulty I’m having with the edit of Mirror Image, someone close to me asked what I was trying to achieve. At first, I was a little taken aback and my defences went up. I thought I was going to have to defend my decision to write to another person who believed everyone wants to be a writer so you’re wasting your time. But then the person elaborated on the question and I realised I had misunderstood what was being asked.

“Don’t writers do many edits?” the person asked. “What are you trying to achieve with this one?”

What was I trying to achieve? In fact, when I thought about it, this was a good question. I realised that whilst I’ve been acting as if I’m trying to turn the first draft into a perfect polished draft (which, at the rate I’m going, will only happen by some miracle), I should be concentrating on something less ambitious and then maybe, I’ll actually get somewhere. As soon as I had this thought, the edit didn’t seem so scary…and hard.

This edit should be all about getting the plot straightened out. If I can fix those large holes in the climax where all the storylines come together all at once; and if I can write the “missing” scene from the secondary character’s point of view; then…and only then…would I be able to say that I have satisfactorily completed the first edit. Only when the things listed above are done should I turn my attention to a second, more intense edit of the actual characters and their reasons for being in the story.

You see, if you think about it, you will agree that the manuscript is actually incomplete in its present state. And that is why I’m having so much trouble with the edit. How can I edit something that hasn’t been written? It also explains why I keep going back to the arc I’ve been working on, instead of editing the minor character’s storylines.

With this in mind, I have decided to change tactics. I will continue to work on the arc for the climax. My progress on that is going well – slow, but well – I have already completed three quarters of the work. Once that is finished, I will start another arc for the secondary character’s storyline. Something went horribly wrong in the first draft and I can’t allow it to remain like it is as the character must provide a very strong message to the reader. In fact, this character is one that I have a lot in common with and I still find it strange that this is the one I had the most trouble with. Anyway, now I need to pull it back into line.

I feel as if I’ve discovered a secret path which will take me through a maze I admit I was lost in. This makes me feel excited and eager to get back to work, which I think I’ll do right now.

And that’s where I had stopped writing last Sunday. Having read over it again, I can see that I did finish the post, but never got around to adding it to my blog (or doing the writing I said I was going to do). Now, however, what has been said isn’t actually true as I haven’t done any of the things I said above. On Monday, I received some news that has made me think about other things for most of the week – private things that I will not go into here. I’ve spent every moment of every day focused on this other thing. I could even say I’ve been thinking about while I sleep because I’ve dreamed about it too. My writing hasn’t been given a thought in this time, but I found my thoughts straying to Mirror Image yesterday so I opened a character’s storyline and read it right through.

It was the other secondary character; the son of the secondary character I’m having trouble with. He is a character I enjoyed writing and it really does show in my words. Everything about him is so different to me and I felt as if I was on an adventure when I wrote his story. I admit that it needs some work, but overall I’m pleased with the way it turned out. I even found tears welling in my eyes in one spot. His message is strong and clear.

Anyway, in reality, this means that I’ve edited four of the six viewpoints. The only two left are the main character and her mother. I’ve decided to go back to my original plan and fix up the secondary character’s (the mother’s) viewpoint.

I’m a woman. I’m allowed to change my mind.

Imagine if we could write the perfect manuscript in one draft. How brilliant would that be? Of course, I’m dreaming here as very few writers would be able to do this with any amount of success. I feel it would be impossible to write 100,000 words and not make one single error of any kind. In fact, I think it would be impossible to write any manuscript of any length without a typo or some kind of grammar problem or a sentence that isn’t all it should be.

In reality, in order to get a manuscript anywhere near perfect a writer must not only write the manuscript but they must also subject themselves to rewriting and editing that work numerous times. Some people can get away with only a few edits, but most will have to plough through the same words over and over and over and …

I’m not keen on edits. I find them hard and frustrating because it means I have to iron out all those problem areas I was never quite confident about in the first place. Come to think of it, I don’t like ironing either. No wonder I’m finding the edit of Mirror Image so hard…and draining.

The first draft has huge holes in it. I suppose I should be thankful that I’m aware of this. There are a few problems:

Firstly, the main character’s storyline falls flat right at the most critical time – the climax, of all places. At the moment, the scene could be compared to a plateau when it should be a steep mountain. I’m still working on the arc I mentioned a week or so ago, so when I get around to rewriting this scene it will be much improved.

Secondly, another primary character’s storyline falls to pieces in the middle. Each storyline was planned, but this one kept going off in other directions until eventually even I became confused. In the end I stopped writing and moved to a spot in the storyline that got the character back on track and continued from there. This means, I have an enormous section of mess to fix…once I work out what went wrong!

Thirdly, the three minor character’s resolutions have to be played out in the climax, which is from the main character’s point of view. Once I reach the climax I cannot go back to these other character’s points of view. It would ruin the suspense and flow. However, these resolutions are important as they round the characters out and they are also important to the overall message of the book. The real problem is that the main character is in such a state by this stage, that in reality she wouldn’t be taking in what’s happening around her. So I have to provide quick snippets of information that provide the information needed to complete the minor character’s storylines without interrupting the flow of the climax, which should be quite intense and emotional.

The above is three major problems, which I’m finding hard to deal with. I haven’t come to a complete stand still, but I’m hovering close to it and that worries me. I’m tempted to put the manuscript aside and work on something else for a short time – give myself a break – but I know that if I do this I’ll never return to Mirror Image. I don’t want that to happen, so I’ll continue to struggle forward…even if it means I’m taking the smallest steps you could ever imagine.

Please excuse me while I day dream about how brilliant it would be to write the perfect manuscript in one draft.

The minor character in Mirror Image I mentioned a few days ago – the one who started out one dimensional – is now a fully fledged person. It didn’t take much work – several days of thinking about it, then finding the right place to add in additional information and then the actual edit of his three scenes. His presence in the manuscript isn’t much longer than before, but I am happy with the change in him and the overall effect it will have on the plot. In fact, his story is quite sad and I felt sorry for him when I reread his scenes.

I did have one other problem with this character. His resolution – the big ha-ha moment – comes right in the middle of the climax of the story, which is told from another character’s point of view. However, I know without doubt that I cannot swap view points at the crucial time as it would be detrimental to the manuscript. And it is impossible to return to his character later as, to put it simply, it would be too late.

I have spent a couple of days thinking about this and I realise the only thing that can be done is to write his resolution from the main character’s point of view. But…it’s the climax and the main character has some pretty heavy stuff happening at the time, so she isn’t the least bit concerned about this minor character’s resolution. It’s going to be difficult to write, I’m sure, but I must find a way of getting the information to the reader without the main character’s storyline being affected. Luckily, I’ll be editing that character last so I have plenty of time to think about how I’m going to do that.

I’ve now moved onto editing another minor character. This character is female and she wasn’t as flat as the male character, but she still needs some work.

It seems this first edit mainly consists of days thinking about how I’m going to fix things. This troubled me at first, but after seeing the result of those “think” sessions I can see it’s time well spent.