Day 62

Editing – 1

The message I’m getting from the inspirational piece is quite bluntly telling you, the author, to be ruthless.

But, is it as much about cutting words, as it is rearranging those you have better?

There are writers who write chapters instead of paragraphs, paragraphs instead of sentences, and end up with a book the size of War and Peace. That is not to say Tolstoy should have taken a blue pencil to his work and made it 250 pages. It would not have made sense.

A friend of mine once told me that Harold Robbins was one of those writers who needed to be concise rather than verbose. I didn’t agree with him. I read all of Robbins’ books and loved them.

But…

It is always suggested that first, you write the story. Just get it all down of paper, or in a file on your computer. However long it takes to get it there. One of mine came in at 85,000 words. At the time, I was told the optimum size was around 50 to 60,000 words.

So, it came time for the first edit. I reduced it to around 45,000 words by tasking out what I first deemed unnecessary verbosity. Then I sent it to the editor who told me there were gaps, gaps that ruined the continuity. He then asked for the missing pages.

I then made the second edit and it came back at 78,000 words.

Three visits to the editor and four rewrites, the story now has 85,000 words again, but it reads much, much better. It was in fact a story I wrote originally about 50 years ago, at a time when love was new to me, and I didn’t understand girls or the myriad of mistakes you could make, and I think what I did back then was chronicle the path I took.

If I was hoping it would make it easier I was wrong. It was not a revelation to discover that all women are different.

But I digress…

Editing can be about ruthless cutting, but it can also be about adding for clarity and continuity or to make a part of the story clearer by using context or backstory.

Day 62

Editing – 1

The message I’m getting from the inspirational piece is quite bluntly telling you, the author, to be ruthless.

But, is it as much about cutting words, as it is rearranging those you have better?

There are writers who write chapters instead of paragraphs, paragraphs instead of sentences, and end up with a book the size of War and Peace. That is not to say Tolstoy should have taken a blue pencil to his work and made it 250 pages. It would not have made sense.

A friend of mine once told me that Harold Robbins was one of those writers who needed to be concise rather than verbose. I didn’t agree with him. I read all of Robbins’ books and loved them.

But…

It is always suggested that first, you write the story. Just get it all down of paper, or in a file on your computer. However long it takes to get it there. One of mine came in at 85,000 words. At the time, I was told the optimum size was around 50 to 60,000 words.

So, it came time for the first edit. I reduced it to around 45,000 words by tasking out what I first deemed unnecessary verbosity. Then I sent it to the editor who told me there were gaps, gaps that ruined the continuity. He then asked for the missing pages.

I then made the second edit and it came back at 78,000 words.

Three visits to the editor and four rewrites, the story now has 85,000 words again, but it reads much, much better. It was in fact a story I wrote originally about 50 years ago, at a time when love was new to me, and I didn’t understand girls or the myriad of mistakes you could make, and I think what I did back then was chronicle the path I took.

If I was hoping it would make it easier I was wrong. It was not a revelation to discover that all women are different.

But I digress…

Editing can be about ruthless cutting, but it can also be about adding for clarity and continuity or to make a part of the story clearer by using context or backstory.

Days 60 and 61

Research to make your writing authentic

Whenever I’m writing about a place or about something I’m not familiar with, Google steps in as my aid of choice.

Google to search for the vague stuff.

Google Maps to check out the locations.

Google Street View to get a close look at the locations.

Via Michelin to calculate travel times between cities and what there is to be seen along the way.

Any number of airline sites for travel between cities and countries.

That’s what I can do after visiting the actual places. Yes, my vacations often are to places overseas where I keep a journal noting everything I see, and take lots of photos so that I am across any location I use in my stories.

These typically live in either London and surrounds, or New York and surrounds, because I have been to both many times. Just as frequent are the cities of Paris, Rome, Florence, Venice, and a large part of Tuscany.

That includes riding on trains, the London Underground, the New York Subway, and the Chicago ELL and familiarising myself with buses, cabs, and other modes of transport.

Then there’s the subject matter, and several I’m working on currently,

An interest in space, the planets, and what it’s like to travel into outer space.

Kings and Queens, medieval times, and the people that lived during that time. Ordinary people, feasting and banquets, dancing, and social structures.

Amateur Astronomy, and just plain stargazing.

The various stages of schooling in England and America. I have an interest in their proms, and reunions.

The police and detective rank in the police forces in England and America, including the sheriffs.

I always wanted to fly a plane – and can, in my story.

I’m sure you will have a million other things you would like to know about, and the internet is always on hand.

Days 60 and 61

Research to make your writing authentic

Whenever I’m writing about a place or about something I’m not familiar with, Google steps in as my aid of choice.

Google to search for the vague stuff.

Google Maps to check out the locations.

Google Street View to get a close look at the locations.

Via Michelin to calculate travel times between cities and what there is to be seen along the way.

Any number of airline sites for travel between cities and countries.

That’s what I can do after visiting the actual places. Yes, my vacations often are to places overseas where I keep a journal noting everything I see, and take lots of photos so that I am across any location I use in my stories.

These typically live in either London and surrounds, or New York and surrounds, because I have been to both many times. Just as frequent are the cities of Paris, Rome, Florence, Venice, and a large part of Tuscany.

That includes riding on trains, the London Underground, the New York Subway, and the Chicago ELL and familiarising myself with buses, cabs, and other modes of transport.

Then there’s the subject matter, and several I’m working on currently,

An interest in space, the planets, and what it’s like to travel into outer space.

Kings and Queens, medieval times, and the people that lived during that time. Ordinary people, feasting and banquets, dancing, and social structures.

Amateur Astronomy, and just plain stargazing.

The various stages of schooling in England and America. I have an interest in their proms, and reunions.

The police and detective rank in the police forces in England and America, including the sheriffs.

I always wanted to fly a plane – and can, in my story.

I’m sure you will have a million other things you would like to know about, and the internet is always on hand.

More about my story

…

Now that we’ve established where we are, it’s time to get out and about.

When you arrive in a new city and are supposed to be a tourist, the first thing you do is go out and take a look. Aside from spending a little time reading up on the main sightseeing tours/sites, it’s the time when you find out whether the hype is correct.

The places to eat, the places to get coffee, the places where there might be problems near and by the convention centre where the conference is going to be held.

Of course, whilst our protagonist is not a tourist, he needs an adequate cover story to tell the authorities if, no, when they ask why he’s there.  Of course, it is such a country that the chief of police will already know he’s there, where he’s staying, and why.

His cover?  Journalist.  Covering the conference.  A legitimate reason to be wandering around checking out the sights, and the conference centre.  The point here is that a good agent always has a rock-solid cover story, and our protagonist does.  He is actually a journalist, and well enough known by a number of others who are attending the conference. It’s possible they will all have a get-together, most likely in the hotel he’s staying.

It’s the sort of three-and-a-half-star hotel their papers will book for them

So, just to get the ball rolling, he is going to meet the chief of police, and we’re not going to make him a monster, just a dedicated policeman in a place where police are known to be less polite when handling the public, and even less so handling suspects.

Best to tread lightly.

More about my story

…

Now that we’ve established where we are, it’s time to get out and about.

When you arrive in a new city and are supposed to be a tourist, the first thing you do is go out and take a look. Aside from spending a little time reading up on the main sightseeing tours/sites, it’s the time when you find out whether the hype is correct.

The places to eat, the places to get coffee, the places where there might be problems near and by the convention centre where the conference is going to be held.

Of course, whilst our protagonist is not a tourist, he needs an adequate cover story to tell the authorities if, no, when they ask why he’s there.  Of course, it is such a country that the chief of police will already know he’s there, where he’s staying, and why.

His cover?  Journalist.  Covering the conference.  A legitimate reason to be wandering around checking out the sights, and the conference centre.  The point here is that a good agent always has a rock-solid cover story, and our protagonist does.  He is actually a journalist, and well enough known by a number of others who are attending the conference. It’s possible they will all have a get-together, most likely in the hotel he’s staying.

It’s the sort of three-and-a-half-star hotel their papers will book for them

So, just to get the ball rolling, he is going to meet the chief of police, and we’re not going to make him a monster, just a dedicated policeman in a place where police are known to be less polite when handling the public, and even less so handling suspects.

Best to tread lightly.

Day 59

Check your work

By any and all means possible, because if you are using the English language then you’re going to be tripped up.

For instance, just the use of simple words like then, and than, there, and their, and many others. Just the very simplest of words have many meanings some of them obscure, some of them, well, you get my drift.

ESL students often tear what little hair they have left out over the words. We English users, we are different again, being American English, English English, and a dozen other variations.

There’s center and centre, just to name one when it comes to American and English.

It depends on what spell checker you use to check the spelling, and what grammar checker you use, and generally not 100 per cent effective.

I let Microsoft Editor have fun with my writing, and then tend to ignore a lot of the suggestions. They just sound weird.

I have a basic Grammarly, but it doesn’t do a whole lot and it costs a lot of money to get the so-called good one.

You have to decide the way you want to go, but you will have to have your work checked for grammar and spelling and facts.

And probably read a dozen grammar texts to get the best way to write your sentences. Mine often start out somewhat strange, but we get there in the end.

…

As a case in point: the word Line

The English language has some marvellous words that can be used so as to have any number of meanings

For instance,

Draw a line in the sand

We would all like to do this with our children, job, and relationships, but for some reason, the idea sounds really good in our heads, but it never quite works out. What does it mean, whatever it is, this I’d where it ends or changes because it can’t keep going the way it is.

Inevitably it leads to,

You’ve crossed the line

Which at some point in our lives, and particularly when children, we all do a few times until, if we’re lucky we learn where that line is. It’s usually considered 8n tandem with pushing boundaries.

Of course, there is

A line you should never cross

And I like to think we all know where that is. Unfortunately, some do not and often find their seemingly idyllic life totally shattered beyond repair. An affair from either side of a marriage or relationship can do that.

You couldn’t walk a straight line if you tried

While we might debate what straight might mean in this context, for this adaptation it means staying on the right side of legality. Some people find a life of crime more appealing than doing honest days work.

This goes hand in hand with,

You’re spinning me a line

This means you are being somewhat loose with the truth, perhaps in explaining where you’ve been and what you’ve been doing. I think sometimes liars forget they need to have good memories.

Then there are the more practical uses of the word, such as

I have a new line of products

Is that a new fishing line?

Those I think most of us get, but it’s the more ambiguous that we have trouble with. Still, ambiguity is a writer’s best friend and we can make up a lot of stuff from just using one word.

Day 59

Check your work

By any and all means possible, because if you are using the English language then you’re going to be tripped up.

For instance, just the use of simple words like then, and than, there, and their, and many others. Just the very simplest of words have many meanings some of them obscure, some of them, well, you get my drift.

ESL students often tear what little hair they have left out over the words. We English users, we are different again, being American English, English English, and a dozen other variations.

There’s center and centre, just to name one when it comes to American and English.

It depends on what spell checker you use to check the spelling, and what grammar checker you use, and generally not 100 per cent effective.

I let Microsoft Editor have fun with my writing, and then tend to ignore a lot of the suggestions. They just sound weird.

I have a basic Grammarly, but it doesn’t do a whole lot and it costs a lot of money to get the so-called good one.

You have to decide the way you want to go, but you will have to have your work checked for grammar and spelling and facts.

And probably read a dozen grammar texts to get the best way to write your sentences. Mine often start out somewhat strange, but we get there in the end.

…

As a case in point: the word Line

The English language has some marvellous words that can be used so as to have any number of meanings

For instance,

Draw a line in the sand

We would all like to do this with our children, job, and relationships, but for some reason, the idea sounds really good in our heads, but it never quite works out. What does it mean, whatever it is, this I’d where it ends or changes because it can’t keep going the way it is.

Inevitably it leads to,

You’ve crossed the line

Which at some point in our lives, and particularly when children, we all do a few times until, if we’re lucky we learn where that line is. It’s usually considered 8n tandem with pushing boundaries.

Of course, there is

A line you should never cross

And I like to think we all know where that is. Unfortunately, some do not and often find their seemingly idyllic life totally shattered beyond repair. An affair from either side of a marriage or relationship can do that.

You couldn’t walk a straight line if you tried

While we might debate what straight might mean in this context, for this adaptation it means staying on the right side of legality. Some people find a life of crime more appealing than doing honest days work.

This goes hand in hand with,

You’re spinning me a line

This means you are being somewhat loose with the truth, perhaps in explaining where you’ve been and what you’ve been doing. I think sometimes liars forget they need to have good memories.

Then there are the more practical uses of the word, such as

I have a new line of products

Is that a new fishing line?

Those I think most of us get, but it’s the more ambiguous that we have trouble with. Still, ambiguity is a writer’s best friend and we can make up a lot of stuff from just using one word.

Day 58

What will you do to finish that book?

Me? Well, I’m not that dedicated but…

An organised writer will set aside time for all the processes he or she needs to do in a day, in order to get the job done.

We’re talking time management or a scale I couldn’t even begin to imagine. But, if you want to write a book in a reasonable timeframe, then you have to plan.

To me, if I was going to go down that path, I would need to know the following:

Book genre, a working title, approximate length in words, break down the parts of the story into what will eventually become chapters, know most of the characters and their functions, and spoiler alert, what a possible ending might be.

For me, for instance, the book is a thriller, it is about 80,000 words, it will have between 80 and 100 chapters. From there if I plan to write 2,000 words a day, it would take 40 days, but more realistically, if I write 500 words a day, it would be 160 days or six months. Taking time out, the average time it would take to write would be about one year.

Then, there’s that little matter of what you are prepared to do to finish it.

Will you go at it, day after day, until the first draft is finished? Having a plan, setting out the plot lines and writing to them, perhaps.

If you write like I do, by the seat of my pants, then all that goes out the window.

I use the NANOWRIMO method, of writing 50,000 words in a month, with no breaks, and providing the ideas keep coming, which they generally do. My books often start as short stories, and then carry on. I have done this once a year for the last seven years.

The thing is, once you start, you have to finish. If you don’t that germ of an idea that starts turning into words will stagnate, then become impossible. And if those around you cannot support you, I;m sure you can find an attic somewhere on the internet when you can lock yourself away until it is done.

Day 58

What will you do to finish that book?

Me? Well, I’m not that dedicated but…

An organised writer will set aside time for all the processes he or she needs to do in a day, in order to get the job done.

We’re talking time management or a scale I couldn’t even begin to imagine. But, if you want to write a book in a reasonable timeframe, then you have to plan.

To me, if I was going to go down that path, I would need to know the following:

Book genre, a working title, approximate length in words, break down the parts of the story into what will eventually become chapters, know most of the characters and their functions, and spoiler alert, what a possible ending might be.

For me, for instance, the book is a thriller, it is about 80,000 words, it will have between 80 and 100 chapters. From there if I plan to write 2,000 words a day, it would take 40 days, but more realistically, if I write 500 words a day, it would be 160 days or six months. Taking time out, the average time it would take to write would be about one year.

Then, there’s that little matter of what you are prepared to do to finish it.

Will you go at it, day after day, until the first draft is finished? Having a plan, setting out the plot lines and writing to them, perhaps.

If you write like I do, by the seat of my pants, then all that goes out the window.

I use the NANOWRIMO method, of writing 50,000 words in a month, with no breaks, and providing the ideas keep coming, which they generally do. My books often start as short stories, and then carry on. I have done this once a year for the last seven years.

The thing is, once you start, you have to finish. If you don’t that germ of an idea that starts turning into words will stagnate, then become impossible. And if those around you cannot support you, I;m sure you can find an attic somewhere on the internet when you can lock yourself away until it is done.