I read this great blog post yesterday on YA Highway about passive vs. active sentences. The post, Sentence Strengthening Sunday – The Passive Sentence, provides a clear description of passive vs. active sentences and how to spot them in your own writing. As a major offender of passive writing, I highly recommend checking out the post.
When writing for a younger audience, the words ‘move move move’ keep repeating through my head. I want the action to fly so the young readers don’t lose interest. But as a result, is my plot suffering?
I’ve been feeling like something is not working with the plot. The concept seems good, but there hasn’t been enough time to properly develop the characters, which is especially a shame since I spent days writing out character bios.
What do you do when you realize you have enough plot to move into a second book? Unfortunately, the only good answer I could come up with was to go back, start from the beginning, and add scenes. Make the action more action packed, make the build-up more of a build-up. And most importantly, give me room to let the characters grow.
Starting with the editing suggestion by Carmella on MiG Writers, (see my post from 8/7/2010) I printed the pages out as though it were a book (2-column, landscape). I then have been painstakingly sifting through my writing, searching for areas that are weak, areas where I can add another scene. In addition, I am compiling lists of additional scenes I can create, scenes that will really show what it is the characters are struggling with.
While this is slow going, I’ve gotta say I’m already feeling better about the book. And I love editing onto pages that are formatted like a book. It makes it feel more real; it allows me to believe that someday my WIP will be a book.
How do you flesh out your story?
There was a great guest blogger on Ask the Publishing Guru the other day. The post, Using Strong Verbs for Strong Writing by Jose M. Blanco, explored the difference verb choice can make in your writing and included several examples. The suggestions provided in the post will prove to be extremely valuable when I get to the editing stage. The main suggestion was to underline any use of “Be, Is, Are, Was, Been, Being, Were, Has, Have, Having, Had.” These verbs are generally weak verbs. By underlining them, you can pinpoint where you are using them and then see if you can find a stronger verb choice. You should definitely check it out and bookmark it for your future editing needs. Once I get to that point in editing, I will let you know how this exercise works for me.
I’m nearing the editing phase (or so I keep telling myself), I’ve been looking for some helpful tips on how to successfully self-edit. During my stint in publishing, I had no problem telling an author that a section slowed down the reader or that a sentence was too wordy. I’ve even been known to throw out entire chapters. When it comes to my own writing, I do not find it to be quite so easy to pinpoint these errors. In short, I either think everything I write is awful and beyond repair (enter the trashcan) or that unnecessary characters/scenes/sub-plots, you name it, are integral to my story.
Before shelling out several hundred dollars to pay a professional editor, I would like to feel that I’m giving said professional editor my best work. It’s the same concept as cleaning up for the maid. You want a maid to spend his/her time cleaning the things you hate cleaning. You don’t want to pay her/him to put your shoes away, which you can easily do for free.
In an effort to start thinking about cleaning up for maid, I have stumbled upon some good blog posts about editing. My favorite post I’ve found in the past few days was from MiG Writers, A Revision Tip, posted by Carmella. In her post, Carmella suggests printing the book out, not how you would print a normal document, but formatted the way it will look in print (horizontal, not vertical). By reading it this way, it will feel like you are reading a real book. You will see the book how a reader would see it. This should help pinpoint problems you may have otherwise missed (see her blog post for specifics).
Because of some tricky plot points coming up, I’ve been thinking that now would be a good time to read through everything I have so far to make sure it is all lining up. I think I will give this trick a try. I’ll keep you updated on how it works out.
*Just read this blog post that I thought I would add: 10 Steps to a Better Story. Good things to keep in mind while editing.