Tag archives for Editing
Yngvild and Noren – Editing my 2016 NaNoWriMo Novel
Working cover for Noren the Strong, my 2016 NaNoWriMo entry (image: James Kemp) At the end of May I went back to my 2016 NaNoWriMo novel, having left it in the early hours of December 2016. After a gap of 18 months I figured that I would have the detachment from it necessary to give it a good edit. Reading my 2016 NaNoWriMo novel It stood up pretty well on my first read through. I spotted many typos, and highlighted bits to re-write. But for the most part it got left alone on this read through because it was better than I'd expected. I'll do more with it as I find time, mostly when waiting for trains, or traveling. The main things that I noticed that I need to fix are: It needs a new title. The first six scenes…
Editors – Part 2: How to find a good editor
Last week I wrote about the various stages of editing, this week it is about how to find a good editor. There's nothing to say that you must use someone else to edit your work, but most people will probably find it helpful if approached well. Even people that mostly edit other people's work find the fresh eyes bring something to the process. 'Get an Editor' is Bad advice Lots of people bang on about getting an editor. This is good advice, but not when people just say "get an editor". Unless you know what editing is all about how can you pick a good editor? You certainly don't want to just pay the cheapest person. That might be good value, but more likely it'll just waste money. The same is true of picking the most expensive option. The key…
Editing – What is Editing and why must you do it? Part 1
Editing is an essential part of the writing process. None of us are perfect, so we need to edit. Editing improves the quality of writing. Editing also has various forms and stages. If you don't understand exactly what editing is then you won't get the best quality texts. Green Ink vs Red Ink when editing Types of Editing Not all of these, strictly speaking, are editing. They are all essential parts of the post production process for writing. Spell checking Development editing Copy editing Formatting Proofreading I've listed them in the order that I think that they need to be done when you've finished the first draft. I cycle through 1-3 until I am completely happy that I have a publishable product. Only at that point would I go through 4 & 5. Spell checking It should go without saying,…
Cell Tradecraft – Plot Hole Plugged
The cell tradecraft in the first draft of Perfects had a plot hole. I found in my first editing pass, it relates to the cell tradecraft when it is compromised. Background Core and infrastructure from a typical cell system (Photo credit: Wikipedia) The main characters in Perfects are a group of genetically modified people. They're illegal and trying to help other genetically modified people escape from the country under false identities. The parallel here is the evader networks in nazi occupied Europe during WW2. Indeed the group has consciously modelled it's way of working on the SOE manual. They have a compartmentalisd cell structure to prevent the whole network being compromised. The Plot Hole The story involves the cell being compromised. The police raid their identity factory and arrest of a couple of the cell members, including the leader. In…
Green Ink for happier editing?
For almost two decades I have used green ink when commenting on documents and for editing. I've come to believe that green ink is the best colour for editing for a variety of reasons. Here they are. Green Ink is psychologically positive Traditionally red ink has been used for correcting proofs. Red has a negative connotation, we use it for stop signs and prohibitions. Psychologically red can symbolise the blood from our work, and if there is a lot of red on the page then we get disillusioned and dispirited. So much so that UK civil service core competency framework has "wields the red pen" as an unacceptable trait for senior civil servants. Green Ink carries the opposite connotations to red ink. We use green for go, and for affirming things. So green ink on the page doesn't carry the…