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I took the day off today because I had this idea germinating in my head for my next story Standing on the Precipice due to be published with Indie Authors Press next year. It was while working on that project, that I got my inspiration for this post.
I have written what I thought would be my first chapter and was getting ready to start my second. The most important thing I realized while writing my first story, Sinner’s Ride, was that my writing flows easier when I write a chapter--and before going on to the next one--I edit, revise it, and sometimes even re-write the whole thing. Sometimes it goes well and stays on the same track, but often my editing/revising takes the story on another level completely, even morphing the story into something I had not originally intended.
For example, I wrote this paragraph on my first day of writing Sinner’s Ride:
I sit by my window in my bedroom and nervously watch as the raindrops fall on this dreary morning. I reach for what’s left of last night’s blunt because that’s all I can do. I haven’t slept in days and I haven’t heard a single word. I sit and stare out the window as I wonder what’s going on. It’s now Saturday morning and I still don’t know what’s happening. What has happened? Should I be calling a lawyer right now? Should I stay and wait? Should I be packing? If I leave, I will look guilty. If I stay, I will put myself and my loved ones in danger. What am I going to do? Where has my life gone? My nerves are shot and I feel like I’m on a never ending roller coaster ride.
As I read and re-read this paragraph, I hated it more and more. It is all over the place and although it gives the reader a hint that something has happened, maybe something criminal, it really is not enough to make me want to continue reading. This story was originally supposed to be about a diamond heist gone bad, but you cannot tell that it is about anything remotely as serious as that from reading the above. Yes, the character is worried about something, and it is implied that there is or was something criminal going on, but what criminal is not worried about getting caught?
I edited it to read like this:
I haven’t slept in days. All I can do is sit by my window in my tiny, sparsely furnished room, look out as the raindrops fall in long dripping lines against the windowpane and chain-smoke cigarettes. I am completely in the dark about my baby’s welfare and I am really worried. Where has my life gone? How could this have happened? What should I do? I have to get out of here, but how? I have to find a way to get out of here. When will I be able to get off this horrible roller-coaster ride?
I liked that paragraph much better. With this paragraph, I got a sense of desperation and the story took on a whole new turn. Now there was a child involved! My curiosity, as a reader would be stirred with a paragraph like this. As the writer of this paragraph, my imagination opened up. In the end, there was talk of a diamond heist, but the story ended up being much more than that.
If I were to read this paragraph while browsing through this book in a bookstore, I would want to buy it and read it! Wouldn’t you? This paragraph says so much more with less wording.
Editing is such an important step in the publishing process. Who wants to stumble through a story that is littered with bad punctuation, errant misspellings and even worse than that, a disjointed storyline? When I pick up a book to read, I usually want to escape into another world. I want to envision what I am reading but more than that, I want to be right there with the characters. The point of editing is to enable a story to play out smoothly, all the while keeping the reader engaged. How can the reader be engaged if all he/she is doing is editing the text of the story as they go along?
To sum it up people, GET in touch with a GOOD EDITOR. The owner of this blog is one. ☺
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