atlantis – Aloisius and I

July 19, 2016

Fiction editing: lessons from the dialogue read-aloud

I expected to have additional lessons from the back half of the first edit to share with you, but it turns out that by the time you’re that far into your piece, it’s really about applying everything you’ve already learned and picking up speed. Instead, new lessons come this time from my first forays into the dialogue read-aloud. Yet again, the learning curve has been a bit of a shock. Yet again, I figured I would be quick about it, soaring through this new form of editing like a trumpeter swan. After all, I’ve already edited the entire book once for major plot and character overhaul. How hard could it be to read the thing out loud and fix a little grammar? Hard. Real Hard. Like, I-am-less-a-swan-and-more-a-barnyard-chicken hard. So, in the spirit of transparency and education…some further lessons. Lesson thirteen: Fill out character sheets I know. I know I said in the last set of lessons that you would know

June 7, 2016

Fiction editing: lessons from the first half

Halfway done! Halfway done. …..halfway done…*collapses* And the lessons this time are about trust–of self, of other authors, of characters, of ability. Lesson eight: The iceberg metaphor I think the majority of us have probably heard the iceberg metaphor: maybe because we were emo teens with “complex” emotional lives that vibrated below the surface; maybe because our teachers had a poster up on the wall, desperately trying to drive home how much actual work goes into a project. But if not, it goes like this. For every 5% of material that makes it to the page, there is another 95% of material supporting it silently, unseen, from behind the scenes. In other words, if you don’t know the world you built inside and out, if you don’t where your story is going at all times, or if you don’t know why your characters say the things they do, based on backstory and motivation, your shit is going to get wrecked.

April 26, 2016April 26, 2016

Fiction editing: lessons from the first month

Welp, it’s been a month, and I’m six chapters down with twenty-four to go. This, uh…this is not where I

March 29, 2016

Fiction editing: lessons from chapter one

I’ve been editing my academic work for years. I’ve edited approximately a million papers, a masters thesis, dissertation pieces, and countless student submissions. I’m good at it. I figured I would be good at fiction editing, too. LOLS Well, to be self-compassionate, I wouldn’t say I’m straight up bad at fiction editing. But I would definitely say that I was being coy with myself when I set my expectations, and that chapter one has provided the rudest of awakenings. Awakenings provide lessons, though. So, in the spirit of education, here’s what I’ve learned so far about editing… Lesson One: Your characters will be strangers If this is your first big piece of fiction (and maybe even if it’s your third or fourth) you’re going to look back at your first chapter and wonder what the hell is even going on with these characters you thought you knew so well. A reminder: You do. You do know them. But you didn’t