Close editing a must for manuscripts

I have had an enlightening past several days. I did a line-by-line edit on my 375-page manuscript, looking to tighten here, add a little there, take out extraneous words, add personality clues -- you know, all those items that make a work more complete. What did I learn? Oh, let me tell you.

I learned I use two words far too often. They are "just" and "very," and they are just very unnecessary in almost every case. I left a couple cases of "just" in because they add the immediacy factor to events. "Very" disappeared entirely.

I learned the little asides I inserted in an earlier edit weren't needed. It was a needed nip-and-tuck.

I learned I needed to ramp up the tension in some chapters. I added more peril where peril was needed.

I learned my final chapter is pretty good. It gives an intimate look at my protagonist, and he is an interesting man to get to know. What can I tell you? He is retired military. He has a distinguished record. He is a good businessman, good enough that he has a million-dollar house in the Seattle area. He lives alone, by design. He keeps the foundations in his life simple, but they have more than enough weight to support his needs. His life isn't perfect, and it gets more imperfect.Therein lies the rub.

I learned I like this guy more every day. He is a challenge. People are more interesting that way.

WHAT I AM READING: I stayed in my "The Art of ..." groove. I finished "The Art of Racing in the Rain," which was enjoyable but somewhat inconsistent. I absolutely loved the start and the ending. I look differently at my dogs because of that. I am just starting to read "The Art of Fielding" by Chad Harbach. It was recommended by some baseball beat writers I know, and by some normal people, too.

MY NEW JOY: I am on vacation this week, which means I call the shots on how my time is spent. Obviously editing and writing have filled several hours. So has time with family members and my always enthusiastic and lovable dogs. I savor chances to sit in the sun and enjoy 75-plus-degree days. I enjoy laughing with the people I love. Life is good.

Comments

  1. Wes GentryOctober 15, 2012 at 5:15 PM

    It's not enough that you are taking vacation...you taunt us WHILE on vacation!

    Informative post...

    Like you, I also am very, very fond of very, but it is very useless.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wrestling with the idea of white privilege

A former co-worker was the first I saw charge that all Caucasian employees have the advantage of white privilege. I laughed and labeled it as the latest wave of thought designed to find perpetrators for victims. I laughed because of my upbringing. I was born in The Dalles, Oregon, which isn't an epicenter of wealth and status. It's a town of about 10,000 residents on the banks of the Columbia River. It is known for cherries, wheat, winds funneled through the Columbia River Gorge, and a key historic spot for Lewis and Clark and the pioneers who ventured west on the Oregon Trail. It was a good place to grow up, at least for me. It was small enough that you had the feeling all residents were neighbors. A downside was that you were often known by who your parents were. I was often introduced as Eldon's boy, or Virginia's boy. I was the third child of three, so I also was known as Steve's little brother, or John's little brother. It also was a town with a racist
Read more

Western boy adjusts to the South

I must apologize for the lengthy time between posts. You see, I have pulled up stakes in Colorado and settled into the beautiful Upstate region of South Carolina. It's more than merely a new location. This is a different culture, weather routine, foods, way of life. I am not going to be so presumptuous to believe I understand it all, but I have had time to form opinions about my new home. Here are a few: 1) The South doesn't believe in pretenses. Maybe it's different in Atlanta or Charlotte, but my new hometown of Anderson, South Carolina, is as comfortable as an old shirt. No one is expected to act one way, dress accordingly, show off the signs of status, or spend time telling people how good you are. One of our friends in our new home is Mykel, an African-American man who just moved with his wife into a new home from the apartment complex where we currently live. His reaction to his new home and car on the same day? "That's a blessing," he says. Walk down
Read more

On being out of journalism for one year

April 24 marked the one-year anniversary of Kevin Dale calling me into his office and notifying me that my job at The Denver Post was being eliminated in a reduction of workforce. I won't write about that decision today. That is so last year. But I learned a lot in those intervening months, so it's time for an update. It is a situation in which there is good news and there's bad news. People given the option of what to hear always take the good news first. I will reverse that order. Those bad things sit deeper in my soul, as they should for anyone who put decades of effort into his or her craft or profession. So here are the three worst parts of leaving journalism. 1. I have so much to offer and no opportunity. I am a skilled journalist. I have numerous writing awards. I was a good copy editor who worked on some of the best newspapers not only in the West but in the world. What was that worth in the job market? Not a darned thing. I applied for any job that had the word
Read more