writing

Editing Into The New

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

It’s a strange thing, editing “A Bridge To The Quiet Planet,” my upcoming novel that you only know about if you hear me talking about it constantly.  Editing has become a bit of a slog.

This is no fault of my exceptional editor.  My editor (who if you want to get an intro, I will do, so you can give her lots of money) did an exceptional job.  The problem is I’m kind of tired of reading my book.

I mean, yes, I like the characters.  I like the setting.  I like the story.  It’s a contra-epic of various odd people in a world of magic and mystery dearly not wanting to have a legendary adventure, since lots of stuff dies when those happen.

It’s just you know I’ve seen it a lot.  Over and over again.  It’s a drag and it’s a bit boring.

Today, however, I realized my editor had given me a way to enjoy it again.

See, by following my editor’s advice, by editing my book, I’m rewriting it.  As I rewrite it, it becomes a new book.  What happens during the editing process is not just me reviewing, it’s me discovering a new version of my book.

I know the characters better.  I enjoy the new prose.  I like the revelations I inserted.  It is new.

Suddenly, it’s a bit more enjoyable.  I mean I won’t lie, editing is work, but realizing I’m finding a new book makes it much easier.

So if you’re tired of editing, remember you’re not just editing – you’re discovering a newer and better book.

 

Steve’s Update 10/7/2018

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

I’ve decided to keep these updates going because it DOES help and it DOES keep me honest.

So what have I done the last week?

  • A Bridge To The Quiet Planet:  I will be through chapter 11 (of 15) today, so it’s getting there.  The big haul is this week is to get done by next Tuesday or Wednesday.  I think I can manage this, but it’s going to be a challenge (I might not be done to Thursday).
  • Way With Worlds: Meandering along of course.  I plan to try to jump ahead next week as I’ll have some downtime.
  • Other: I spoke at Kraken-Con!  Sadly, the last one but it went great.
  • Seventh Sanctum: I haven’t made any updates lately as things got busy – but behind the scenes I’ve been plotting out some new technology to improve it.  The current goal in 2019 is to rewrite it entirely over the year to build a solid technical foundation and allow other options.  Meanwhile, I gotta produce some new stuff . . .

What am I going to do this week?

  • A Bridge To The Quiet Planet: Editing.
  • Way With Worlds: Writing.

Yeah, not much to update.  So maybe I’ll cancel these updates and only post when needed.

Editing: The Fiction/Nonfiction Difference

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

As everyone who even remotely checks my blogs knows, I’m editing A Bridge To The Quiet Planet, my techno-fantasy novel and return to fiction.  I’m learning a lot from the editing process and my editor (who I am glad to refer to anyone).

One of the things I’ve realized is how radically different editing fiction and nonfiction are.

This probably surprises few people, but it had never really crossed my mind.  This was because I’ve done both and I’ve written so much over the decades, I hadn’t thought about the shift.  It was all ‘writing’ to me, and I assumed I wouldn’t be that rusty.

Well, I was definitely a bit rusty.  But I also began to see the unique challenges of fiction writing after spending time away from it.

Fact checking is harder.  In fiction you’re basically making facts up.  You’ve got to check and be checked on things you pulled out of the air.

There’s more ways to do it.  Instructional and nonfiction works have certain structures and patterns you usually end up following – from the workflow of a process to breaking things down.  Fiction gives you room with metaphor, wordplay, flashbacks, etc. that give you so many ways to do fiction editing and planning is much harder.

You’re in the heads of unreal people . . . you have to get into the minds of fictional people as you write about them.  So you not only have to empathize with your audience, you have to empathize with people that don’t exist.

. . . and have to empathize with your audience in complex ways.  If I write a good instructional or nonfiction piece, I have very set goals and can pretty easily figure my audience out to deliver it.  For fiction I have to think of a variety of experiences the audience may have, their attitudes, backgrounds, and more – and wrap all that in connecting them to a fictional world.

There’s much more back and forth in fiction.  Because of the unique elements of fiction, I find that editing is a lot more of a back and forth thing.  You find a bit of inconsistent language here and have to go back all over your story.  You realize you need to tweak a “feel” here and there.  With nonfiction I usually can go through one or two edits and be done, with fiction there’s more.

You have more of an illusion to keep up.  Nonfiction is about reality and communicating.  Fiction needs you to keep up the illusion, which requires you to be careful with language, repeated words, being properly evocative, etc.

So that was informative.  I’m glad I took time to write it down.  Now let’s see what else I learn . . .

-Steven Savage