Are You a Pantser or an Outliner?

For some writers, the word “outline” is akin to a four-letter word. It doesn’t have to be that way.

Yes, there are successful authors—and I do mean best-selling authors—whose practice is to let their fingers fly and write by the seat of their pants (known as pantsers), but they are few in number.

These authors may seem like they’re winging it. They aren’t. They have years (or decades) of practice built upon a foundation of knowledge about technical and creative principles of the writing craft. The majority of best-selling authors spend time on their outlines, even a few months, including doing needed research, which is at times extensive, before the first word of the initial draft is written.

This preparation process includes sometimes significantly changing or tossing the outline and starting over. Albert Zuckerman demonstrates this brilliantly in his book, Writing the Blockbuster Novel, by showing you iterations of best-selling novelist Ken Follett’s outline for his novel, The Man from St. Petersburg. It’s a terrific opportunity to see how a successful author (Follett) works his craft and crafts his work. Additionally, K. M. Weiland’s book, Outlining Your Novel, provides guidance so you don’t feel like you’re back in high school doing a dreaded outline, as does best-selling author of the Lynley novels, Elizabeth George, in her book, Write Away.

One of my clients wrote her memoir without creating an outline first. The result was the timeline was all over the place. Among my editing notes was the recommendation that she restructure the entire manuscript. It took time but she did it, and her story became fluid and logical for readers.

Another client wrote his debut novel without an official outline, but he had an organized mental outline going on, even though he didn’t realize it (it happens, just not as often as we might like). However, during our time working together, he did James Patterson’s online writing course, and saw first-hand how creating an outline would save time during the draft-writing stage, which he did for his sequel.

Anyone who uses outlines will tell you that just because you wrote the outline down, this doesn’t mean it’s etched in stone. For example, the client asked me to review his outline before he started the draft. Several ideas came forward for both of us, especially about how to create the desired big twist that alters the protagonist in a monumental way, which is a shift the author was looking for. Additional beneficial adjustments to the plot emerged as the story progressed. When such inspiration happens, just change the outline and keep writing.

More unfinished manuscript drafts written by pantsers sit in drawers than do manuscripts created by outliners who had spurts of pantsing while writing. When you don’t know where you’re going, you tend to go nowhere. A novel or non-fiction book written by an author writing with wild abandon can cause a story or book to go out of control. The task of getting it back on track is like trying to herd cats. That’s more than a little frustrating, and easy to avoid.

Writing is an adventure, from first word to product. Make it the best experience you can.

[Excerpted in part from the e-book, Easy, Basic Tips for New Writers: Things Every New Writer, Especially First-Time Novelists, Need to Know. Now available at http://www.lulu.com/shop/joyce-shafer/easy-basic-tips-for-new-writers/ebook/product-22760918.html]

Joyce L. Shafer provides services for writers, with a special focus on assisting new and indie authors. Services include Basic and Comprehensive Manuscript Evaluation/Critique and Basic and Comprehensive Developmental Editing, with an option for Ghost Rewriting/Writing services. Learn more about how to make your book one readers rave about at http://editmybookandmore.weebly.com/. 

Writing Fiction Is Not Like Playing Make-Believe

All fiction writers have much to pay attention to in order to create a reader-worthy novel. Something significant new fiction writers sometimes forget to pay attention to are the details.

Let’s go back in time a bit. Many of us played make-believe as children. We’d come up with an idea then act out our story, often changing it as we went along. Maybe we were the only cast member or maybe we recruited one or more others to be on our pretend stage with us. We might have started out saying, “Let’s pretend that . . .” then took it from there. Perhaps what we suggested was agreed to by everyone who had a role in our mini-production. Perhaps one or more cast members decided to change their role or the plot a bit. “You’re a school teacher,” you might have said to one, and he may have responded with, “No! I’m a pirate.” You may have then said, “There aren’t any pirates in this story.” He may have replied, “Then I’m not playing.” Either the story went on as planned, without a pirate, or you came up with a way to include one.

In make-believe, we may start out with one “reality” in mind then alter it to suit our purposes. The structure is loose. That’s fine when you’re playing that game. It’s not fine when you’re writing a novel. Details and structure matter in fiction. Some new writers don’t realize this. The responsibility to keep track of details and structure consistency is yours, as the writer. Your readers will expect this of you. They expect to suspend belief in some measure when they read fiction, but they still expect the story and details to be believable, logical, and realistic. And they expect you, as the writer, to fulfill this promise to them so something written on the page doesn’t launch them out of the movie playing in their minds as they read.

Being an editor for over twenty years, I’ve seen a lot of good writing and writing that needs improvement, especially since new writers tend to be my clients. It’s a tremendous pleasure to assist them to become better at the craft of writing and to create books they’re proud of. But I do come across issues like the one being discussed in this article. For example, a client had her protagonist living on the East Coast. The protagonist did something that led to her incarceration. The writer had her protagonist imprisoned on the West Coast, for no reason other than that’s what came to mind. First, that’s not how the legal system works. Second, the writer had the protagonist’s family, friends, and lawyer visit her often in prison. That’s a very long way to travel, and costly. You can see why that’s impractical and implausible for the purposes of the story: It contradicts real life in a way that doesn’t work, even in fiction. But this is the kind of “oopsie” that happens fairly often for new writers. The Devil is indeed in the details.

As a new writer, you may feel the thrill of your fingers flying over the keys as the story pours forth from your imagination. That’s a great feeling. But you need to create a system that works for you and that you stick with so you can manage the details. Somewhere, somehow, you need to track dates, days, and times of day so you keep this straight. You need to track the approximate time that passes in each scene. It would benefit you to create a cast list. This is especially important if your first book is one with a sequel or will be a series. And this also helps you to be consistent with the spelling of your characters’ names. It can quickly become tedious to keep scrolling through your manuscript to confirm or check something that you could readily find on a separate document.

Repeating that the Devil is in the details, you may (or should) have to do something many new writers fail to do or don’t think to do: Research. For example, if your story takes place in a town or city you’ve never been to—or even if you have been there or lived there—you still need to get certain details right or you’ll have readers howling at you. This research also helps you create settings so your readers can imagine themselves in them, and your research notes help you stay consistent about the details. What else in the novel you’re writing would benefit from research?

Go ahead and get your draft written, but when you sit down to read through it, aloud, for that first of several revisions, look at the content not as the writer but as a reader. Pay attention to what’s going on in your mind’s eye. Is more research needed? Is what you have your characters saying and doing realistic, logical, and believable? Is the timing involved for each scene and the story as a whole realistic, logical, and believable? Did you inadvertently change the “facts” anywhere in the story in a way that makes the reader balk, or that defies basic physics or time progression in an unacceptable way? Did you mistakenly alter the personality of any of your characters without creating a valid reason for this to happen? What else needs your attention?

Yes, there are many things you as the writer must pay attention to if you want your readers to be happy with your novel and you as its author. Whether you like it or not, writing a good novel involves managing the details and getting them right, rather than just making up whatever you feel like writing as you go. Don’t give readers a reason to call you a lazy writer. It may seem as though other authors, including or especially best-selling authors, sit at their computers and just make stuff up. Yes and no. They make stuff up, but they base it on real information they’ve researched and real life experiences. This is part of how they draw us in and keep us captive until the last word, and sometimes even after we finish the book. You can be this kind of writer as well. You just have to do what it takes.

I wish you the best with your writing and progress.

Joyce L. Shafer provides services for writers, with a focus on assisting new and indie authors. Services include Manuscript Evaluation, Substantive Editing, and Silent (Ghost) Rewriting/Editing, which includes converting plays and screenplays into novels. Her clients say she’s part editor, part teacher, part coach. Details available at http://editmybookandmore.weebly.com/. 

What Exactly Is a Ghost Rewriter, and Why Would You Ever Use This Service?

You’re likely aware there are ghostwriters (I love the movie, The Ghost Writer, with Ewan McGregor), but are you aware there are ghost rewriters who provide services as well? Let’s look at what they can do for authors.

You seldom see the term “ghost rewriter” used, if you’ve ever seen it at all. If you search that term online, you’ll see tons of site listings for ghostwriters and then maybe some sprinkled in for rewriters. Ghostwriting is the more familiar service, which is an involved method of getting a book written that’s based on a concept, notes, and or interviews with and for the person who wishes to put their name on the book cover, even though they don’t write the book (there are far more books written by ghostwriters, including best-sellers, than you may be aware of). So, what is a ghost rewriter? Maybe it’s self-explanatory. If not, you’ll know more in a minute, as well as why an author might want a rewriter on his or her team.

There are new, budding, and prolific authors who are do-it-yourselfers. They appreciate input from an editor because they sincerely want to put the best book out there that they can write, but they want to do all the writing and revising. There are other new, budding, or prolific authors who want to write a rough draft of their fiction or non-fiction manuscript then turn it over to someone else to rewrite and revise it, including writing additional content, if needed, until it’s ready for readers. If you’re in the first group, you may wonder why any author would do what those in the second group do.

 

One reason may be that the author never focused on the technical and or creative mechanics of writing, and has no intention to. Ever. These writers rely on their editor/ghost rewriter to bring what they write to finished form. There are other authors, new or not, who don’t have the time, or inclination, to do more than a rough draft, so rely on an editor/ghost rewriter to bring their manuscript to the finished-product level. Yes, your book—your baby—is, after all is said and done, a product you promote and sell.

 

Ghost rewriting can be an involved process (though not as involved as ghostwriting usually is) because now the editor/rewriter is creating what is essentially a new first draft that will need to go through the revision process just as an author doing all the writing would be required to do. The author is the one credited for the work; though, mention of the editor usually appears on the copyright page, in acknowledgments, or both. Credit for services rendered is up to the author. But the fact that someone ghost rewrote (or ghostwrote) the book isn’t mentioned, at least, not usually.

 

If you think this is a form of cheating, please consider that a number of best-selling authors do a version of this: They engage a co-author to write their book(s). A good example is James Patterson. At some point in his career, he shifted gears from being a solo writer, and his fans (I’m one of them) don’t mind at all. They want to be entertained Patterson-style, and he fulfills this for them. He fleshes out an outline for a novel, working on it until he’s satisfied, and then he sends it to one of his co-authors to write the novel (that’s what the other names on his book covers are about, in case you weren’t certain). This happens with Patterson’s input and approval about what’s written, of course. What a terrific opportunity and win-win-win-win for him, the co-author, the publisher, and readers.

 

What you, as an author, need to decide is what works best for you; what helps you accomplish your desired outcome. Sometimes the best assistance for you is to have your manuscript evaluated or to use substantive editing services so you know how to improve your book. Just make sure the person doing this is going to provide you with enough guidance you’ll use to revise your manuscript so it becomes the engaging book for readers you intend. And if you need or want more assistance than that for the reasons listed above, or for some other reason, consider a ghost rewriter who’ll take your manuscript where it needs to go but not require his or her name on your book cover.

 

There’s an advantage to working with an editor/ghost rewriter: You can choose to start out with a completed rough draft or submit one or more chapters at a time, until the draft is completed (a number of my clients prefer to work this way); just be consistent about writing so that you never allow the momentum to flag. Yet another advantage to working with an editor/ghost rewriter, if you’re committed to improving your skills, is that you see what the person did with your manuscript and learn from it.

 

Ghost rewriters are skilled writers but may not wish to travel the publishing path themselves. They love writing and are avid readers. They love assisting authors, especially indie authors, to put their best foot forward for their particular audience. This is another win-win-win experience. As a new, budding, or—if you’ll pardon me—somewhat lazy author when it comes to the technical and creative mechanics of writing, finding the rewriter right for you can be the difference between not going far (or anywhere) with your book and going the distance (and getting great reviews).

 

No matter which group from above you fit into, the fact is this: No writer ever completes a book entirely alone. At least, writers shouldn’t, if they want to put the best book they can into publication. There should be one or more qualified beta readers involved to give quality feedback. At some point an editor needs to be involved, without exception. Line-editing may be needed. Eventually, the services of a proofreader are required. Best-selling authors have teams who assist them, whether they go the indie or traditional publishing route. And if you’re Patterson and want to publish ten books a year to keep your readers and publisher deliriously happy, you engage the services of co-authors. If you’re not 100 percent confident about your skills or don’t have or want to take the time to go the distance, you put a ghost rewriter on your team. A team makes a dream come alive.

I wish you the best with your writing and progress, always and in all ways.

Joyce L. Shafer provides services for writers, with a focus on assisting new and indie authors. Services include Manuscript Evaluation, Substantive Editing, and Silent (Ghost) Rewriting/Editing, which includes converting plays and screenplays into novels. Her clients say she’s part editor, part teacher, part coach. Details available at http://editmybookandmore.weebly.com/. 

Some Beneficial Tips for New Fiction Authors

Let’s start with what is for some writers akin to a four-letter word: Outline. Yes, there are successful authors—and I do mean best-selling authors—whose practice is to let their fingers fly and write by the seat of their pants (known as pantsers), but they are few in number. These authors may seem like they’re winging it. They aren’t. They have years (or decades) of practice built upon a foundation of knowledge about technical and creative principles of the writing craft. The majority of best-selling authors spend time on their outlines, even a few months, including doing needed research, before the first word of the draft is typed. This includes sometimes significantly changing or tossing the outline and starting over.

I recently worked with a client who wrote and self-published his first novel. It was written without an official outline, but he had an organized mental outline going on, even though he didn’t realize it. However, during our time working together, he did James Patterson’s online writing course, and saw first-hand how creating an outline would save time. As I write this, we’re working on the sequel, which started with an outline we both reviewed and revised. And as anyone who uses outlines will tell you, just because you wrote the outline down, this doesn’t mean it’s etched in stone. For example, as I went through the client’s outline, several ideas came forward, especially about how to create the desired big twist that alters the protagonist in a monumental way, which is a shift the author was looking for. When such inspiration happens to you, just change the outline and keep writing.

Now, let’s talk about skills. This client has experience writing non-fiction papers and articles, but this was his first foray into fiction writing. He was genuinely shocked to learn he didn’t know how much he didn’t know about the technical and creative aspects of writing fiction. A truth to keep in mind is that a successful author works very hard, using the technical and creative principles, to make writing seem easy. This means you, if you are committed to being a good writer, need to study these principles and put them into practice so they can become natural for you as well.

Initially, the client expressed that his confidence was shaken because of the needed corrections brought to his attention and because of the suggested revisions provided. I pointed out that his innate abilities were obvious to me (they are!) and reminded him that he was just starting on this path, so it was unfair for him to compare his efforts with my twenty-plus years of study and experience. He soon got on board with the learning process. Happily for both of us, he’s a willing, enthusiastic learner. (By the way, he’s ecstatic that his debut novel is getting five-star reviews!)

The more willing and enthusiastic you are about improving your skills, the better your experience and results will be, and the more eager your readers will be for additional books from you. As you improve, you’ll reduce the time it takes to get your novels ready for your audience. If you’re a new writer of fiction, please understand that rushing the process of writing a novel, especially your first one, is never a good idea. Never. Be willing to take your novels through a number of revisions, if needed.

Some other things to focus on when writing a novel are as follows:

Track the chapters: Keep track of chapter numbers and include a brief one-liner about what main thing happens in each chapter. This makes it easier to find your place in the story if/when an inspired idea or needed change flashes in your mind. If this flash happens during the night or when you’re doing something else, make a note so you don’t lose the idea, and then add it in the next day. Also, watch that you don’t make your chapters too long. Look at several books by successful authors and note how long their chapters usually run. The number of chapter pages will differ throughout their books, but you’ll see that sometimes chapters are longer and sometimes they are one, two, or three pages in length. Shorter chapters keep readers reading. Long chapters will keep them reading as long as the content is page-turning good. In longer chapters by these authors, note how often they have scene breaks or scene changes.

Track timing: Keep track of the dates, days of the week, months, and times of day. It’s too easy to slip up. You might start a scene at eight in the morning then three paragraphs or two pages later it’s nighttime but you’re in the same scene that may have lasted only fifteen minutes. Oops. So, it’s also beneficial to keep track of the duration of the scene. Did it play out in fifteen minutes, a half hour, an hour or more?

Track characters: Create a character list. The best way to do this is to write the characters’ first and last names down (and make certain you are consistent with how you spell their names throughout the manuscript), as well as their relationship to the protagonist and or their role in the story. This also makes it easier for you to look up a character’s name if s/he hasn’t been “on stage” for a while. You benefit by doing character profiles prior to starting your draft. The more significant a character is to the story, the more detailed the profile should be.

Track conflict type: You want to pay attention to how many scenes include conflict that is external, internal, interpersonal, and or antagonistic so that you keep the correct balance for your plot and character development. Conflict is required for a good story, and how much and which types of conflict occur have all to do with your genre. Commercial fiction typically has far less internal conflict for one or more characters than literary or light literary fiction requires. The most engaging, page-turner novels have conflict of some sort escalating gradually until the climax point in the story. This doesn’t mean each chapter has so much action or conflict in it that you exhaust your readers. Some conflicts are simple, like your protagonist needing to contact someone in a hurry and s/he can’t reach them, or perhaps your protagonist needs to speak up in a situation but has self-esteem issues.

Track point of view (POV): This is something you can organize when you create your outline. Tracking POV for scenes is important because it’s too easy for inexperienced (and even experienced) writers to include more than one POV in a scene. Each scene that includes POV needs to be in the POV of only one character at a time.

Read aloud: This includes reading passages from books by your favorite authors, but especially your own manuscripts. Once you complete your first draft, print it out (don’t read from the computer) and read it aloud with pen and extra paper on hand. It’s vital that when you do this, you do so from the perspective of a reader/editor, rather than the proud creator. Look for extra spaces, misspelled words, missing words, incorrect punctuation, consistency of indents for paragraphs (be sure you do not include spaces between paragraphs, and be sure you do use only one space between sentences), wrong word choices, boring dialogue, not enough information, more information than what’s needed, run-on sentences, flow, pace, and anything and everything that impedes the writing from being a good story that keeps readers in their mental movie and eager to turn the page. You read aloud what you write because you need to hear how your story sounds, because this is how it will sound in readers’ minds. Do this for each revision. You’ll be happy you did.

There are many, many additional things to pay attention to when writing fiction, and this is why there are so many books available on this subject. One book I highly recommend is Spellbinding Sentences: A Writer’s Guide to Achieving Excellence & Captivating Readers by Barbara Baig. This is not a book you read like most books: Baig puts you to work, but it’s not hard or tedious work. If you’re committed to being a writer and improving your craft, you’ll find her practices engaging and revealing. Your ability to write better, and with more confidence, will unfold as you move through the material.

Know this: There’s always more to learn. This is why even best-selling authors go to workshops and conferences. Commit some of your time to studying to improve your skills, some time to reading so you study what other authors do, and some time to writing, which is the only way to practice what you learn.

I wish you the best with your writing and progress.

Joyce L. Shafer provides services for writers, with a focus on assisting new and indie authors. Services include Manuscript Evaluation, Substantive Editing, and Silent (Ghost) Rewriting/Editing, which includes converting plays and screenplays into novels. Her clients say she’s part editor, part teacher, part coach. Details available at http://editmybookandmore.weebly.com/. 

Common Mistakes New and Indie Writers Sometimes Make

There is a lot to keep in mind when you write a novel, memoir, or other non-fiction book. Enthusiasm is great to have and necessary for getting that first draft and subsequent revisions done. But here are some common issues I frequently see in manuscripts from clients. Are any of them ones you need to watch for?

Let’s look at some technical matters.

Punctuation: Not everyone loves punctuation. Not everyone knows how to use it. If you don’t know how to use it and aren’t inclined to learn, be certain to use the services of an editor or proofreader. A literary agent or publisher wants to see the best copy you can submit. If you self-publish, your readers will appreciate proper punctuation. You see, in real life our hand gestures, vocal intonations, and facial expressions clarify our intended meaning of the words we use. In the written word, punctuation is one way we accomplish this.

And then there’s dialogue. Many writers do not know how to punctuate dialogue. As important as punctuation is in narrative, it is equally important in dialogue.

Fact Checking and Spelling: You can certainly use the spell-check feature, but you still have to make sure the right word is used. If you mean to write “I put my keys right there,” but type “their” or “they’re,” spell-check will only highlight the wrong word if it’s misspelled. The grammar feature may highlight it, but you may not notice it.

When it comes to fact checking, just do it. I’ve seen clients use business or brand names, universities or institutions, song or video titles, and so on, without verifying the correct names, titles, or spellings. With the Internet so available these days (or a phone directory or library reference desk), there’s no reason for this to happen. And you don’t want readers, including agents or publishers, to see that you didn’t go the distance to get such things right. It won’t speak well for you as a writer.

Space between Sentences: When everyone used typewriters, it was necessary to have two spaces between sentences. Now that most people use computers, only one space is needed. In fact, it’s now industry standard. You can also look at this from a monetary aspect: The extra spaces create extra pages. Extra pages cost more to print. A traditional publisher won’t allow it. If you self-publish in print, your cost and cost to readers will be more than it needs to be. Even if you self-publish an e-book, that extra space throughout your text will make the book longer than it should be.

Space between Paragraphs; Indents: I’ve noticed that some e-books don’t indent paragraphs. Instead, they include a space between paragraphs. This isn’t a requirement for e-book formatting, and traditional publishers usually make e-books look like print versions. But I will say that for print, it’s best if you indent each paragraph (5 spaces) and leave out the space between the paragraphs. Again, you can look at the economics of this: extra space equals extra pages that results in extra cost. If you intend to submit to a literary agent or publisher, make sure your paragraphs are indented (including dialogue) and there’s no space between paragraphs. This is what they expect and consider professional.

No Chapters or Too-Long Chapters: Some writers get so excited about writing they forget to use chapters (some forget to use paragraphs). Or they get so into writing they don’t notice how long their chapters are. One client’s first chapter of his manuscript was 42 single-spaced pages. In paperback, that comes out to something like twice that number of pages—way too long for a chapter. Even 42 print pages for a chapter is too long. In times past, when readers didn’t have TV or radio, much less electronic devices, they didn’t mind long books with long chapters. That’s not the way it is today. Readers want pace and punch. And the fact is that if a chapter is only a few to several pages long, or has scene breaks, readers will keep reading to see what happens next.

No Scene Changes or Breaks: When the next scene comes after an interval of “time” has passed since the last scene, or an entirely new scene is presented, this must be indicated to readers.

Mixed Themes/Scenes in the Same Paragraph: Often a writer gets everything down but not necessarily where it best belongs. Each paragraph is a scene unto itself, within a scene. Everything that occurs in the story through narrative or dialogue is to lead to the very next thing that is to or should occur. This holds true for paragraphs.  

Tense: I’ve seen people start out in the right tense then slip out of it. Sometimes the writer starts in the wrong tense and stays there. This usually means the manuscript is written in synopsis form, rather than manuscript form. Example of proper tense, in third-person point of view (POV): Marcus walked to the window and peered at the shadowed form behind the oak tree. Example of improper tense: Marcus walks to the window and peers at the shadowed form behind the oak tree. The first example puts readers into the story. The second example reminds them they’re reading.

Overuse of Words or Use of Incorrect Words: There will be words you cannot avoid using often, but there are words that should not be used more than once in the same sentence or paragraph or even again in the entire story—because they stand out. Example: Marcus suddenly stood, alerted by a sudden noise. He walked to the window and peered out. Suddenly, a shadowed form moved behind the oak tree.

As for incorrect words—if you only think you know what a word means, please look it up in the dictionary to make certain it’s the right word for what you mean to say. I’d say use a thesaurus, which is good advice, but be sure to check the definition of the alternate word or words. One client used a thesaurus to find another word for sensual, found salacious, and kept using it, believing the two words meant exactly the same thing. I knew she likely didn’t know what the alternate word actually meant, because it wasn’t that kind of book. When I provided the definition and asked her if that truly was her intended meaning, she was so very glad I paid attention.

Hyphens: If you aren’t certain whether or not two words require a hyphen, are written as two words, or form one word, the dictionary is the place to go to confirm this. I suggest that unless you have access to a proper reference online, stick with the dictionary. If someone wrote it wrong online, you’ll copy them. You don’t want to do that.

Those were some of the most frequent technical matters I see. Now for several creative issues that crop up often.

Proper Attention to Timeline: Are you familiar with the term “pantser”? Pantsers are writers who write by “the seat of their pants”—meaning they write without planning or an outline. This is not a promotion for outlining, but to bring your awareness onto the necessity of paying attention to what’s happening in the story so that scenes and events are logical and or sequential. Novel writers should have at least these three things on hand, whether created beforehand or as they write: a list of characters, character sketches, and a timeline for scenes and events.

The timeline will help you keep events, and when they happen in time, in proper order. This includes keeping track of hours, days, weeks, months, and years, as needed for the story. Also track the ages of your main characters, the year the story takes place in, and the year or years of any back story instances. If your protagonist is now 40 and you want to use a scene from his high school prom, including a special song he danced to, make certain the song comes from that prom year, rather than a song that didn’t exist at that time. This holds true for any real-life and fictional events used in the story.

Character Development: I mentioned character sketches above. The more you know about your characters the easier it is to write them. You can look up my article about this on this site: “Developing Strong Characters.” I provided what’s needed to create a character sketch, which you should do for each significant character. You want to make them as real to readers as possible. Cardboard characters do not engage readers.

Setting: Give a sense of place for readers. Your characters do not act and speak in a void. They need place. Readers want place. See my article about setting on this site: “The Importance of Setting in a Novel.” Even memoirs and other non-fiction books require setting in some form.

Inconsistencies: You have to watch for these. They can sneak up on you when you’re more involved with writing than with paying attention to what you’re writing. If your protagonist is completely bald, don’t have him run his fingers through his hair.

Keeping It Real: In books like the Harry Potter series and other magical stories, a character that needs a hammer can have one appear out of nowhere. That’s acceptable to readers (believable), because of the type of book it is. If your non-magical detective needs a hammer and “suddenly” has one in his hand, it won’t work. He has to look for or see a hammer nearby and pick it up. Also, figure out how things can happen. Never write something like this: Marcus somehow got out of the locked room.

Recommendations

One solution that can assist every writer with these or other technical and creative matters is this: Read. Read more than you may be reading now. Read to enjoy a book, but also read or reread it with the attention of a writer. One disclaimer: There are a number of differences between American and British writing. This includes some spellings, punctuation, and grammar. Do not mix the two up. Example: Among is the American usage; amongst is British.

Also, understand from the start that manuscript revisions are required. Every best-selling author does revisions. Any new or indie writer who doesn’t understand this or do this does an injustice to him- or herself, the work, and readers. From best-selling author Michael Crichton: “Books aren’t written—they’re rewritten. Including your own. It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn’t quite done it.” One thing that will absolutely assist you is to read your original draft and each revision aloud to yourself. I ALWAYS advise my editing clients to read their revised manuscripts out loud. It makes a huge difference, as this brief article by Wayne Hughes states: http://buildbookbuzz.com/for-reading-out-loud/ .

Writing a book is an adventure. The more you understand about the process and are on board with it, the better experience you have and the better what you’ve written can be.

I wish you the best with your writing and progress.

Joyce L. Shafer provides developmental/substantive editing and book evaluation services, especially but not solely, for new writers. Details about her services, plus her e-book for aspiring and new writers—Write, Get Published, and Promote and her special reports—How to Get an Agent for Your Book or Choose Self-Publishing Instead: Tips, Lists, and More and How to Get Your Book Started: Plan Your Work Then Work Your Plan are available at http://editmybookandmore.weebly.com/ . 

Some Facts about Working with an Editor

If you’ve never worked with an editor and you’re wondering things like what’s involved, how much it will cost, how long it will take, and other such aspects, here are some helpful facts for you to know.  

First, it’s important that you understand what an editor can and should do for you and your manuscript, whether it’s fiction or non-fiction, which includes memoir.

Editors understand that all writing, in the end, involves two people: The writer and the reader, even though others, such as an editor, may be involved in the process. Writers write for a number of personal or professional reasons, but the ultimate desired result should be to do as good a job as possible communicating to readers what the writer intended, whether that’s to inform or to provide a story that entertains or touches readers’ emotions or thoughts. This is where editors come in handy.

Writers have something to say. Yet, they may or may not be as adept at writing as they’d like to be—or think they are. As an editor I’m conscientious of the needs of writers and the rights of readers who have certain expectations. Readers expect content that’s free of typos (as much as possible) and free of any other technical or creative aspects that might negatively affect their reading experience. An editor helps a writer write in a way that holds the attention of readers, rather than distracts readers or discourages them from finishing the book, e-book, or short story.

Although many writers have developed their skills and writing as a craft, we all have trouble at times saying exactly what we mean. We know what we mean to say, but may not accomplish this in the way we hoped. Or maybe we have so much information in our minds, we assume—incorrectly—that others have access to our intended meanings. All writers benefit by caring about the overall quality of their work, which goes way beyond commas being in the right place.

Working with an Editor

Editing styles are as individual as editors are. If you sent your manuscript to three different editors, some editing would be the same and some wouldn’t, because you’re dealing with individuals who have their preferred editing styles. But, there are rules for writing, which exist for good reason, and an editor knows which ones must be followed and which ones can slide a bit—as long as this adds to the content and tone, rather than detracts from it.

And, each writer has a distinctive voice, which must or should be respected. This doesn’t mean that—if you’ll pardon the expression—sloppy writing should be left as is. A good editor can help a writer create clean, crisp sentences and paragraphs AND keep the voice and tone intact. Working with an editor can help you move from talent alone into someone who gains confidence in the craft of writing.

Some common matters editors put their attention on include:

• How the story or content is organized and if it flows well from start to finish
• The “voice” and tone
• Active rather than passive voice (passive voice has its purpose at times, but not as often as some writers use it or misuse it)
• Specific words or sentence construction that may cause confusion
• Tense consistency
• Technical matters such as punctuation, and so on
• Inconsistencies in the story or content
• Basic formatting: indents, no spaces between paragraphs, proper dialogue formatting, only one space between the punctuation mark at the end of a sentence and the first letter of the next sentence, and so forth
• Enough information or plot and character development is provided to fulfill readers’ expectations
• The way the piece ends completes what came before it

Revisions

All authors revise their manuscript, or should, and it usually takes a few or several revisions to get a manuscript into ready-to-go form. I read where one New York Times best-selling author said he often does ten or more revisions before he’s happy enough with his draft to send it to his publishing editor. Not all writers feel that way or require that many revisions. But that author has a point. Many new or uninitiated writers believe one revision (possibly two) should do it. I can tell you from experience that an editor who works on a manuscript that needs substantial revision knows that it will read quite differently once revised. And, it’s possible that the revision, and ones that follow, may (usually do) show what else can be done to improve the manuscript, until it’s the best it can be.

I’ve had clients who went through one round of editing with me, made revisions, but didn’t have me or a proofreader check their work (or had a beta reader go through it and give feedback) before they self-published or submitted to an agent or publisher—and it was too soon to do that. And, although I appreciate when clients include my name as editor in their self-published book, it’s awkward if they publish it with issues I never had the opportunity to assist them to address. Give your editor a chance to help both you, as the writer, and your book, e-book, or short story to shine.

In my nearly 20 years as a conceptual editor, I’ve seen the following—and more:

• Beautiful literary writing (but not often, because that’s not a popular or typical style of writing these days)
• Manuscripts that were one “paragraph,” meaning the writer never created paragraphs
• Stream-of-consciousness writing, with no regard for technical or creative matters or logical content organization
• Really creative writing with fair technical aspects
• Really creative writing with poor technical aspects
• Compelling stories from writers with no grasp of creative or technical aspects
• And I’ve seen all of my clients learn a lot through my efforts and guidance. Some self-publish and some get agents and publishing contracts. A few regular clients don’t worry about technical matters (and to some extent, creative matters), because they rely on me to address them, even down to performing more as a ghost rewriter than as solely an editor.

What about cost?

It’s best if I’m candid with you, because this is important for you to understand. The better writer you are the less will be required from your editor. The less required from your editor the less the cost for his or her services performed on your behalf. A good editor cares about your work almost as much as you do, and works hard to help you make it the best writing it can be. Cost for this service must be anticipated. If budget is a concern, look for an editor who offers a budget-friendly arrangement. This doesn’t mean they’ll charge less for their services, but that they’ll work with you on how and when payments are made.

What about time involved?

Again, it all depends on what the editor finds in the manuscript, as well as the length of the manuscript. Editors need to go through your manuscript twice—or should, the first time they edit your manuscript and every time they work on a revision. One thing you don’t want to do is rush your editor. Your editor must integrate your story or content as a whole, as well as focus on creative and technical matters. This kind of work is comprehensive and gets tiring after several hours. The brain needs to rest and recharge.

Cost for editing is definitely something writers are concerned about and should plan for. They should also plan for how they may feel when their manuscript comes back from the editor, especially the first time. Below are two comments from clients. The first comment is from a first-time writer; the second comment is from a first-time client who is a self-published author who wanted to go the traditional route.

“Thank you for the work you have done on my memoir manuscript. I hadn't realized how much I needed you until I had done my part of the editing process based on your suggestions and guidance. Initially, I glanced at your Technicolor superimposed indictment of my efforts and I was stupefied and rather offended: my book and I were under attack. Almost immediately, I tucked you under my wing to keep you close because you were consistently on target. Working with you has also inspired me to get going on my next book, which will be fiction, as soon as we’re finished with this one.”

“You were able to take my gibberish and convolution of uncoordinated words and transform the manuscript into a tight presentation that attracted three offers for publication. You identified my weaknesses in pacing and character development and taught me how to turn these faults into strengths. My experience with you will give me an improved chance to succeed in this brutal industry.”

When you find an editor you trust and feel comfortable working with, you’ve added someone significant to your team, someone who cares about your work almost as much as you do and is willing to go the distance with you, to make your dream as a writer become your reality.

I wish you the best with your writing and progress.

Joyce L. Shafer provides conceptual editing, book evaluation, and writing coaching services, especially but not solely, for new writers. Details about her services, plus her e-book for aspiring and new writers—Write, Get Published, and Promote and her special reports—How to Get an Agent for Your Book or Choose Self-Publishing Instead: Tips, Lists, and More and How to Get Your Book Started: Plan Your Work Then Work Your Plan are available at http://editmybookandmore.weebly.com/. 

The Importance of Setting in a Fiction or Nonfiction Book

Setting is integral to story, just as the characters and plot/theme are. Setting is about balance: you don’t want to give too little description and you don’t want to overdo it.

Setting is where the story and each scene take place, which you know. But do you grasp that setting can set the tone and mood readers experience, and can reveal and or trigger characters’ moods? You want to give enough (not too much) description for each scene to set the appearance, atmosphere, and mood for readers so they are clear enough in their own minds about the general or specific image you intend for them to have. It may help to create a list or essay description for your scenes (like a character sketch) and keep these handy so you stay consistent throughout the scenes and story.

Give places texture through description. Here’s an example from a James Lee Burke novel:  

“They drove back onto the four-lane and crossed the bridge over the wide sweep of the Atchafalaya River. From the bridge’s apex, Morgan City looked like a Caribbean port, with its palm-dotted streets, red-tiled roofs, biscuit-colored stucco buildings, and shotgun houses fronted by ceiling-high windows and ventilated green shutters.”

As I said, it doesn’t have to be overdone, just give readers something that helps them form an adequate image in their minds and sets mood and atmosphere—and gives them a sense of place.

Here’s another example from a James Lee Burke novel that puts “place” to where his main character lives: 

“I drove home at 5 p.m. and parked my pickup truck under the porte cochere attached to the shotgun house where Molly and I live in what is called the historical district of New Iberia. Our home is a modest one compared to the Victorian and antebellum structures that define most of East Main, but nonetheless it is a beautiful old place, built of cypress and oak, long and square in shape, like a boxcar, with high ceilings and windows, a small gallery and peaked tin roof, and ventilated green shutters that you can latch over the glass during hurricane season.

The flower beds are planted with azaleas, lilies, hibiscus, philodendron, and rosebushes in the sun and caladiums and hydrangeas in the shade. The yard is over an acre in size and covered with pecan trees, slash pine, and live oaks. The back of the property slopes down to the Teche, and late at night barges and tugboats with green and red running lights drone heavily through the drawbridge at Burke Street on their way to Morgan City. At early dawn there is often ground fog in the trees and on the bayou, and inside it you can sometimes hear a gator flopping or ducks wimpling the shallows.”

You want to make the inner and outer landscapes in your story as real as possible for readers. You want readers to feel as if they’ve been there, to feel connection to the story through location. They want to feel this, too. If you intend to or are writing a series with the same character or characters, you will have to describe some settings (and character descriptions) in each book, when appropriate, but with only enough information to give adequate description to new readers and refresh memories for those who follow the series.

A character’s scene setting can influence or reveal something about his or her internal landscape, as well. How you do this is more important than what you use to do it with. Here’s an example from an Elizabeth George novel (British—so spellings of some words are different):

            She parked the Mini with one of its front tyres on the kerb and went to see what the Breakwater had to offer. Not much, she discovered, a fact that other diners must have been aware of, because although it was the dinner hour, she found herself alone in the restaurant. She chose a table near the door in the hope of catching an errant sea breeze should one fortuitously decide to blow. She plucked the laminated menu from its upright position next to a vase of plastic carnations. After using it to fan herself for a minute, she gave it a look-over and decided that the Mega-Meal was not for her despite its bargain price (£5.50 for port sausage, bacon, tomato, eggs, mushrooms, steak, frankfurter, kidney, hamburger, lamb chops, and chips). She settled on the restaurant’s declared specialty: buck rarebit. She placed her order with a teenaged waitress sporting an impressive blemish precisely in the middle of her chin, and a moment later she saw that the Breakwater Restaurant was going to provide her with its own form of one-stop shopping.  [My note: She found a current newspaper with an article she needed to read on the front page.]

Look at the extraordinary amount of information revealed in that paragraph. You get a sense of so many things: what a traditional or culture-based meal might include; approximate time of day; either she’s a poor car parker or didn’t bother about parking better on this occasion (has a lot on her mind, perhaps; but if she does this often, you have a sense of what kind of ride her Mini is and its condition); she picked a place to eat that obviously is not a local favorite (is her choice because of location, unfamiliarity with the area, that’s she’s on a tight budget, is a spendthrift?); it’s hot as heck—she sat by the window, hoping for a breeze; the description of the menu (laminated) and the plastic carnations give visual images and an indication about what kind of place this is (service and food quality); she finds something there she needs other than just something to eat: a current newspaper. Of course, if you read this particular novel or the series it’s part of, you know the answers to the questions in parentheses; but you can see how much information is provided by setting the scene, even in one paragraph.

Always give readers a physical location to “land” in (including an address with a made-up numeral; though, a numeral isn’t always needed, as in the Burke example). You can boost sense of place if you use street names and highway names and their numbers—to make the story more realistic for readers. For example, Rex Stout placed the house of his orchid-growing detective, Nero Wolfe, at an address on West 35^th Street in Manhattan. The number part of the address, if real, would be in the Hudson River, but even though some readers may be aware of this (or not), they can identify with the surroundings or look up the street on a map so they get a sense of the neighborhood and where it fits in the layout of Manhattan. You may also have to make up brick-and-mortar businesses, etc., but keep these as realistically located as possible, if you’re using a real location.

How you handle setting matters because clarity is imperative. Everything you write creates a sequence of scenes in the minds of readers—they are experiencing a number of things simultaneously, so you must present them with information in a proper, reliable order. It’s mind-boggling as a reader (and as a developmental editor) to approach a scene and have the terrain alter from the original image the writer created in your mind as you move through the scene. One client didn’t have a particular scene setting clear in his mind, so just kept adding what he thought would be interesting or challenging for the characters in the scene (I was utterly confused about what the setting was supposed to look like, which I explained to the client). This kind of disorganized, willy-nilly scene creation makes readers (and editors) feel as though they were plucked from a stable environment and dropped into an altered reality. Unless your novel is about altered realities, don’t do this to readers; and if it is, make sure you do this with skill and clarity. Also don’t have what characters need appear out of thin air. Say a character needs a hammer. Unless you’ve set up where the character gets the hammer from, don’t have one appear in his or her hand from nowhere (unless your character is a magician or wizard). Everything has to be logical, even in Science Fiction and Fantasy.

One thing you might do is take photos of exact locations or locations that resemble ones you wish to create or use in your story, including exterior and interior photos (get permission, if needed—but notes can always be made without permission). This way, you have references you can pull from for descriptions and how scenes unfold when the terrain is important to the scene. (Most businesses won’t mind if you give them good promotion in your novel, but they will mind if you don’t—so make one up, if it plays a negative role in the story.)

You want settings to be as clear and real as possible for readers so you maintain the integrity of the story and readers’ ability to follow and connect with the story, scene by scene.

I wish you the best with your writing, process, and progress.

Joyce Shafer

“Editor, Joyce Shafer. What can I say? Simply put, no Joyce, no book. Part editor, part coach, part teacher, Joyce was absolutely phenomenal throughout the entire editing process. Working with Joyce was like taking a graduate course in writing with your all-time favorite teacher and you were the only student. I just can't say enough good things. Allow me a shameless plug for her services. ~ Eric Berbig, Author of The People’s Will

Work with Joyce L. Shafer as your writing coach or developmental editor. Details about her services, including The Chapter-by-Chapter Get-Your-Book-Written Writer’s Incentive Coaching at http://editmybookandmore.weebly.com/