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Making it up as I go along

Making it up as I go along

Tag Archives: Editor

In which I am proofed by a pro

10 Sunday Nov 2019

Posted by Carol Lovekin in Uncategorized

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Editing, Editor, Proofreading, Wild Spinning Girls

The other day, regaling a non-writing friend about my editing process, she commented that it seemed as if most of the work was done after the book was written. She has a point. And most writers would agree: if the road to a publishing deal is long, the one we have to negotiate in order to create a finished book can seem endless.

For me however, it’s never a chore. I embrace every aspect of the procedure & always have. It may be my inner researcher – I’m curious by nature – when writing a book I need to know how everything works. Not just the story as it unfolds through various incarnations & drafts; I’m fascinated by the editorial side too.

The final version of the copyedited manuscript of Wild Spinning Girls with notes from the proofreader arrived a week after my cataract operation. Generous editor offered to clear up the ‘bits’ for me but as I explained, my sight was pretty good & thank you, kindly, only I want to do it all myself.

In the end, there wasn’t that much to do, although any part of the process is always an exercise in careful observation. (Oh, look, another sneaky strikethrough no one spotted. *Polishes halo*) There were issues though – which is why we need proofreaders.

And thereby hangs my tale. With regard to copyeditors & proofreaders, most of us don’t know who we’re going to get. The published authors amongst you will have heard about them: copyeditors on a mission to willfully misunderstand your story, proofreaders who take every single semicolon you’ve ever conjured & turn them into commas. And don’t get me started on the fiends who were clearly born with a genetic resistance to the Oxford Comma.

I’m a lover of semicolons & yes, I overdo them. I also fail, repeatedly, to hyphenate that which requires hyphenating. I know I’m going to get a pasting, frankly, & wonder what the latest proofreader has up her sleeve.

I am here to tell you: Not All Proofreaders!

Did I get lucky or did I get lucky? Yes – semicolons have been thoroughly disarmed & replaced by nicely behaved commas. Quite right too – fair play. I have been allowed to hang on to the ones that matter & even been given a couple! Some nicely place colons too – who knew? It’s a joyous thing to have your words & authorial style respected. To have the corrections made with professionalism & an obvious eye to relevant detail. Even the single thing I disagreed about: a ‘voice’ quirk I insist on keeping – was critiqued with respect to ‘the author’s style.’

There are so many stages to creating a book: drafts & edits when you think, this is a load of rubbish, what the hell am I doing? Even when you accept you may be on to something, there’s a fine line between liking your story & loving it. And finally, there’s the last line to be crossed: the falling in love with it one. Now it’s done, thanks to the dedication of a fine editor, followed by the professionalism & respect of a proofreader I’ll probably never meet, I am finally in love with Wild Spinning Girls.

Four years ago I had only the vaguest idea what a copyedit was or why proofreaders were so essential. With only a few months to go until publication date – 20 February 2020 – I have no idea how this third book will be received or if I’ve pulled it off again. And that is also part of the process.

Fingers crossed, dear reader…

Resting… or not, as the case may be…

23 Sunday Sep 2018

Posted by Carol Lovekin in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Ballet, Book 3, Editing, Editor

Island Life, Word Birds & Process

Dear reader, how nice!
It’s been a while, but there’s a clue in the subtitle: ‘process…’  For a while, as I waited, there was none – not so’s you notice. Waiting is waiting & must be braved. The joy is in the outcome: a measure of progress within the process, so to speak.

Having untangled the minutiae of the structural edit, I dived in again. That’s the beauty of smart, intelligent, instinctual editing – it makes you want to do better. And as it turns out, I’ve been aided & abetted by an injury to the plantar ligament in my foot. (If you know it, you know it… There aren’t enough versions of ‘ouch’… And no need to commiserate. Cake will be fine…) The only treatment is rest.

Rest & write then. My brain, a thing of furious, focused energy, unpicking my story & stitching it together again; my body inert & aching from inactivity. The ridiculous irony is, in this rearranged version of my story (starting in the right place this time), I’m writing about a ballet dancer who injures her foot…

c7f9b84b40e4eb05298317833f46ebfc

Go figure…

‘I hear stories…’

17 Sunday Jun 2018

Posted by Carol Lovekin in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Drafts, Editing, Editor, Edna O'Brien, New story, Quotations

Island Life, Word Birds & Process

‘…It could be myself telling them to myself or it could be these murmurs that come out of the earth. The earth so old and haunted, so hungry and replete. It talks. Things past and things yet to be.’ *

The space in between finishing a book & beginning another is filled with confusion. The non-writer perhaps imagines euphoria laced with a self-satisfied grin of smug. I’ll concede a fleeting sense of relief. It’s done. You’ve done it (again, if you have) & jolly well done. Have all the chocolate & a vat of wine; abandon the pyjamas & see to the pile of ironing in your bedroom resembling an art installation.

The truth is closer to panic. Even after several (sev.er.al.) rounds of editing, a reasonably competent draft is only the beginning. The editing we do for ourselves is just that. Ours. It’s subjective & highly likely to be Not Good Enough. The manuscript must now line up in readiness to be perused by The Real Editor.

This space is called Waiting. Cue gibbering, a sense of doom & the utter conviction that you are pants. (The small, hopeful voice lurking in the corner, whispering ‘It’s really not that bad, you know’ is a fool & a trickster.)

There is only one remedy. Crack on & write another.

And hereby hangs my dilemma. My plan was to return to the now mythical manuscript known as The Next Book. It’s been the next book twice now. Working title RiverBook, I began it before Ghostbird was accepted & carried on writing it between Ghostbird & Snow Sisters. Abandoned it in fact to write Snow Sisters. And then again to write the one I’ve just finished. Now there’s a new story wearing down my pencils, insisting I write it. (I’m making notes in my head as I type this, for goodness sake.)

RiverBook feels like the past & yet I still love it. It has an older woman main protagonist & we need more of them. It references my (very sideways) take on the selkie myth. It’s a completed first draft. I have to make a decision, see which word birds whisper the loudest.

e205eb4c846406c7d86443938e327278

Onward & sideways…

*Edna O’Brien
~ House of splendid Isolation

Letting go of the lovely…

10 Sunday Jun 2018

Posted by Carol Lovekin in Uncategorized

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Book 3, Editing, Editor, Janey, Writing Group

Island Life, Word Birds & Process

It’s highly likely I’ve used the above heading before. (And I’ve definitely written about editing.) No matter – my blog my repetition. Apposite in any case. Editing involves digging out the repetition. And much more besides. I’m on the 84,670,943rd pass & the excess keeps on keeping on… Were it not for chocolate & wine I might well have gone quite mad.

My writing co-conspirator has her head down too. (For those of you who don’t know, Janey & I are are the sole members of the smallest writing group in Wales.) Since her hip op we’ve had to meet less often but we never stop comparing notes. (I think she’s on draft 62,897,504…)

I’m doing my best to stay serene. On the surface at least – drifting like a lily on a lake, looking as if I know exactly what I’m doing. Under the water, trust me, I’m kicking the mud.

ae227fc50ba10817f04721cc7affe50d

My bête noire is a tendency to ramble. To embellish my stories with far too much exposition & description. My mentor & first editor calls it ‘the lovely’ & has, from the beginning of our collaboration, bid me be rid. She may no longer be my editor, believe me dear reader, as I edit Book 3 it’s like she’s in the room… Which is a good thing.

An old Facebook post from a very famous writer – who I’m not going to name in the interests of playing nicely – recently emerged. In it, she declared she was no longer going to allow her manuscripts to be edited. Quote: “I felt that I could not bring to perfection what I saw unless I did it alone.”

Lovely…

The thing went viral & of course, everyone has an opinion. Mine echoes what seems to be the popular view: Stop talking, famous writer! Shush now & be grateful! Being well & professionally edited is a privilege which we scorn at our peril. (And a best-selling author would surely have access to top-notch editorial advice.) There is a legion of writers out there who never get the opportunity.

And so forth. I’m off to unmuddy the waters. Please send chocolate.

Losing the plot

04 Sunday Jun 2017

Posted by Carol Lovekin in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Drafts, Editing, Editor, Word Birds

Island Life, Word Birds & Process

Recently, I checked out a self-published book only to be put off by basic grammatical errors in the first paragraph. Now I’m not saying traditionally published books escape unsullied by error. Of course they don’t – by & large though it’s unwitting, more proofreading slippage than lazy editorial faux pas. The latter grates & guarantees I won’t buy the book.

Moving onwards & a little bit sideways, I’m prompted to another of my ‘we all need an objective editor’ rants. Sloppy, basic editing apart – for which there is little excuse, frankly – I’m thinking more about content & the shape of the story on the page.

The other day I outlined the plot of what I hope will be my third book to my mentor: aka Yoda (only far prettier.) She listened attentively, asked for the odd bit of clarification & I thought to myself, ‘Hello! This is going well!’  She then proceeded to turn my plot on its head & ruin my reveal! (I know – some people?) It was however another one of those magical moments of instant recognition & I ticked the proverbial box.

This is what great editors do – they read between our lines & find the version of the story we’re meant to be writing. It isn’t the wrong story. Not unlike Eric, in The Morecambe & Wise Show, when he played delicious musical mind games with a bemused Andre Previn – I have the right words, but not necessarily in the right order.

As usual – & any self-aware writer will get this – I’m too close to the story not to miss the occasional crucial signpost. I have to take that reveal & do something smarter with it. And how clever the alternative! How simple.

My words birds like a nice tune & do send me some lovely ones. They approve the new plot. It’s still made of the same notes – I’ve just played with the order a bit. It’s all about perception. And tempo. About setting things on fire a bit.

Piano

As for any errors – well yes – at this stage (draft zero) loads of them. But once I get to my first, proper one & begin sorting the sonatas from the scherzos so to speak, I can pretty much guarantee I’ll at least have my singular & my plural sorted.

A draft is a half-formed thing

16 Sunday Oct 2016

Posted by Carol Lovekin in Uncategorized

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Books, Drafts, Editing, Editor, Ghostbird, Honno, Ideas, Quotations, Reading, Snow Sisters, Writers, Writing, Writing Group

Island Life, Word Birds & Process #24

Earlier in the week my writing group sister & I were discussing a quotation she’d come across. Anyone who knows me knows my take on these things. The more ‘inspirational’ they are the less likely I am to be enamoured. This one is different. It’s less inspirational & more common sense. We were in agreement.

“Hard writing makes easy reading. Easy writing makes hard reading.”

Although the quote has been officially credited to William Knowlton Zinsser, an American writer, literary critic, editor & teacher, it’s also been attributed to Ernest Hemingway. It hardly matters. For the purposes of making my point, I’m happy to have Hemingway on my side too. Neither writer meant ‘easy’ as in ‘peasy’ – they meant that when a book is easy to read the words flow, the eye is mesmerised; the pages turn as if by remote control because the whole is the the result of dedicated hard work, often  written in metaphorical blood.

My first book, Ghostbird, was published in March this year. It took me years to write, rewrite & eventually submit. It got rejected; I rewrote it, resubmitted & so forth. It was hard, hard work & eventually it paid off. I got a publishing deal with Honno, the Welsh Women’s Press. I think I can safely say, even if it isn’t your cup of tea, my book is easy to read.

I’m currently editing my second. I began writing it approximately eighteen months ago. The first draft was completed in roughly ten months which seemed ridiculously fast until I recognised I must have learned a few tricks on the way. (And there’s nothing like being published to make you want to write another book!) After I’d written the second draft (& edited the hell out of it) I submitted it to my editor, the gracious & scarily perceptive Janet Thomas. Her input was, as it always is, positive with added ‘buts.’

‘Buts’ are what a great editor excels at. ‘Buts’ are what they say after, ‘I love this part…’ It’s when the light bulbs go on, the boxes get ticked & the writer realises she still has work to do. It doesn’t matter because the solutions to the ‘buts’ make her heart sing.

This is my third draft – a deeply focused edit involving a good deal of rewriting based on Janet’s wise advice. I have excavated the layers beneath, accessed my authentic story; I’m doing the best I can for my characters. I hope to have this version finished by the end of the month. It will still be scrutinised again & possibly taken apart.

And here’s my point. The initial idea for our stories often comes out of somewhere unexpected. They take us by surprise, fire us up & it’s incredibly exciting. (I had the idea, characters & most of the story outlined for this current book in two days!) It’s the filling that takes the time. Writing a book is hard graft. There is more to it than a great idea. And a padded outline isn’t a story, a single draft isn’t enough. Neither is a second proofread, friend-read one. Until it’s been picked apart by someone with no agenda other than to make the story the best it can possibly be it remains a half-formed thing.

Unless one is Margaret Atwood – or someone of that calibre – an easy, quickly written story is a draft. Unedited, it grates on the eye, has the reader reaching for her metaphorical black pen. If we love our characters, have faith in our story why would we opt for easy? In my view, easy is lazy. Nothing worth doing comes without effort; least of all writing a book. It takes time, dedication & resolve.

anne-sexton

The title of this piece references the debut novel by Eimear McBride – A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing. It’s an extraordinary book, innovative & challenging, written in a mind- bending style that’s demands every iota of your attention. Once you give it, fall into the flow & joy of the prose, you realise this is a book that can only have taken the writer on the hardest of paths.

Writing never stops being hard but I reckon it’s the closest thing to bliss I’ve experienced. I’ve just finished reading a book that made me cry (in a good way), shake my head at the perfection of it. It wasn’t written & published in a few months. It has excellence, faultless research & attention to detail on every page. As I read, the pages turned by themselves, the words conjured spells & this morning when I came to the end, I stroked the cover & seriously considered going back to the beginning.

The book? It’s by Louise Beech & called The Mountain in My Shoe. I’ll be reviewing it soon, if I can resist reading it again.

The place in between

02 Sunday Oct 2016

Posted by Carol Lovekin in Uncategorized

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Birds, Book Fair, Editor, Island Life, Snow Sisters, Structural Edits, Writers, Writing

Island Life, Word Birds & Process #22

Waking early to a perfect Island Life scenario. Mist made of a million feathers, a sense of the Avalon barge, perhaps offering me a lift to the Isle of Apples. While my bath runs, I reread a handwritten letter from a friend & I’m reminded of what matters. Family, love, kindness.

Moments such as these stop me in my tracks. Gazing across the misty hill, I add writing to the list.

With another book fair behind me I confess myself – yet again – a reluctant self-promoter. I know it must be done & fair play, I do it quite well. It’s part of the process. I am indebted to Honno, my publisher; a bit of social media is the least I can do.

It was grand to be with other writers at the book fair, with readers who kindly bought my book.

img-20161001-00392-copy

And yet, today I’m experiencing relief because the next one isn’t until December.

The place in between stretches, uncluttered, silent save for the sound of the birds. I have need of them. To my astonishment, I’ve made it through the first half of the first round of structural edits on Book 2. It’s the second half that will test me however. It involves big changes. Good changes (I hope.) I must dig deep & put into practice the wisdom of my editor.

September is my favourite month. A new moon is emerging. My pencils are sharp. I’ve organised Premium bird seed & meal worms…

Onward & sideways.

Homework

28 Sunday Aug 2016

Posted by Carol Lovekin in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Drafts, Editing, Editor, Island Life, Janet, Mist, Snow Sisters, Virginia Woolf, Word Birds

Island Life, Word Birds & Process #18

Summer mist imitates autumn making me realise how close the end of the season is. Earlier, from my bedroom window, it was a proper Island Life scenario: the hills draped with mist, a sense of dream-like isolation. I drank tea with Virginia Woolf, reluctant to get out of bed.

book VW

Now the sun is abroad, mocking my attempt at authenticity. Frankly, I wasn’t up early enough and the moment has passed. Unlike the weather, the Word Birds don’t vary their activity. They flutter and chatter, a constant murmuration of ideas. Draft three is upon me, dear reader – Process by another name. After a meeting with my mentor and editor, I am filled with joy at the prospect of a fairly intense rewrite of my second book. Weird maybe, but believe me, I mean it.

Janet never tells me what to write, she shows me my real story. It’s a magical process, a conversation driven by enquiries about my intention with regard to this or that character, and their intentions. I am never preached at – I’m asked why and it makes me think and dig deep. And now I have it – the story beneath so to speak – the  one I’m meant to be writing.

After the editorial lunch (I know – indulge me!) the process continued into the following morning, and my bath. (I have a lot of light bulb moments in the bath.) What pleases me most is that although Janet enabled me to see my story more clearly, in the aftermath I’ve worked out another lush strand which could become a recurring motif. One thing follows another and the story unfolds some more.

And at the risk of banging on – this is why writers need editors. Their job is to see what we miss. Not because we’re thick but because we’re often held too preciously in the original story vision. Editors are like school teachers. They dish out homework and if we do it we stand a better chance of passing the exam.

September is my favourite month. It’s the start of autumn and for me the best time to settle into a new writing project. Next Thursday is the first day of the month and it’s a new moon too. I’m taking a day or two to fix the domestic chaos, and write a new outline. Then I’m off into Draft Three with more excitement than I can adequately describe.

Dealing in truth

05 Sunday Jun 2016

Posted by Carol Lovekin in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Editor, Ghost Story, Ghostbird, SisterBook, Writing

Island Life, Word Birds & Process #7

It’s always about the process. I fear I may be in danger of overusing the word but the fact remains, it is. Any writer will tell you this. We put one foot in front of the other and follow the breadcrumbs.

Since my last post I’ve recovered my sense of proportion and more importantly, worked out whose story it is I’m writing. (Thank you, Terri-Lynne DeFino for pointing out that the person whose voice begins the story is usually the one who owns it.)

My ‘Sister’ book is another ghost story, albeit a much darker one than Ghostbird. (This ghost is angrier. She has an agenda and she deals in truth.) As do I, and once again find I’m writing about the nature of loss and redemption. These themes intrigue me, not least because they continue to shape me as a person. The various ways that women in particular deal with loss – and recover from it and find their voices – have long informed my writing.

In my prose passages I continue to weave spells. (My editor will almost certainly home in on an excess of ‘lovely’ and point me in the direction of my ‘Dead Darlings’ file. It’s why I need her.) My word spells may run away with themselves and occasionally need culling; they are still my preferred vehicle to tell my stories.

But regardless of whether or not she believes in magic per se, what I write has to feel accessible to my reader. I do my best. The magic I conjure is the kind that exists in the hesitation of twilight or a quiet dawn made soft by a lingering mist.

It hints at possibility.

Phone a friend?

29 Sunday May 2016

Posted by Carol Lovekin in Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Editing, Editor, Ghost Story, Weather, Writing

Island Life, Word Birds & Process #6

After a couple of days of thunderbolts and lightning (not even remotely frightening – I love thunderstorms) today dawned mist-draped and gentle. It was silly o’clock and the enclosed, slightly secretive morning felt perfect. I was ready to write. It’s been this way for a week or two now and the result is I’m approaching the home straight, if not at a gallop then certainly at a gentle canter. (Were it not for the ‘Edit As You Go’ gene, this first draft would probably be finished.)

The problem is I’m unsure whose story I’m writing. I have two definite and four possible candidates, and it’s a potential minefield. Having recently published a book with a clear central character, I’m now faced with two distinct voices, each with a stake in the story, and another couple clamouring for attention.

I may be over-thinking it – every star needs a supporting cast and sometimes a double act works fine. The writer just has to insist that the understudies know their place. This would normally not be a problem. Unfortunately I fear it’s my own fault and serves me right for creating the monster that is a Narcissistic Mother. She really is a ruddy nightmare.

As for the ghost…

Phone a friend is what contestants on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? used to do, when they didn’t have a clue.

I think I need to call my editor.

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