Getting Feedback
Writers Groups
This is a delicate subject. Many writers swear by their groups. Overall, I’m not that big of a fan unless the group fits certain specific requirements. I lay those out in another book dedicated solely to the subject of writers groups and how to build one that moves forward rather than goes in circles.
Sometimes writers groups are the blind leading the blind. You need a leader in such a group; a leader who is a successful author and experienced and good at controlling the group without letting ego get in the way.
You need a group that moves forward. For novel writers this is particularly hard.
You need a group that is the right size. For novels, more than four or five people starts getting awkward. Can everyone in the group keep up with that many manuscripts? Under three and it’s two people staring at each other with their hands over their red pens, ready to draw down on each other. Sometimes, I think it’s much better for a novelist to have . . .
Beta Readers
I’ve always had beta readers; a couple of people who I trust to read the manuscript from beginning to end when I’ve completed it. Many writers have a problem with beta readers. The problem isn’t what the beta readers have to say, the problem is whether we as writers are willing to listen to them? I’ve ‘critiqued’ a lot of writers over the years and most have been open to comments. However, about one in five ‘fights’ back. They start explaining things with the basic philosophy of well, you didn’t get it. My reply is usually, you’re right, I didn’t. The reality is it’s not the reader’s job to get it. It’s the writers job to rewrite so the reader gets it. Got it?
I like the idea of beta readers being readers and not other writers. Writers tend to be too picky. Also, they can resent writing that is better than their own.
How many beta readers should you have? Three or four is a good number. More than that and you end up with too many cooks in the kitchen. You are the sole cook. Using only one reader is dangerous too. It’s good sometimes to have opposing views. Beta readers will let you know what they see purely from the writing.
Book Doctors
This is a personal choice but I’ve never had an agent or editor come back with feedback that I wasn’t already aware of on some level. A good book doctor costs A LOT. When I used to look at people’s material, I told them I could figure out 95% of what was going on from just seeing their query letter (idea), synopsis (story) and first ten pages. The pages gave me information about their writing style, point of view, etc. etc. I didn’t need to read the next 390 pages to keep making the same comments.
Bottom line with book doctors: you get what you pay for.
Agent Feedback
Normally this consists of a one-page letter. If an agent has to write more than that, they probably aren’t going to work with you. You need an agent you can trust. And listen carefully to their feedback, because they see the manuscript in terms of whether they can sell it or not.
When getting this feedback, as well as any other feedback, you have to divine the difference between being upset because you screwed up and it needs work or believing what you did was right and you want to stick to your guns. Usually you’re wrong.
Editorial Feedback
My experience in this area has ranged from none to a 14 pages single-spaced letter. Both extremes were not good. In this day of self-publishing you definitely need a professional opinion on your manuscript along with help. Again, you get what you pay for.
The most important thing about feedback is being willing to listen. There is a theory that you should cut the part of the book you love the best and there is truth to that. We build our greatest defenses around our greatest weaknesses. You’re emotionally attached to some part of your manuscript because you know it doesn’t belong but you just love that damn scene or character or paragraph or sentence.
Willingness to change is the #1 trait of successful authors.
The thing to remember about all this feedback is that they can point out problems but rarely can they provide the solutions. It’s your novel. Sometimes the answer to a problem in chapter 2 lies in changing something in chapter 23.
The big thing to remember is that you don’t get to explain outside of the covers of the book. The manuscript has to stand on its own.
EDITING
Editing is the nuts and bolts of the words on the page.
I think editing is a right brain, left brain issue. As physiological psychologists will tell you, our nervous system does a switch at the base of the brain, where a right brained person is left-handed and vice versa. Right brained people are considered more creative (generally) while left brained are more logical. Most people consider editing to be a left-brain process, but I think we do our brains a great disservice if we don’t trust our right brains. I’ve seen many struggling writers use their left brain to dominate their right and devastate their writing.
There are two types of editing: story editing (rewriting) and copy editing.
Story Editing
Ask yourself the following questions:
Is there continuity?
Does every sentence and action serve a purpose in the story?
Does the story flow logically?
Why now? Does the initiating event make sense?
Does the story open with the protagonist in conflict with the antagonist or someone linked to the antagonist?
Does your opening establish mood, tone, voice and setting?
Does the reader know what the problem to be solved is?
Does the reader know who your protagonist is?
Do your turning points strip away a layer of motivation for your character AND turn the story in a new direction?
Does the conflict escalate for BOTH protagonist and antagonist?
Is the moment of crisis a fight or flee situation where the choice is not obvious?
Have you closed out all your subplots before the climactic scene, in reverse order that they were introduced?
Is the climactic scene your protagonist and antagonist on stage in conflict until one is utterly defeated?
Does your resolution give an emotional pay-off to the reader?
Is your book as good as you can make it?
These and other questions are the ones you ask when story editing. This is the editing that you need most. By the time you finish a manuscript you have read every word dozens and dozens of times. See how the story feels. If you read a lot, then you have a feel for a good story or a bad one.
Give it to a Beta Reader. But beware. A writer cannot have a soft skin. Take criticism and examine it very carefully. If more than two people say the same thing then maybe there is some truth to it. Pick people who read a lot and read the type of book that you are attempting to write.
Ask the following questions when editing:
Do these words have a purpose?
Do they relate to my story?
Is this the time to tell this or should some of it wait?
Is my timeline consistent?
Are my characters consistent?
Are my transitions subtle but clear?
Is this section necessary? Can it be cut without affecting the main story?
Again do not write things just because you think it's interesting or you want to lecture or educate the reader. A useful technique for story editing is to let the manuscript sit for a while (several days to a week or two) to clear your head and then take a relook.
Rewriting
This is a foul word to most writers' ears but an essential one. Every manuscript I have had accepted for publication has had to be extensively rewritten. By that I mean that although the original idea stayed the same, something that initially seemed rather vital to the story had to change.
Rewriting is not something that just happens after the first draft is done. It too is an ongoing process. Every fifty pages of manuscript, I print it out and go over it. Every time I change the plot somewhat further on in the manuscript, I have to go back and rewrite everything before to fit the change.
It ain't over when you think it's over. When I complete the first draft of a manuscript, my work on that manuscript is somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3 completed. Too many writers are so glad to have finally completed all those pages that the thought of having to go back and rework the whole thing is blasphemous. But it has to be done.
I'm writing this section because less than a minute ago I got off the phone with my agent and we were discussing three of my manuscripts, which have been languishing in his and my care. We talked about one and he just threw out several ideas and in the course of them I got a few ideas that might help me re-write and get rid of the weak points in the story.
The most important thing for me about rewriting is to be honest. To objectively look at a piece of work (which I, as the author, know quite intimately) and find the flaws. Most of the time I know when I'm writing the flaw that it's a flaw. This is a hard area to explain because a lot of times I work simply on gut feeling about what is wrong and needs to be corrected.
Rewriting can vary from having to completely tear apart the manuscript (thank goodness for computers.) to simply making a few changes here and there. But almost every manuscript needs a rewrite.
I suggest you put away a manuscript for at least a week or two after you finish writing it to allow yourself some mental distance before looking at it again. Too many people are self-publishing too quickly. Give it out for reads and listen to the feedback. However, don't make changes simply because someone suggests them if you don't feel they are valid. I've spun my wheels on one manuscript making change after change, and what I was changing was the wrong problem. If there is a problem, I believe as the author, if I am honest and take my time, I can usually find it better than probably anyone else (usually, though, after someone else points out that there is a problem to me).
I just received an 11 page, single-spaced letter of comments from my editor on a manuscript that needs to be re-written. I know what it feels like to attend a writing retreat and get back a critique that tears the manuscript apart and recommends changes, some of them rather major.
My first reaction to such a letter is, of course, negative. I’ve learned to take a couple of days to let that feeling past. I wrote the previous sentence several years ago. Now, when I get editorial feedback I go through the five emotional stages of change before I open the FedEx package:
Denial: There is no problem with my manuscript!
Anger: How dare you say there’s a problem with my manuscript! Who the hell do you think you are?
Bargaining: Okay, maybe there is some problem here, but certainly not as much as you say. Maybe I can fix a few things and it will be all right?
Depression: Crap. I’ve got to do a lot of work and fix this thing.
Acceptance: Rewrite.
Then go through the comments and the manuscript. The next feeling is one close to despair. It appears an almost insurmountable task
You re-write many times while writing the first draft.
Print out every fifty pages or so
Start over from the beginning if you have been away from the manuscript for a while or something significant has changed
Rewrite for main story arc
Rewrite for character arc
Rewrite to make sure all subplots close out and are supported
Rewrite for symbol and motif consistency
Rewrite to copy edit and make it as clean as possible
Fix anything that doesn’t feel right
Killing It—The Ultimate Edit
After attending many writing conferences, I believe that numerous aspiring novelists become too enamored of their first manuscript. If you talk to published authors you will find out that the vast majority did not get their first manuscript published. It was an investment in learning. They moved on to write a second, a third, however many it took to get published. It’s a difficult thing, but often you have to take the manuscript and shove it in a drawer, give up on getting it published and move on to writing your next one. You have to take out that trusty .45 pistol and put that thing down.
Most bestselling authors I know killed their first couple of manuscripts before they wrote the one they knew would sell. In these days of self-publishing it might seem harsh to not take the chance and throw it out there, but you might be throwing crap out there and that won’t be pretty.
Post-First Draft Feedback
Rewrite for character arcs
Rewrite to tighten down the plot
Rewrite for symbol consistency
Rewrite to cut unnecessary material
Look for conflict in every scene
Copy Editing
This is an ongoing process. Your computer has a spellchecker. I assume you have a reasonable mastery of the written word so this is a matter of putting the time in with a red pencil/pen and paying attention to detail. If you are fortunate enough to be published, you will have professionals go over your work with a fine tooth comb and even then they will miss a few things.
Remember the following basic rules:
Don't repeat words or phrases
Use a style manual
Don't have secret agents
Always know who is doing what to whom or what
The fewer words the better
The bottom line is: Is it clear?
A good technique to help eliminate extra words and to make your writing smoother is to read it aloud and have someone listening with a copy of your manuscript and a red pen. Have them note where your verbal reading "edits" the copy. You’ll be surprised how much you change what you have written when you have to speak it.
The most important thing to remember about words is: Verbs are power words. Adjectives and adverbs are weaker words that can dress up your work but can also interfere with the smoothness of the writing. Hemmingway is an extreme example of writing using verbs as power words and trying to minimize adjectives and adverbs.
Active Versus Passive Tense
When characters act they are more persuasive than when they react (passive). When characters react they are less sympathetic to the reader.
Try not to overuse words ending in -ing.
For example:
Don was sitting there
Don sat there
The second sentence is more direct and smooth.
Do not repeat words if you can help it—especially uncommon words, because the first time it will go by smoothly but the second time will jar the reader and remind him/her of seeing it before.
Adverbs
Make sure each one is essential. Ask yourself if you can eliminate the need for the adverb by choosing a different verb.
Avoid overusing verbs that end in -ing. The primary purpose of an -ing verb is to show simultaneity.
Weak verbs. Always see if you can change the word to a more descriptive one.
Avoid vague pronouns. Don’t make the reader work to figure out who you are referring to. Always have an antecedent to your pronoun or else it doesn’t make sense.
The last word on editing is: Omit all unnecessary words.
When Is The Book Done?
Sometimes you just have to stop.
Sometimes you put it aside
Sometimes you have to kill it
Trust your gut