Alec Peche's Blog - Posts Tagged "editing"
Edit, Edit, Edit
I just finished my third book, A Break Death and I am amazed at how I can continue to miss typos or poor grammar. It is also proof of what Word misses. There are sections of my books that I use Dragon dictation to speed up my keyboard efforts. I can speak so much faster than I can type. Despite the hours I have spent at the keyboard I have never developed confidence in my typing such that I can look away from the keyboard as I type.
The trouble with dictation software is that no matter how sophisticated it is, it just doesn't always pick up the right words. To be fair the words are similar sounding - "while vs well", "we're vs were". The words are spelled correctly so Word's spell checker correctly judges the spelling.
When you read your own writing you see the words that you expect to be in the sentence rather than the words that may actually be on the page. I correct paragraphs often shortly after I have typed them. I also print the entire draft and make corrections to paper. Then I read on-line two additional times. Then the book goes to my first reader who sadly discovers additional errors. I guess that is par for the course when each book has been over 80,000 words.
Perhaps is also connected to being a severe pantser. With each book in my series so far, I have started with a murder in a location in the world and that is it. I build the story one paragraph at a time, not even knowing myself what is going to happen along the way. I wonder if it is easier to avoid typos and grammar problems if you're a writer who completely outlines your story? Can you concentrate more on typing and less on what is going to happen in the next fifteen minutes of the story?
Alas, I'll never know. I have tried to reform my writing behavior. With each book at the beginning I try to plot out chapters and sadly sit there with complete writer's block.
Aaarrggghhh!
The trouble with dictation software is that no matter how sophisticated it is, it just doesn't always pick up the right words. To be fair the words are similar sounding - "while vs well", "we're vs were". The words are spelled correctly so Word's spell checker correctly judges the spelling.
When you read your own writing you see the words that you expect to be in the sentence rather than the words that may actually be on the page. I correct paragraphs often shortly after I have typed them. I also print the entire draft and make corrections to paper. Then I read on-line two additional times. Then the book goes to my first reader who sadly discovers additional errors. I guess that is par for the course when each book has been over 80,000 words.
Perhaps is also connected to being a severe pantser. With each book in my series so far, I have started with a murder in a location in the world and that is it. I build the story one paragraph at a time, not even knowing myself what is going to happen along the way. I wonder if it is easier to avoid typos and grammar problems if you're a writer who completely outlines your story? Can you concentrate more on typing and less on what is going to happen in the next fifteen minutes of the story?
Alas, I'll never know. I have tried to reform my writing behavior. With each book at the beginning I try to plot out chapters and sadly sit there with complete writer's block.
Aaarrggghhh!
Taking stock of my journey as a writer…..
Having finished writing book 5 (A Taxing Death) in the Jill Quint mystery series, I'm taking a break from the daily goal of writing a set number of words each day. I feel like I have reached a junction point in my writing endeavor. There are comments from the experts that you don't really have an evaluation of your writing until you produce five to seven books. I've climbed the mountain and I'm looking back down the trail at where I came from with a view of choices to determine where I am going. There are some twenty paths in front of me to take to the next peak, or I could end my journey and return home, never to produce another book again.
For the most part and indeed like most authors I have been on this writing journey alone. I have a few close friends that have helped me shape and edit the books, but every brilliant and lousy decision has for the most part been my sole responsibility.
What started out as a question of 'I wonder if I could write a better mystery?' than the disappointing book that I just put down; has turned into a love of creating stories and solving imaginary crimes. My greatest strength is my imagination, but it is also my greatest weakness. I see words in sentences in my imagination that simply AREN'T there on the printed page. When you have a book the length of 85,000 words, there are a lot of opportunities for those imaginary words to play havoc with a manuscript. I have also broken the cardinal rule of indie publishing - use an editor. I had an editor for my first book and felt that I learned what my bad writing habits were and how to correct them. I was wrong; I'm probably incapable of correcting them. So I am now revising them with a professional editor to improve the experience for the reader. I also listened to a wonderful series of college lectures from the University of Iowa geared to improving my creative writing and I hope readers will notice the difference in A Taxing Death.
I just read the recent newsletters of Louise Penny, a favorite author of mine. She has such a way with words that it feels like poetry. She mentioned that she writes 250 words a day at the start of a novel and eventually advances to 1,000 words a day. That is such a different goal then what you hear from nearly any other writer. Many male crime writers blog about writing 7,000 to 10,000 words a day including the famous Erle Stanley Garner who wrote in the pre-computer era, a remarkable 66,000 words a week. As you may know from previous posts, I try to achieve 2,000 words a day when I am focused on finishing a book. There is no denying the quality of Louise’s 250 words and maybe I have mistaken quantity for quality. Certainly, I think my most productive day has been about 3,500 words. Having a words-per-day goal is a method to moderate my production, but perhaps it's in the way. It's something to think about as I stand atop the hill trying to choose that next right path.
Writers speak to a need to write. On occasion, I’ll feel like sitting down and writing, but the feeling doesn’t beat a drum in my head nagging until I satisfy the urge. Instead, during this no writing period, I miss being a storyteller, observing people’s behaviors or mannerisms for inclusion in a future book.
I guess the other reason I am sitting at a writing crossroads is for the first time, I don't have a book title and cover designed before I begin writing. I know what is bothering me there – should I use the word ‘death’ in the title as I have in the previous three books or do I move on to a different name. Book six is supposed to have a murder take place at a nursing convention in Dallas, and it's likely poison, but nothing is springing to mind in regards to title and cover. I’m sort of tired of using the word 'death' in my titles and I feel like I need to walk away from the “branding” of that word with this book or not at all.
I also have plans to update my website. For an indie author, a website may not get much traffic, but I have seen recent improvements from 7 visitors a week to 150. I’ve got my fair share of Russian and Brazilian spammers visiting, but the increase is also coming from the U.S. according to Google Analytics. I studied several other author websites and have some good changes to incorporate with mine.
Two and a half years ago when I began the journey of being a mystery writer, I thought my only hurdle was figuring out how to tell a big enough story that it would take me 80,000 words to get there. But being an author is so much richer than that – it’s an entire industry itself, undergoing explosive change. I'm always learning about the mechanics of good storytelling, professional organizations and meetings, and just plain good English. And Marketing - how do you make your book discoverable? The answer to that question hounds me from sunrise to sunset simply because there is no easy answer. Furthermore as other writers state and I agree with, there is a certain matter of luck sometimes involved in a bestseller. Finally, reader taste is involved which is very complicated. I listen to 1-3 audiobooks a week - they are my background noise. Each book gets 30 to 60 minutes to engage me and there are things I look for to avoid selecting the wrong book. I have a long list of what I don't like in a book and much of it is popular in today's book world. Discovering new authors is difficult as generally only the most popular writers have audiobook versions.
So where am I one-thousand words later with this blog?
Still standing on that first peak, looking out in the distance, considering my options…
I am a mystery writer after all.
For the most part and indeed like most authors I have been on this writing journey alone. I have a few close friends that have helped me shape and edit the books, but every brilliant and lousy decision has for the most part been my sole responsibility.
What started out as a question of 'I wonder if I could write a better mystery?' than the disappointing book that I just put down; has turned into a love of creating stories and solving imaginary crimes. My greatest strength is my imagination, but it is also my greatest weakness. I see words in sentences in my imagination that simply AREN'T there on the printed page. When you have a book the length of 85,000 words, there are a lot of opportunities for those imaginary words to play havoc with a manuscript. I have also broken the cardinal rule of indie publishing - use an editor. I had an editor for my first book and felt that I learned what my bad writing habits were and how to correct them. I was wrong; I'm probably incapable of correcting them. So I am now revising them with a professional editor to improve the experience for the reader. I also listened to a wonderful series of college lectures from the University of Iowa geared to improving my creative writing and I hope readers will notice the difference in A Taxing Death.
I just read the recent newsletters of Louise Penny, a favorite author of mine. She has such a way with words that it feels like poetry. She mentioned that she writes 250 words a day at the start of a novel and eventually advances to 1,000 words a day. That is such a different goal then what you hear from nearly any other writer. Many male crime writers blog about writing 7,000 to 10,000 words a day including the famous Erle Stanley Garner who wrote in the pre-computer era, a remarkable 66,000 words a week. As you may know from previous posts, I try to achieve 2,000 words a day when I am focused on finishing a book. There is no denying the quality of Louise’s 250 words and maybe I have mistaken quantity for quality. Certainly, I think my most productive day has been about 3,500 words. Having a words-per-day goal is a method to moderate my production, but perhaps it's in the way. It's something to think about as I stand atop the hill trying to choose that next right path.
Writers speak to a need to write. On occasion, I’ll feel like sitting down and writing, but the feeling doesn’t beat a drum in my head nagging until I satisfy the urge. Instead, during this no writing period, I miss being a storyteller, observing people’s behaviors or mannerisms for inclusion in a future book.
I guess the other reason I am sitting at a writing crossroads is for the first time, I don't have a book title and cover designed before I begin writing. I know what is bothering me there – should I use the word ‘death’ in the title as I have in the previous three books or do I move on to a different name. Book six is supposed to have a murder take place at a nursing convention in Dallas, and it's likely poison, but nothing is springing to mind in regards to title and cover. I’m sort of tired of using the word 'death' in my titles and I feel like I need to walk away from the “branding” of that word with this book or not at all.
I also have plans to update my website. For an indie author, a website may not get much traffic, but I have seen recent improvements from 7 visitors a week to 150. I’ve got my fair share of Russian and Brazilian spammers visiting, but the increase is also coming from the U.S. according to Google Analytics. I studied several other author websites and have some good changes to incorporate with mine.
Two and a half years ago when I began the journey of being a mystery writer, I thought my only hurdle was figuring out how to tell a big enough story that it would take me 80,000 words to get there. But being an author is so much richer than that – it’s an entire industry itself, undergoing explosive change. I'm always learning about the mechanics of good storytelling, professional organizations and meetings, and just plain good English. And Marketing - how do you make your book discoverable? The answer to that question hounds me from sunrise to sunset simply because there is no easy answer. Furthermore as other writers state and I agree with, there is a certain matter of luck sometimes involved in a bestseller. Finally, reader taste is involved which is very complicated. I listen to 1-3 audiobooks a week - they are my background noise. Each book gets 30 to 60 minutes to engage me and there are things I look for to avoid selecting the wrong book. I have a long list of what I don't like in a book and much of it is popular in today's book world. Discovering new authors is difficult as generally only the most popular writers have audiobook versions.
So where am I one-thousand words later with this blog?
Still standing on that first peak, looking out in the distance, considering my options…
I am a mystery writer after all.
