by Mindy Obenhaus
Congratulations!
You’ve labored for months (maybe years) and, finally, your manuscript is complete. It’s out
of your head and on the page. You can’t wait for your editor to read it. But,
slow down. Before you hit Send, have you made sure your shiny new manuscript
truly shines? Or could it use a little polishing?
This
is where I currently find myself in the writing process. I’m almost ready to
send off another manuscript, but not until it undergoes a little polishing.
This means I have to read the story in its entirety with a few specific things
in mind.
Flow. Does the story move smoothly, or does
it feel disjointed? Sometimes I’ve got the right stuff, it’s just in the wrong
order. By shifting around a couple of scenes or even approaching the scene from
a different POV, things feel more organic, like they were meant to be that way.
Sometimes I have to delete things. Flow is important. If something trips you up
or doesn’t feel right, then some tweaking might be in order.
Continuity. Things sometimes change as I’m writing.
- Character names. Like when my heroine’s mother’s boyfriend was named Jerry and I soon discovered that reading “Mom and Jerry” in a sentence had my mind conjuring up images of a certain cat and mouse. So, Jerry became Bill. However, the Replace function doesn’t always catch everything, so it’s good to double check.
- Descriptions. Everything from hair color to eye color needs to be consistent. Unless, of course, your character colors their hair midway through the story or is wearing colored contact lens. This also applies to…
- Setting. If I don’t have a clear vision of a setting in my head from the onset of the story, it’s apt to change. As someone who’s used both real and fictitious settings in my books, I can honestly say this is where a real setting is an advantage. Still, the places in which your scenes take place can evolve during the writing process. What I thought I wanted at the beginning isn’t necessarily how they remain, so I need to make sure I’m consistent throughout the story.
Tightening. Do I have repeated words? Can
sentences be rephrased to be more succinct? Do I really need all that description
of something in chapter six after I’ve already talked about it in chapter two?
Hooks
and chapter endings.
This is important. We don’t want a reader to sigh with contentment as they close
the book at the end of chapter seven, set the book aside and go to sleep. No,
we want to leave them hanging so they can’t wait to move onto chapter eight. Some of
the greatest compliments a writer can hear are things like, “I couldn’t put it
down,” or “You kept me up late because I couldn’t stop reading.” Save the satisfying
ending for the end of the book. But hook the reader at the end of each scene so
they want to keep reading.
Completing
your manuscript is always something to be celebrated. But don’t be so eager to
send it off that you overlook that all important polishing process. Remember,
the hard work is already done. So you may as well take just a little more time to make sure it shines.
Writers, what tips do you have for polishing your manuscripts? Readers, what makes a book one you can’t put down? Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of my upcoming release, Their Yuletide Healing (print US only, digital for international). And check out the book trailer HERE!
As her plans unravel, can she
give her children what they truly need?
Foster mom Rae Girard’s determined to make her children’s first Christmas with
her the best they’ve ever had—and she’s shocked when the town scrooge, attorney
Cole Heinsohn, offers to pitch in. Rae’s young charges have melted Cole’s
heart, and he wants them to experience the special day he never had. But when
disaster strikes, an imperfect holiday might bring them something better: a
family…
As a reader I love a book that flows easily and isn’t unrealistic and fluffy. Congratulations on your new book. Adorable cover.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lucy. I know just what you mean by fluffy. I'm not a fan of that either.
DeleteAh, I love the polishing phase of editing! It helps to have a tip sheet like this to remind me of what I should be looking for while editing.
ReplyDeleteErica, I can't help but laugh because that's kind of why I did this. I needed to remind myself of what I should be looking for. ;)
DeleteGreat advice, Mindy! Especially about the hook at the end of the chapter. I've polished individual scenes until I think they shine, but I still haven't managed to finish a complete novel. Started plenty. Haven't finished any. Please pray for me. It's discouraging sometimes when you want to do this thing so badly, but you know that you're not quite there yet. My friend tells me that you don't fail until you quit. And that's true! But you don't actually win either, until you cross that finish line.
ReplyDeleteTerri, I will be praying. I've been in your shoes where I've polished scene after scene without really moving forward. And I'm still prone to that. But sometimes it's best just to allow yourself to write junk simply so you can get the story out of your head. Then you can polish all you want, but at least it's all there.
DeleteThanks, Mindy, for your prayers and encouragement. That complete junky first draft is what I'm striving for with NaNoWriMo this month. Could I ask the published authors here at Seekerville . . . How long DOES it take you to write a book? How long SHOULD it take if you want to make a living from what you write? I know different people work at different paces, but in general, on average, in reality . . . what should I be shooting for?
DeleteTerri, that's something that can vary greatly depending on whether someone writes full time or if they also have day job. It also changes with the more books you write. It used to take a year to write a book. Now I can do one about every 5 months. And that's from the start of the proposal to the completed manuscript. Some of the other Seekers write much faster. As far as making a living, that's a different ball of wax. Perhaps someone else could answer that better than I can.
DeleteTerri Lynn, I agree that you need to just write the whole novel, even knowing that it isn't anywhere near what you want it to be. I have written a novel that way, and I am struggling to work it into something good. But I at least have something that I can work with. All the best to you with NaNoWriMo.
DeleteAs a child, Nancy Drew's chapter endings were such fun cliffhangers. Now, I love when foreshadowing is s-l-o-w and cryptic... to keep me going into the night.
ReplyDeleteBecky, those cliffhangers will get us every time!
DeleteRepetitive words always hide from me until the final edits. Then I see them or at least some of them, sometimes only a few sentences apart. I guess that's fine-tuning the manuscript, which comes after the major revisions.
ReplyDeleteGreat editing tips, Mindy! Thanks!
Debby, those weasel words get me every time. And they seem to change. So watching out for that repetition is key for me.
DeleteMindy, this is a great post. I will use it when I revise. As I said in my reply to Terri Lynn's comment above, I am struggling to revise the rough first draft of my novel. I keep going through it to put it into some semblance of chapter order. I went through it this past week and identified each chapter as I have it now and wrote down what happened in the chapter and how many words it was. They are all over the place, and some scenes don't fit at all where they are. I had tried to order chapters as I was plotting, but it didn't seem to help. I certainly hope it gets easier to plot novels with experience. But I will keep working on this one.
ReplyDeleteNo need to put me in the drawing. I have already preordered the book!
Aww, thank you, Sandy. I hope you love the story as much as I do. Plotting is always a challenge. The concept gets easier, but figuring out the elements can be tough. Trying to find something original. See if it helps to ask yourself what is the worst thing that could happen to the POV at moment and then try to find a way to make it happen.
DeleteHopefully at the end of November I'll have something to revise! These tips are really great, Mindy.
ReplyDeleteOh, I hope you do, too, Glynis! You must be doing nano. Torturous thing. I admire folks like you who are up to the challenge.
DeleteIf I can feel the emotions of the characters it’s a win as long as the names of the characters match which should be caught by the final polish
ReplyDeleteJCP, those emotions are so important. We need to feel the characters' pain.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Mindy on your new Book I Love the cover and can't wait to read this book!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sarah!
Delete