The following document, written by Chris Fabiszewski, is a writer's guide to professional editing. Enjoy in its entirety. --Reita
Creative
Editing
“And in all,
great and small, seek to do most nearly what Thou lovest dearly!” [1]
CREATE: Breath in. Breath out.
♪
Inspiration: Take it in.
♫ Pray,
asking the Lord for what to write, how to write, when to write, etc.
♫
Think: Brainstorm, research, dialogue
with others, read, ponder…
♪
Exhalation: Get it out.
♫
Start with what intrigues you. Don’t
worry about where it fits in.
♫
Write something on paper or in a computer
document. Spew. Don’t worry about form or grammar or spelling or anything but
getting ideas out.
EDIT CREATIVELY: Add, Subtract, and Get Some
R-n-R!
1. Add: Use your imagination to develop the text.
♪
Senses: Add input from the five
senses.
♫ Put
yourself into the scene. What can you see, hear, touch, taste, or smell?
♫ Put
details into the text.
♪
Passion: Add emotion.
♫
Ask, “What are the characters feeling?” or “What
do I want readers to feel?”
♫
Show it through word choice, actions, and
body language. (Show, don’t tell.)
♪
Interest: Add material to pull the
reader in.
♫
Add uniqueness (unique places, times,
experiences, and character quirks).
♫
Also add conflict, dialogue,
and humor.
♪
Connections: Connect everything!
♫ Show
relationships between people, places, events, and things.
♫
Add time/logic words, foreshadowing,
reflection (on the past, present, or future)
♫
Add head-tail links between sentences,
paragraphs, and chapters. (In other words, refer to past information before
adding new information.)
♪
Elegance: Add focus and nuances.
♫
Use the riches of the English language,
especially vocabulary and verb forms!
♫
Focus: word order, voice (active
vs. passive), and reference (noun vs. pronoun)
♫
Nuances: word choice, sentence structure,
verb tenses, modal verbs, and register.
♫ See
the next page for a little grammar help. J
FOCUS:
·
Word Order: Normal = SV(O) + (prep
phrases). Anything moved to the front is in focus.
o
“The itsy, bitsy spider ran up the water spout.”
(normal)
“Down
came the rain and washed the spider out.” (focus on direction)
o
In the morning, Mary got up. (focus on time)
·
Passive voice makes the O (object) or the
V (verb) the focus.
o
John hit the ball. (normal) vs. The
ball was hit. (focus on the ball)
o
I am tired. (Stative passive. Focus on result
of the verb. Something tired me.)
·
Reduced clauses are another way to focus
on the verb.
o
John tripped and fell because he was running
blindly. (normal)
o
Because he was running blindly, John
tripped and fell. (focus on cause)
o
Running blindly, John tripped and fell.
(focus on action of running)
·
Reference: In English writing, main characters
have names, while minor characters may not; instead, they may be referred
to by role, such as the mailman or the neighbor across the street.
o
Names bring a character into focus
(prominence). However, don’t keep repeating the name. Use a pronoun unless the
reference would be unclear.
o
In conversation, we use names to get the
person’s attention, but we don’t keep using their names! We just talk. Watch
out for overuse of names in dialogue!
NUANCES:
·
Word Choice: Words have connotations
(neutral, positive, or negative) and cultural associations (also
neutral, positive, or negative).
o
Note the different images you get with cry,
weep, sob, blubber, and let a tear fall.
o What
cultural associations come with Magnolia, hardware/software, and football?
·
Sentence Structure:
o
Description: long sentences, lots of
adjectives and adverbs, often passive, slow paced
o
Climax of the story: short, fast-paced
sentences
o
Education: The more educated the writer
(or character), the more complex the sentences.
o
Fragments (incomplete sentences) have a
place in certain styles of writing.
·
Verb Tenses: This is a simplified, condensed
list!
o Simple
Tenses are the backbone of the verb system. When in doubt, use
these! Think of them as snapshots of action—frozen images. Key storyline events
use simple tenses.
§ Present:
habits, routines She
eats breakfast every morning.
§ Past:
past facts, mainline of story She
ate breakfast yesterday.
§ Future:
predictions She
will eat breakfast tomorrow.
o Progressive
Tenses focus on activity in process. They are NOT passive even
though they include a be verb! Think of them as video clips. Use them
for background activities.
§ Present:
in progress now She is eating
breakfast now.
§ Past:
in progress before She
was eating when the phone rang.
§ Future:
in progress later She will be
eating breakfast tomorrow.
o Perfect
Tenses focus on completed action. Use these when it’s important to
show that something was completed (or experienced) before something else.
§
Present: done before now I have ridden
a camel.
§
Past: done before past event I had ridden a
camel before I left Africa.
§
Future: done before future event I will have read the
book by 10:00 tomorrow.
·
Modal Verbs add various meanings,
including
o
certainty (or doubt): It will rain tomorrow.
vs. It might rain tomorrow.
o
levels of obligation: You should study. vs. You
had better study. vs. You must study.
o
regret (or reprimand): I should have
called. vs. You ought to have known better.
·
Register: Social rules and education
levels affect how we speak and write. A text to a friend sounds much different
than an academic paper. Vocabulary choice, grammar rules (followed or
broken), and sentence complexity should be consistent with the
appropriate register.
2. Subtract: Use Search/Replace, a word list, a thesaurus, and a grammar to tighten the
text.
♪
Dead Wood: Delete words that add
no new information or that have no meaning.
♫ Remove
details that add very little new information (like my long list of candy names!)
♫ Replace
meaningless words like thing or stuff…and sometimes the words that
and it.
♪
Rabbit Trails: Delete whatever
doesn’t advance the story or develop the characters.
♫
Distracting Description: Too much
description overwhelms the reader.
♫
Confusing Characters: Is this person
essential? How many characters do I really need?
♫
Superfluous Scenes: Remove anything that
sidetracks the reader—even full chapters!
♪
Overused Words: Replace clichés, frequently
repeated words, and stale images.
♫ Make
a list of common words like good, bad, big, little, a lot, etc.
Personalize the list by adding the words you tend to overuse.
♫ Search
& replace the same word or phrase to see how often you use it;
i.e., search good; replace with good; You’ll read, “Word has
completed its search of the document and has made 342 replacements.” If the
total is too many, replace some with synonyms.
♫ Replace
clichés and other overused images with a fresh image or
perspective. Exception: A character may love clichés, and this becomes part of
their quirkiness.
♪
Predictable Patterns: Replace repeated
patterns with variety.
♫ Speech
formulas: A dialogue tied together with “he said/she said” gets boring
quickly.
ü
Replace said with other speech words
like replied, asked, declared…
ü
Replace speech formulas with nothing (if
readers still know who’s speaking).
ü
Break up dialogue with body language,
facial expressions, and actions.
♫ Sentence
structure: Vary this for interest’s sake. Take note, however, that the
storyline impacts sentence structure: descriptions and slow action use longer,
more complicated sentences. Climaxes use shorter sentences.
♫ Rhymes:
In poetry, avoid overly-predictable rhymes or awkward, unnatural phrases forced
to fit the meter. The best poetry doesn’t sound mechanical. (Hint: Break the
rules a bit.)
♫ Expectations:
Every genre has expectations you must meet to make your readers happy; however,
you don’t want your writing to become formulaic. Include some surprises. Know
the rules (expectations) before you break them. But do break a few!
3. Get some R-n-R (and R):
♪
Read your text out loud to catch
repeated words, awkward sentences, and other errors.
♫ To
save your voice and allow you to focus on the text, use the computer
reader.
♫ To
place the icon for Word 2010’s speak function on your
tool bar, go to the quick access bar at the top and click the down arrow at
the right to access the menu. Choose “More Commands.” Find “Speak” in the
left-hand box. (Be sure the box above says “All Commands” NOT just “Popular
Commands.”) Click the “Add” in between the boxes. Click “OK” at the bottom
right. Done.
♫ To
use the computer reader, highlight the text you want read to you, then
click the icon you added to the quick access tool bar. Click it again to stop
(in the middle of reading).
♪
Recruit readers to get new input.
♫ Join
a Christian critique group! (Not that secular ones don’t have a place too!)
o
Brothers and sisters in the Lord will pray for
you.
o
A good group is kind, encouraging, and helpful.
o
A group pushes you to write and holds you
accountable with deadlines.
o
Each member of the group will bring something
special to it, including YOU. We all have different gifts, and those gifts complement
each other.
♫ Develop
a group of first readers, a small, varied group of people who will read
your work and give feedback. This can be done long-distance via email.
o
Different ages/genders/races, with most in
your target group but some not
o Different
technical/life experiences, with some related to your content
o Different
gifts, with at least one possessing strong grammar or writing skills
o
Different education levels/birth places, to
test word choice / idioms
o Different
reading interests, with most enjoying the genre you are writing in
♪
Repeat Creative Editing
[1]
Last lines of “God Himself Is with Us,” a hymn by Gerhardt Tersteegen, 1729; Tr.
John Miller & Frederick Foster, 1789
