Trey Stone's Blog, page 18

How To Edit In The Most Rewarding Way

I was chatting with a friend the other day about writing, and I casually explained how I go through feedback, do revisions, and edit my writing when I get it back from an editor, and their reaction to my methods made me realize I had to write this blog post.

Of course, they thought I was insane (I’ll get to why in a moment), but let me first defend myself:

I do it this way because I find it easier to organize myself and my documents like this.And more importantly, because it’s rewarding like hell.

So here’s a little How-To guide from me about how I edit.

Now, I’m going to assume we all receive feedback in the same way: as a copy of the document we sent through to be edited, except it’s full of comments, red text, cut words, suggestions for rewrites, character removals, and highlighted plot holes. I know, it can be rough. Now, hopefully there’s some good in there too. Some delightful comments, some cheering for the chapters that are just “so amazing!” and some heartfelt praise.

Here’s what I do when I receive one of these:

Step 1 – Read all of it, without doing anything, then close the document down. Do something else for a few days. Then rinse and repeat step one and wait another few days. Two rounds of just looking over all the comments and getting a general feel for the feedback is usually enough for me. The first read-through is for panicking, the second is for acceptance.

Step 2 – This is where my friend thought I was crazy. I don’t actually edit in the document I receive from my editor. I make two copies of it. One I put in a Feedback folder, untouched, in case I ever need to look at it again. The other I rename to something along the lines of “Project X Feedback DELETE AFTER.“

Step 3 – Open the original draft you sent through to your editor – the one without any comments (or make a new copy and renumber it so that you’re keeping a copy of your old one), and open the “DELETE AFTER” copy of your feedback.

Step 4 – Here’s where it starts getting rewarding. Remember all those big, bold comments in red? They can be quite daunting. The first thing I do, is delete all the ones that are just praise or general comments. Anything along the lines of “Cool!,” “Love this part!,” and “Oooh, exciting paragraph.” Sure, those are all great (and I keep them in my archived copy of the feedback) but they’re just in the way. Get rid of them.

Step 5 – Now I start actually editing my work, in my own copy of the manuscript. As I go through, taking onboard whatever feedback I agree with and dismissing whatever I don’t, I delete them from the “DELETE AFTER” copy of the feedback. Anything I need to discuss with my editor I leave be for now, or I’ll skip it until the very end, because often I might have reached a conclusion on my own by then and I’ll be able to deal with them myself.

The thing is, once you start clearing out all the positive feedback, and the pesky little word changes or typos that are quite easy to handle, you’ll probably find there’s not so many major problems left. Clear them out, get rid of them, and you’ll find it gets easier to handle with everyone that disappears. And all those huge things, like big rewrites or lacking character motivation – you mull those over as you clean out the small stuff. Suddenly, when you come back around to them, you’ll see the solution clearly.

And the reason I edit in a clean draft, without the actual comments in is just because it keeps me organized. Sure, I have to have two documents open, but I’m much more focused when I don’t have to tackle (and see) all the red comments at the same time, up and down the page. I’ll pick one, swap to my other document, sort it out, then delete it from the feedback and go on to the next.

To me, it’s the most satisfying way to work – like crossing chores of a list. It’s fantastic.

Oh, and if you’re really keen on making the whole process more rewarding, I can suggest removing whole chapters from your “DELETE AFTER” document once you’re done editing them. Seeing the page number count of that document drop, really helps you visualize the end of your revisions.

And that’s it. Two copies of the manuscript, one clean, one with comments, and I purge those red bastards as soon as I’m done with it.

That’s how I do it… How do you edit? Am I as crazy as my friend thinks, or is there reason to my madness? I’d love to hear what you think!

Celebrate Your Victories, Hard!

How come good news only lasts for about 5 minutes before some random thought comes around and ruins it all?

At the start of September I had a novella accepted for publication. It’s the biggest, amazingest news I’ve had in ages. I should be – and am – really excited and proud of it.

Then somehow, a few days later, my whole passion for writing came tumbling down over something as stupid as newsletter subscribers.

Not really, but I was talking about it with someone, someone’s who is really good at building their newsletter and I was struck with a sensation that I should be to. A feeling that if I wasn’t doing as well as them, then I wasnt doing well at all.

That whole publishing deal thing was suddenly far gone and forgotten somewhere in the back of my mind, and all I could think of was every rejection, every no, every story I’ve written that’s never gotten anywhere, and everything I’m not doing that everyone else is having huge success with.

Where did that happiness and excitement go?

Ugh.

Why is it like that? Why are good – no, great news – so easily washed away by the slightest, miniscule hint of something that isn’t currently going as well as it might have done?

I’m like this with a lot of aspects of my life. Great effort at the gym today? Sure, but that guy over there in the corner is much stronger than me. Did well with that project at work? Yeah I guess, but colleagues X, Y and Z are doing so much better. Learned a difficult song on the guitar? Yeah, but what about this other tune?

I can’t be the only one who does this to themselves?

I don’t know why the sweet aftertaste of victory only lasts for a hot second, while the foul stench of hypothetical defeat seems to linger forever. I don’t have a good answer for you – actually, I’m hoping I can learn from someone’s who is better at celebrating their victories than me. Because I know I don’t have let it be like this.

So today I’m raising a glass to myself and my novella, as well as all other future achievements. They can’t be celebrated enough.

Book Review: Lie Down With Lions by Ken Follett

Well this was actually terrible.

I probably should have stopped reading this around the 30% mark, when I first got a hunch. Unfortunately, I have a tendency to want to see things through, and I really had my hopes out for Follett because the person who gave me this book also gave me a copy of Pillars Of The Earth, which I’m looking forward to.

Lie Down With Lions is a classic spy thriller, set during the Soviet-Afghan war in Afghanistan. It centers around Ellis, an American; Jean-Pierre, a Frenchman; and the girl they both love, Jane.

And it’s terrible.

The writing isn’t great. Right from the start, I was thrown off by the incredibly (sometimes annoyingly) detailed actions of characters. “He went toward the door. He grabbed the handle. He pushed it down. He opened the door.” What?? At times it became pretty ridiculous.

The only thing that saves this book, is the thrilling spy stuff itself, and “saves” is a strong word. Afghanistan and the war seems to be well researched and described (as far as I know, and that’s not much, to be fair) and it was what kept me reading this book till the end – even though at times you had long dialogues between characters who were both in the know, obviously designed to do nothing but make sure the reader was kept in the loop.

What really breaks this book is the so-called romance. It’s horrible. Honestly, this book makes me think of the “men writing women” Twitter account. This has some of the weirdest sex scenes I’ve ever read, and Follett seems overly obsessed with breast-feeding and lactation. And the worst part is, the romance is one of the things that’s supposed to drive the whole plot.

Can I recommend this book? Yes, but only if you want to read terrible romance. Otherwise, find something else to read. Me, I’m going to cross my fingers and hope Pillars of The Earth is better.

Guest Blog – Gillian Barnes Writes With Others, 2021

Gillian Barnes first launched her #GBWritesWithOthers initiative in 2019, when she invited a lot of great writers and creatives to write articles and blog post, to share ideas, inspiration and motivation.

This year, I wrote a piece about how writing is a marathon, not a sprint – comparing it to my own preparations for my first ever half-marathon. Turns out, writing a book is much the same. Go a head and read it – I promise, it will make you think!

Head over to Gillian Barnes’ page to check out mine and a lot of other great articles.

Book Review: Cynetic Wolf by Matt Ward

Let’s talk about Cynetic Wolf – because this thing is frickin’ cool!

It’s been a while since I’ve read a Young Adult book like this (as far as I can remember at least, but then again, I remember nothing).

The plot will probably be familiar to most of us: A teenager with special talents – Raek, a half-human, half-animal (wolfish, in his case) hybrid – becomes the focus of a conspiracy, a revolution and a plot to save the world. You know, normal everyday teenage stuff.

It took me a while to get into Matt Ward’s writing style. It’s a first person narrative and there’s a lot internal monologue regarding… Well everything, basically. That might sound weird to point out, because that’s what you expect from a first person POV, right? But sometimes it felt like I was being spoon-fed things that I needed to notice and think about from the protagonist’s perspective.

Anyways, it was a bit exhausting at first, but after a while I got used to it and it’s definitely not a deal breaker in terms of how good the book is.

Years ago, I would have bought this book for the cool animal-human-hybrid thing alone. Short story plot summary – without spoiling anything: In the future this book is set in there are four different factions ruling the world: immortals, cyborgs, enhancers, and the human/animal hybrids of which our protagonist Raek is one. And the hybrids in particular have been suppressed by the three others for ages, but now they’re fighting back!

This sounds super cool – and it is! – but I felt like the whole thing kinda fell flat. Sure, it makes for some cool combat here and there – Raek being wolfish has some claws and fangs going for him – but most of the time it felt like it became a side plot that wasn’t really explored to it’s full potential. It came into play only when we remembered it existed and it never got to shine through properly.

What really made this book however, is the great conspiratorial game that’s being played here. It reads like a top-shelf political thriller and by the end I was completely enthralled. I didn’t think about the YA or the sci-fi aspects anymore, because it almost didn’t matter. The intrigue and plot twists is what makes this book!

So, if you’re looking for an excellent political thriller that’s also a YA sci-fi adventure, with cool future tech and animal-human hybrids, then Matt Ward is definitely your guy!

BIG NEWS – At The Gate Is Being Published

I’m excited to finally announce that my story, At The Gate, is being published.

At The Gate is a dark and twisted psychological horror story, written nearly three years ago now.

It follows Joseph Podwell, a middle-aged travel-writer who drags behind him a life of romantic ruin, an unacknowledged drinking problem and a heart full of mourning. Now he’s looking for an excuse to end it all.

He checks in at The Gate—a formerly luxurious hotel—and he thinks he might just have found the place where he’ll be brave enough to commit to the afterlife.

But the mystery of a missing guest postpones his plans, and strange happenings at The Gate occupy his mind. His room doesn’t always seem like his, he loses track of days, and he could swear the broken elevator is actually moving.

As soon as I finished it, I knew I had something special on my hands and I knew it deserved somewhere special to go.

Thankfully, I found exactly that place in Inked in Gray. Inked deal in dark, terrifying stories with real and important messages, and saw something in my story that no one else did. I’m so happy they did because I’m super stoked to be part of their family.

I’ll be back with more news as soon as I know anything, because honestly, I can’t wait to share this story with all of you.

In the meantime, you can read more about me, At The Gate, and Inked in Gray in their welcome announcement.

Wait, How Do I Write Again?

I’ve been working on a lot of things things this summer – editing, revising, re-writing – all stuff that I’m really excited to share with all of you soon! But it’s been a while since I’ve drafted something completely new, and when I started something for the first in ages last week I felt like… I didn’t know what I was doing.

Don’t get me wrong, of course I know how to type words and put sentences together. I usually draft stuff all the time, be it novels, novellas or short stories, so why did it suddenly feel so weird?

The thing I had set out to do was a short story for an anthology I want to submit to this fall. It’s anywhere between 5000 – 8000 words, and it has to fit a specific theme.

It wasn’t necessarily my go-to genre, but at the same time it wasn’t completely new to me either, and I already had an old idea living rent-free in my head that with few changes would fit perfectly.

I figured – let’s go for it! At the moment I’m sitting here waiting for feedback on a few things anyway, so let’s spend a few days drafting this thing.

I think I started about 9-10 days ago, and I just finished a first draft at around 7000 words.

It feels terrible.

I haven’t read through it yet, because I don’t edit as I go, but it just feels terrible. Writing it felt terrible, finishing it felt terrible, the whole idea of having to rework it and submit it feels terrible.

The idea actually came out pretty close to what I had envisioned, yet at the same time it feels terrible.

And I’m not usually like this—I tend to be quite reasonable when it comes to judging my own work (I think)—so why does this thing feel so very different?

I’ve concluded that it’s probably because it’s been a while since I’ve written things from scratch. I’ve been editing and rewriting for so many weeks and months, I feel like I’m slightly off my game. I feel rusty.

Well – it’s probably not as bad as I think. I’m a few days I’ll read through it and I’m sure I’ll realized that it’s not that terrible after all. And with a few weeks of rewriting and editing it, and the helpful eyes of a couple of beta readers, I’m sure I’ll whip it into shape.

But I think I need to make sure I keep drafting a few things here and there, even when I’m busy with other projects.

I can’t be getting rusty just yet.

What do you do to keep yourself on your toes? Any tips and tricks?

Book Review: The Night of The Swarm by Robert V.S. Redick

The most incredible fantasy story I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading – and now it’s done.

I’ve had a difficult relationship with this series. I think I mentioned at least once or twice in all my previous reviews of Book 1, Book 2 and Book 3, how difficult I found it to grasp Redick’s writing, at least in the beginning. I don’t think I ever managed to put my finger on what it is exactly, but I think it’s a combination of run-on sentences, difficult weird choices, and convoluted language. This, combined with the fact that almost every other character is part of some conspiracy and thus has secrets to hide from one another, make the series occasionally difficult to follow.

It was particularly noticeable in the beginning with Book 1. I still kept running into the same issue as the series progressed, but you kind of get used to it, and you learn to know how an author writes, how they structure their words and sentences as you read more of them.

But anyway, I’m glad I stuck with it – because it was absolutely worth it!

Because whatever difficulties I had with Redick’s writing or language, it was entirely made up for by his incredible world building.

I think it’s not unfair to say that this epic fantasy series is completely unique. Most times, when you read a relatively recent fantasy work, you recognize things. Orcs or elves, a certain brand of magic, dragons, whatever it is – you can trace it back to the same source (usually Tolkien, but there are others). With Robert Redick and the Red Wolf Conspiracy I never felt like that once.

The short summary of the plot is that Pazel Pathkendle, a tarboy on the Chathrand, one of the most impressive ships ever constructed, is drawn into a complex political and magical conspiracy. Cue: Adventure! And yeah, it might sound like something you’ve read before, but personally at least, I was completely blown away. The world the Chathrand sails through is unique, and the plot that unfolds onboard the ship is captivating and original. I found myself being pulled in more and more, past the difficult writing and annoying language, to a story that was truly amazing.

It’s sad to see that there aren’t many people talking about these books. I couldn’t find many online forums or Wiki’s, and no one I know has even heard of them. Because I would love to sit down with someone and discuss these books, perhaps particularly this last one. It’s truly great.

If you’re looking for an incredible fantasy series to take up a couple months of your time, and you’re in the market for something you probably have never seen the likes of before, take it from me: The Red Wolf Conspiracy won’t disappoint you – as long as you can get past the sometimes clunky language.

I’m sad that I finally got to the end, but I think that’s a good thing. I’ve heard Redick as another series under his belt, so maybe I’ll go seek that one out.

Book Review: The Science Fiction Collection by H.G. Wells

It’s been far too long since my last book review, which is basically the fault of the way I read.

You see, I usually have at least a couple of books going: a physical book, an audiobook, and an ebook. Lately, since I’ve been slugging through a massive paperback – the fourth book in the Chathrand Voyage series – I haven’t been reading any ebooks. And since I had a brief summer holiday recently and work has been slow recently, I haven’t been keeping up with my audiobooks (I read these mostly when I drive or do boring work at work).

But now I finally got through another audiobook: H.G. Wells’ Science Fiction Collection and damn… This thing was much more fun than I imagined.

I read the Audible version of these books, which is a collection of 5 stories. They are as follows:

The War of the Worlds narrated by David Tennant

The First Men in the Moon narrated by Alexander Vlahos

The Time Machine narrated by Hugh Bonneville

The Invisible Man narrated by Sophie Okonedo

The Island of Dr Moreau narrated by Jason Isaacs

If you’ve paid attention, you know that I haven’t read many classics. Off the top of my head I can name 1984, Lord Of The Flies and The Picture of Dorian Gray, and I think that’s it. So even though I recognized the name H.G. Wells and knew that he’s considered the father of science fiction, I had never read any of his stuff before. Hell, I didn’t even know he’d written these things.

Three out of these five stories I knew about from other sources: The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man, and The Island of Dr Moreau. Other than that, I was completely blind and didn’t have much expectations. Well, I sure am glad I gave Wells a chance…

The first thing that struck me, starting with War of the Worlds was how captivating the writing was. I think I was expecting something clunky, out of date and aged, but it felt like it could have been written last year. And it was enthralling! Detailed and gripping, occasionally slightly drawn out, but never boring. I was hooked.

I figured War of the Worlds would be my favorite. I know the story partly from that Tom Cruise movie, and I figured it was first in line for a reason. And don’t get me wrong, it was fantastic, but The First Men in the Moon is by far my favorite. It’s so unique, so clever and… Well, this might be a stupid point to make about a guy who’s named the father of science-fiction, but the science part (in all of the stories) really impressed me. It’s hard kind of sci-fi, it’s very convincing and it really sets the atmosphere for all of these stories. I drags you in slowly, taking time to explain a lot of things in elaborate detail. Before you know it, you’re on the edge of your seat because you realize the terrifying implications of this new technology.

The Time Machine was probably my least favorite. It’s a fun and interesting story, but – and I don’t think I’m spoiling anything by saying this – it kind of defeats itself. It’s told from the perspective of the time traveler, and if you’ve thought as far ahead as I did, then yeah… you’ve probably reached the same conclusion. Sure, the story is fun enough and it’s an exciting premise, but it lacks… Conflict.

The Invisible Man was the one I figured I knew the best, because I love the Kevin Bacon movie Hollowman. Turns out – beyond having an invisible man in it – there’s not much of a connection between those two stories at all (who knew?!) But The Invisible Man was great. A bit slow to start, but it developed really well. And this might be weird to say, but I felt like it worked particularly well in audio format. As if the whole invisibility thing and the terror that follows the story was enhanced by hearing about it, not just reading it.

The Island of Dr Moreau surprised me as well. It’s the kind of story I know of, probably through references and parodies in popular culture, but I had really no idea what I was in for. Turns out, it actually quite terrifying.

All in all, I’m very happy I finally found time to read some Wells. His writing is superb, and I think it’s aged really well. I have a few other sci-fi champions on my list, including Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke, and this collection has just made me want to get to them faster.

Do you have any classic favorites? Anything you think I need to check out? Let me know!

Exciting News – My Story Is In An Anthology

My story They Came From Nowhere is out today!

I’ve been waiting to break this news for ages, but now the day is finally here. My flash fiction story, They Came From Nowhere – a science fiction horror story about first contact is published in Black Hare Press’ science fiction anthology CONTACT today! Which means: You can get it right now!

I’m really excited to have been a part of this project – the whole book is filled with exciting science fiction stories, all of them no more than 500 words long, and they’re all about the same terrifying topic: First Contact.

I’ve had a chance to look at the finished project and it looks great, so if you’re looking for your next exciting sci-fi read, full of perfectly bite-sized stories, look no further.

Get it, right here, right now!

And thank you all for your continued support and encouragement! I’d love to hear what you think of my story.

I love the cover art – what a great project to be a part of!