Larry M. Edwards's Blog, page 3
May 23, 2019
Kill Your Darlings: The Art of Revision — 9. Kill Your Darlings
Ninth element in this series: Kill Your Darlings: The Art of Revision
(Please read the Introduction, if you haven’t already.)
“Kill your darlings” does not mean you have to kill off your favorite characters (although it may). This refers to the fact that writers fall in love with what they have written and cannot bear the thought of deleting it, even if those passages are not needed to tell the story.
Ask yourself, what’s the story reason for including this in the book? D...
Kill Your Darlings: The Art of Revision — 8. Information Dumps
Eighth element in this series: Kill Your Darlings: The Art of Revision
(Please read the Introduction, if you haven’t already.)
This typically occurs in dialogue when one character tells another character things that other character already knows, or should know. The author inserts these details to “feed” information (exposition) to the reader. But it makes for unnatural, even unbelievable, dialogue between characters.
For example, Jill says:
“One set of print...
Kill Your Darlings: The Art of Revision — 7. Plot
Seventh element in this series: Kill Your Darlings: The Art of Revision
(Please read the Introduction, if you haven’t already.)
This, too, may seem self-evident, but I assure you, for some authors it is not: A plot should be logical, even in the wildest fantasy or sci-fi novel. Is the conflict contrived, unbelievable? Beware of plot holes: something missing from the story line that leaves the reader confused or, even worse, shaking her head in disbelief and laying the book aside. You w...
Kill Your Darlings: The Art of Revision — 6. Characters
Sixth element in this series: Kill Your Darlings: The Art of Revision
(Please read the Introduction, if you haven’t already.)
Create three-dimensional characters; avoid stereotypes and cartoon characters.
I know this may seem self-evident, but all too often I see the latter—characters that are caricatures, rather than portrayed as believable individuals; this is especially true when it comes to cops and robbers; don’t turn it into Loony Tunes or the Keystone cops, or Father Brown,...
Kill Your Darlings: The Art of Revision — 5. Point of View
Fifth element in this series: Kill Your Darlings: The Art of Revision
(Please read the Introduction, if you haven’t already.)
Point of View (POV) confounds many writers, but it is critical to a story, so you as writers need to be cognizant of how you employ POV and how it impacts your stories:
Single—the entire story is told from the main character’s point of view, and it may be written in first-person. This is common in mysteries, from the POV of the detective or amateur sleut...Kill Your Darlings: The Art of Revision — 4. Narrative Mode
Fourth element in this series: Kill Your Darlings: The Art of Revision
(Please read the Introduction, if you haven’t already.)
Narrative Modes: first person, second person, third person.
Most fiction is written in third-person (he, she, they, them), but not all. Narrative nonfiction is generally written in third-person, with the exception of memoir.Memoirs and autobiographies are written in first-person (I, me, we, us).Second-person narrative mode is rarely used (you, your); e...Kill Your Darlings: The Art of Revision — 3. Narrative Voice
Third element in this series: Kill Your Darlings: The Art of Revision
(Please read the Introduction, if you haven’t already.)
Show, don’t tell—use active voice, not passive.
I know you hear this all the time, but it doesn’t seem to sink in. Or, maybe some writers don’t fully comprehend what that means.
Active voice “shows” the reader the story in a dramatic sense; it is particularly important when dealing with a character’s emotions.
Passive voice “tells” the reader something...
Kill Your Darlings: The Art of Revision — 2. Content
Second element in this series: Kill Your Darlings: The Art of Revision
(Please read the Introduction, if you haven’t already.)
All content and characters should have a story reason for being included in the book. If it doesn’t have a story reason, then delete it. Otherwise, it’s a needless distraction for the reader.
As Elmore Leonard famously advises in his 10 Rules of Writing, leave out the parts that readers tend to skip. His novel Hombre is an excellent example of this. If you ha...
Kill Your Darlings: The Art of Revision — 1. Structure
First element in this series: Kill Your Darlings: The Art of Revision
(Please read the Introduction, if you haven’t already.)
How is your story organized, or not? Restructuring for clarity of story arcs and character arcs.
By structure I mean how the book manuscript is organized.
Where does the story begin?When does the “hook” come in?Where do the chapter breaks occur? Where do the scene breaks occur? Can/should the scene breaks be chapter breaks or vice versa?Do the chapters get s...May 14, 2019
Kill Your Darlings: The Art of Revision
[image error]Larry Edwards will present “Kill Your Darlings: The Art of Revision” at the May 20, 2019, meeting of the San Diego Writers & Editors Guild.
This presentation on self-editing is not just for new writers; it’s also designed as a refresher for experienced writers, as well as those who participate in read-and-critique groups, and those who self-publish.
Drawing on his years of experience as an editor, Edwards will discuss structure, plot, content, narrative voice, characters, point of view, and...
