BLOGWORDS – Monday 22 April 2019 – NEW WEEK NEW FACE – GUEST POST – ANDREA MERRELL

BLOGWORDS – Monday 22 April 2019 – NEW WEEK NEW FACE – GUEST POST – ANDREA MERRELL
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NEW WEEK NEW FACE – GUEST POST – ANDREA MERRELL
 
 
Editing Is Not for the Faint of Heart

 

 

Whenever I say, “Let’s move the furniture,” my husband cringes. This is especially true during the holidays as we make room for the Christmas tree. He expects me to know exactly where to place each piece so he only has to move it once. If it were only that easy.

 

The truth: I have an idea in my head where things should be placed.

 

The problem: Once it gets there, it doesn’t fit the overall plan.

 

Sometimes, writing is much the same as rearranging furniture. Once you get your words out of your head and in front of your eyes, what made sense before, doesn’t make sense now. That’s when the real work begins.

 

Once you have your words on paper—or tucked away in your computer—it’s time for the editing/proofreading/rewriting process. This is not for the faint of heart. But if we want our words to shine, we can’t skip this process. Even if we plan to hire a professional editor, our manuscript should be as clean as possible before we send it into cyberspace.

 

Here are a few elements to look for when you begin the process:

 

Start with the basics: grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
Look up words you’re unsure of, especially hyphenated words.
Don’t mix past and present tense, especially in the same paragraph.
Avoid overusing quotation marks and exclamation marks.
Use correct formatting (12 pt. Times New Roman, double-spacing, one-inch margins). No fancy fonts, and no bold, all-capped, or underlined words.
Glance at your paragraphs. Are you beginning too many with the same word (He, She, They … and especially I)?
Know your pet words and phrases. Do a word search and eliminate them.
Get rid of weasel words (that, just, because, however, so, suddenly, quickly, quietly).
Read your manuscript aloud for syntax and sentence structure. There should be a natural flow to your story (both fiction and nonfiction), and events must be in chronological order.
Be careful with POV (point of view). No head-hopping.
Show, don’t tell your story.

 

Compare editing and rewriting to remodeling a house. It’s easier to build a house from the ground up, but sometimes the initial structure is beautiful and sound—it just needs to be made a little better by some important and well-thought-out additions or changes.

 

Don’t let the process derail you. It’s a natural part of the writer’s life. Whatever you do, keep working until your manuscript is as clean and professional as possible.

 

“Writing without revising is the literary equivalent of waltzing gaily out of the house in your underwear.”  ~ Patricia Fuller

 

 

[image error]Andrea Merrell is an award-winning author and professional freelance editor. She is an associate editor with Christian Devotions Ministries and LPC Books and was a finalist for the 2016 Editor of the Year Award at BRMCWC and the 2018 Excellence in Editing award by the Christian Editors Network. Andrea is a graduate of Christian Communicators and was a finalist in the 2015 USA Best Book Awards and the 2018 Selah Awards, as well as a semi-finalist in the 2018 ACFW Genesis contest. She has been published in numerous anthologies and online venues, teaches workshops on writing and editing, and is the co-founder and regular contributor to The Write Editing, a blog designed specifically for writers. Andrea is the author of Murder of a Manuscript, Praying for the Prodigal, and Marriage: Make It or Break It.

www.andreamerrell.com 

TheWriteEditing.blogspot.com  

https://www.facebook.com/andrea.s.merrell

https://twitter.com/AndreaMerrell

 

 

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