Too much of a good thing
Hello and Happy New Year.
As we get ready to close out 2019, I have to ask, how quickly does a year go? Well, pretty quickly, I tell you. And why do I tell you this? Because editing is important.
Red Priest Rising is now available on Amazon (and here, on this site) and before it went to digital press, I realized that my 90,000-word story used the work quick or quickly no fewer than 90 times. Yikes.
As I have mentioned previously, editing matters.
As you read the book you should find the ‘quick(ly)’ tally a far more palatable total of something like – six.
What’s that say about the other 80-plus instances? Mostly that they weren’t needed. In the flow of the writing process, the word falls out of your fingertips as you ‘see’ the action taking place in your head and the movement seems to matter. But upon further review, meh, not so much. Certainly not enough to warrant 90 uses.
If the story is written well (and I certainly hope that’s the case – let me know by leaving a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads), the action should show the reader how enthusiastically or not the characters are doing something.
As in all things, it helps to have a fresh set of eyes – like a dedicated editor; but it also helps for writers to keep a list of things that the computer can search for during the editing process – such as words that seem to be used often, adverbs, double spaces, homophones (bear/bare, tail/tale, rode/road). It saves time and makes the writing tighter and better.
So, with book four finished I’m already a few thousand words deep into book five which I hope to have ready for release in April. How’s that for quickly?
NEXT UP
Next week, another creator Q&A with indie author and fellow Air Force veteran Rob Ward, author of (Terror On The Trail; The Emerald Stones; and Charlotte’s Ring).
