No, my precious!

Since I am not a published author and I am too lazy to come up with my own, I have been using Nathan Bransford's revising checklist to edit my book. And this was how I felt when I first read his list: 

(oh my God my book is pathetic why did I start writing it in the first place MY LIFE SUCKS)

My book needed help. A lot of it. So, for a couple of weeks I danced around the prospect of actually sitting down and editing it. And finally, about a week ago, a dived headfirst into the process. 

Tips on How to Start and Carry Out the Editing Process:

1. Be a lazy jerk. 

Give your work to other people. And why not? Throw in the revising checklist, too. 

There's only so far you can go on your own. As you read your own writing, it's sometimes hard to put yourself in the mindset of a casual reader. If you give your work to other people, you are likely to get feedback that points out mistakes you wouldn't have noticed on your own. 

2. Make your characters your BFFLs. 

When it comes to your characters, don't concern yourself with personality, body expressions, or tone of voice. Focus on one thing: motivation. Why does that character exist? What is the purpose of that character in terms of plot? As long as you CONSTANTLY have your characters' motivations in mind, the rest will almost certainly fall into place. 

If you ask yourself, "What is my character's motivation?" and you can't come up with an answer, TAKE THAT CHARACTER OUT. Flat characters, or useless characters, do nothing to support the book, so you might as well remove them.ed

3. If it doesn't help the plot, TAKE IT OUT (please note how that was in all caps). 

Whether it's characters, scenes, or subplots, if it doesn't help the overall plot line, it's not worth keeping it. Don't concern yourself with word count. It's quality, not quantity. 

Make sure EVERY SINGLE SCENE brings the plot forward in some way. Every other scene should involve the main conflict in some form. If not, take it out. 

4. No, my precious! 

As you edit, try not to look at your writing as your own writing. Look at it as someone else's writing. Slash and tear at it as much as you can. Be ruthless. That way, you can (partly)

overcome the need to protect your writing as though it is your precious. 

Hope that helps! 

Wait...what? A BOOK?!

So I finished something called A BOOK. 

And I'm a little bit happy. 

(only a little bit happy, I swear)

To get through this, I basically told myself that I ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY had to finish it or I would DIE OF SHAME. Which worked. Kind of. 

Tips on How to Write a Book:

1. Forget how crappy it is. 

Don't be a perfectionist. Concentrate on finishing it first, THEN fix it later. Try to swallow the OH MY GOD I HAVE TO FIX IT RIGHT NOW instinct. Write down what you have to fix on a sheet of paper. Once your done writing, take out the paper and start editing (which I did not do originally and for which now I pay the price). 

2. Give it to other people. I repeat. Give it to other people. 

You need other people's advice to make your work better. So give your book to a wide range of people. I suggest having AT LEAST five people read your writing so you can make it as good as possible. 

3. Relax. Life is good. 

If you are not a published author who is on a schedule to write your next book, don't feel like you have to write every single day. If you're just having a long day and you want to relax, do it. If you can wait for a moment, your book can too. 

Happy writing! 

Editor Schmeditor

Ever have that awful feeling in your stomach when someone is looking at your writing and you want to run away and hide? Have you ever had that feeling where you suddenly realize that what you wrote was just a bunch of nonsense from the moment that idea popped into your head, and you secretly wish that you could pluck the paper from the reader's hand and skip away like a magical elf screaming, "You'll never get me"? 

Ignore it, please. Our magical elves need to stay hidden.

Often, when somebody's reading my writing, I try to let my mind return to the moment when I'd been proud of that piece of writing, when I'd written down something I knew was beautiful, and I knew was brilliant. I bask in the warmth of the magic I'd written, the magic that is within that essay my reader is, at that moment, reading. And I promise myself that I will not let that magic be cut out and thrown away. I promise myself that I will make the final draft look like the older and more beautiful version of draft one, not some plastic Barbie doll perfection that I will never call mine. 

When someone edits your draft or requests a change in the writing, do it. Don't feel like the editor is a monster who is taking away your baby. The magic about editing is that you choose how you change your writing. Your writing's about you, no one else. The editor is not the writer. The editor is not the one who put his life into the writing. Yes, fix the imperfections. 

But fix them your way.