lcrwpres Blog

Why is Editing Important?

Posted byWomen Writing the West

By Heidi M. Thomas

I want to tell you a little secret: Nobody writes a perfect first draft.

Not Shakespeare. Not Mark Twain. Not Stephen King.

Nobody. (Hemingway once said: “There are no great writers, only great re-writers.”)

Why hire an editor? Do you want your book to be the best that it can be?

Editors are useful to authors because it’s almost impossible to be objective about your own work. As the creator, writers “fill in the blanks” of what’s actually on the page versus the vision in their head.

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No matter how eagle-eyed we may be, it’s easy to see on the page what we intended to say, rather than what we’ve actually said. Have you written a character named BRIAN and you keep typing BRAIN?

Even editors need editors. I can personally attest to that! My editor finds so many little things that I, as an editor, point out to my clients—repeated words, typos, misplaced commas.

Because your spell checker is not infallible. The easy answer is that even if you use a spell checker, there are a lot of bloopers it simply won’t catch because the words are actually spelled correctly. For example, one editor worked at a big national non-profit organization, and the final, critical step before any of their promotional material went out was to check, manually, that none of it contained the phrase “pubic education” where it should have said “public education.” Oops!

Here are just a few of the basic things that a competent editor can and should do to your work, for starters:

  • Fix grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors.
  • Replace passive verbs with active ones (“the gun was fired by the robber” becomes “the robber fired the gun.”)
  • Mend run-on sentences
  • Root out “wordiness” (i.e., help you get to the point more economically)
  • Make sure you’ve made the point(s) that you set out to make
  • Story flow
  • Character arc

What Can YOU do?

Read it aloud. Watch for:

  • Passive sentences Go through your writing and find instances where something happens to the subject (passive) and change them to the subject making something happen (active).  For example, “This class was taught by me,” can be changed to the active, “I taught this class.”

Words that often signal passive construction: has, had, was, were and that. Example: There was a mutter from the witnesses becomes The witnesses muttered.

  • The way you portray thoughts.

Old: This isn’t happening, Jinx thought.
New: Jinx blinked. She blinked again. It didn’t help. This isn’t happening. (Action signifies who is thinking. Don’t need the tagline thought.)

Dialog tags. Fewer “saids.” Whenever possible, use an action or a reaction. It’s stronger, helps develop character, emotion, and moves the story forward.

  • Omit Useless Words:

That (there is no doubt that… becomes:…no doubt…)

very
really
truly
absolutely
totally
suddenly

starting to
began to
as
even
just
there

  • SHOW don’t TELL Without context, words like “beautiful/ugly” and “delicious/disgusting” are meaningless. We’ve all seen the word amazing a thousand times. Try astonishing, astounding, blindsiding, dumbfounding, eye-opening, flabbergasting, or use description to show what it looks like/how it feels. The more common the word, the more readers will overlook it—and your writing. Keep a thesaurus handy and switch out pedestrian words (sad, glad, happy, excited).
    Can you SHOW it through the character’s reactions/feelings?
  • Simplify your sentences wherever possible. Watch for redundant or unnecessary phrases. As writers, we need to “show, not tell” as often as possible. Yet, some writers tend to show and then tell the same information, which is redundant. Watch out for this in your manuscripts. Also, look for the redundant phrases below and others like them.
    Stand up = stand
    Sit down = sit
    Turned around = turned
    He thought to himself = He thought (or eliminated altogether by using an action)
    She shrugged her shoulders = she shrugged
    She whispered softly = she whispered
    He nodded his head = he nodded

Avoid adverbs for the most part. They’re a crutch to prop up weak verbs. Use strong, descriptive verbs instead.

Example: She smiled slightly at the photographer.
Better: She grinned at the photographer. OR She quirked her mouth upward… OR She gave the photographer a shy smile.

Avoid repeating words. Go back and reread each sentence. Have you used the same word several times within a single sentence or paragraph or on the page? If so, substitute another word with the same meaning.

Limit the description in a dialogue tag. Beginning writers tend to load down the dialogue tags (the “he said, she said” part of the dialogue) with too many details. If you must describe what a character is doing AS he says something, put that information in a separate sentence, not in the dialogue tag. (example: …she said as she backed out of the room becomes: She backed out of the room). No tagline. Keep it short. Be careful when trying to avoid too many “saids”—you can’t laugh, smile, spit, snarl, or grouse words.

Revision & Polish Tips:
1.    Keep the focus, the theme, of the piece consistent throughout.
2.    Sentence structure: a subject—a noun or pronoun, and a predicate/verb that explains what the subject is doing.
3.    Use nouns rather than adjectives and remove overused adjectives such as very.
4.    Verbs are where the action is—choose strong ones.
5.    Avoid adverbs that diminish the strength of a sentence.
6.    Vary sentence length and rhythm within the piece.
7.    Make it personal and professional, convey the message, be specific.
Then, when you have polished your manuscript to the best of your ability, send it to a professional editor, even if you plan to submit to a publisher. You won’t be sorry.

Heidi M. Thomas

…is a freelance editor and WILLA and Will Rogers Medallion-award winning author of 12 books.

She grew up on a working ranch in eastern Montana, riding and gathering cattle for branding and shipping. Her parents taught her a love of books, and her grandmother rode bucking stock in rodeos. She followed her dream of writing, with a journalism degree from the University of Montana.  

Her books are featured on her website and on Amazon. Find her on Facebook, too.

lcrwpres Author's examples, Blog

HISTORY…Boring?

by Rick Iekel

Who says history has to be boring? Why do we deny ourselves the opportunity to learn and enjoy the life and times of those who lived before us? Why, when someone offers an opportunity to open and enjoy a topic-of-old, do we instantly think about those dark days of classroom lessons and hear the teacher say, “Now, class, open up your history books to page 379 . Today we are going to talk about . . .”

            In those days instant boredom would take control of our minds and bodies. Nothing good, we might think, can come from the next thirty minutes. We know, of course, that the outcome of this discussion  will likely show up on one or more tests in the near and not-so-near future.

            Seriously, forget the fact that it is somewhat important to have at least a semi-correct perception of what has happened in the past. I’m here to remind you that not all history is boring. Take, for example, the following excerpt describing a particular winter situation taken from my most recent book, The ROC – Journey thru the 20th Century (the  only researched and compiled history of Rochester’s airport) :

                                                              *        *          *          *                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

           At the present time, the two, so to speak, “bookends” of a typical winter condition would read, “Bare and wet,” (…that’s good) and “Braking action nil” (…that’s bad).  In the end, though, when the snow reaches 4” in depth, the runway must be closed.

           The reader might find the following admission of guilt amusing as we bring the topic of snow removal to a close:

                                                 HOW BAD CAN IT GET?

It was my first significant snowfall as airport manager. The day was coming to an end. Runways were open and clean-up underway. I headed home.

     After dinner I decided to drive back to the airport to watch the progress. I pulled on the tarmac and drove the length of the west wing of the terminal. The surface was cleared, awaiting aircraft that would remain overnight. A long row of mounded snow paralleled the building near the outer edge of the pavement.

The mound was a barricade for my access to the airfield. With no opening available and my unwillingness to drive back to the far end, I sized up the mound and estimated that I could break through. In my Ford sedan, I took aim and stepped on the gas. When I hit the snow, the car went airborne, flying forward several feet before landing on the mound. As the car settled, I noted with some dismay that the snow had reached the level of my side window. This resulted in the following radio conversation:

“Charlie 5, this is Charlie 1.”

“Go ahead Charlie 1.”

“Charlie 5, when you have a moment could you meet me on the West Ramp?”

“Roger, Charlie 1. Be there in five.”

Soon, a yellow pickup truck neared my position. I really did not want to look up, but when I did, I noticed a wide grin on the operation supervisor’s face.

“Looks like you have a bit of a problem, Charlie 1.”

“A-a-a, roger that, Charlie 5. I’d say so.” 

“Charlie 70 (a loader), this is Charlie 5.”

“This is Charlie 70, go ahead Charlie 5.”

“Charlie 70, break off what you are doing and meet me on the United ramp. Charlie 1 has a situation here.”

Needless to say, this event was a lesson learned.

lcrwpres Author

Midnight Confessions

by Donna Collins

Over the years, as a nurse, I’ve done my share of shift work. A lot of that was on the ‘graveyard shift’—eleven-to-seven working with a pared down crew. The time between two and four in the morning were known as the ‘witching hours.’ 

To fight the fatigue, one consumes copious amounts of coffee while struggling with the workload. Those were also the hours when people seemed to be most vulnerable. While most turned anxious thoughts inward, a few found the need to unburden. I referred to these admissions as midnight confessions. 

I remember several heartbreaking revelations shared in confidence. Secrets so painful and despair so deep that they could no longer be contained. Stories I can never repeat. 

Often, I had no words of wisdom, no advice, or even encouragement, but none were needed or wanted. These poor souls only wanted to be heard. So, I did the only thing I could. I listened.

I wasn’t a writer then, but even now, decades later, I will not share their stories. Their brave words belong to them and only them. But as a writer, I can take inspiration from their experiences.

What I have learned is crushing circumstances require strong believable characters, so I can build on the survivor’s traits in my fiction. Strong men can, and do cry. Broken women heal. People, thankfully, are incredibly resilient. 

The range of emotions I witnessed also can be woven into my writing. Sorrow, sadness, betrayal can transition into hope, joy, and acceptance.

I can assure you that no matter what situation I put my characters through, I will always try to provide a happy or at least a gratifying ending. Characters, real or fiction, deserve nothing less.

lcrwpres Posts

Are you ready to file taxes?

Alexa Bigwarfe

Tax season is upon us – the Americans on the list at least! For everyone else, these tips may or may not apply – definitely do your research for the laws in your own country.

I strongly advise as your business grows, you seek out and work with a CPA. Every year the tax codes change, and a professional can help you ensure you’re getting all the deductions you should.

The One Rule That Makes Everything Easier

Keep your business and personal finances completely separate.

Open a dedicated business checking account. Get a business credit card used exclusively for author expenses. This one habit will save you hours every tax season because you’ll never have to sort through personal charges mixed with professional ones.

It also makes you look more credible to the IRS. A commingled account is a common audit flag for sole proprietors.

We’d like to avoid that at all costs.

Bookkeeping and tax season is my least favorite part of being a business owner.  As my business grew, I hired a bookkeeper and CPA for filing my taxes, but the first few years, I did it all on my own.

Disclaimer: I am not a trained tax professional nor am I an accountant, so please make sure you are consulting with a professional. These tips are based on what I have learned. And below, I’ve got a recording from a few year’s ago for our annual conference, in which Melissa Whaley, a bookkeeper, shared her professional expertise. Laws change, but the basics stay the same.

First – how do you figure out your profit?

This part is the easiest.

Profit = Revenue (be it from royalties, consulting, sales of courses, book sales at events, etc.) – expenses.

You may be in the negative for the first few years. In fact, it’s quite likely that you’ve spent more your first couple of years than you’ve earned. You get three years to file “in the red” (ie, negative because expenses = more than revenue) before the IRS deems your business to be a hobby, not a business.

Even if you’re not making money yet, these expenses can help bring down your overall tax burden. But if you hit year 4 and you’re still expensing more than you’re earning, you might not want to claim everything.

What can I write off as an expense?

Did you know that almost ANYTHING related to your author business can be expensed?

Some examples:

  • Editing
  • Conferences (to include airfare, hotel) – to include virtual conferences like ​The Women in Publishing Summit​ 🙂
  • All marketing expenses
  • Book orders – either of your own or of other people’s to do genre research, etc
  • Coaching programs, training, etc
  • Office supplies
  • Office space
  • Internet and phone
  • Website fees, domain purchases
  • All tech tools you buy to support your business (think tools like ​ProWritingAid​, ​PublisherRocket​, ​Autocrit​, ​PubSite​, etc.)
  • Stickers, flyers, swag – anything related to marketing expenses
  • Marketing expenses – ads, companies, promo tours
  • ETC.

One final tip – in the beginning, you can use a tax software, like TurboTax to help you file your Schedule C. But it’s a lot easier if you’ve been keeping track of your expenses.

Next year – (or starting now!) – take a day at the end of the month to put everything in a spreadsheet and categorize the expense type, reconcile your accounts, and pay bills. It will save you so much time next year in tax prep! And make sure you’ve got a separate bank account and credit card for all of your business income and expenses, so you’re not wading through personal expenses intermingled with business expenses.

Hope this helps!

The above information was copied from writepublishsell.com

lcrwpres Author

When Your Writing Matters

By Kim Gore

I grew up reading a very simple but joyful series called Dick and Jane. What I loved about these books with their 1950’s attired children, rosy-cheeked and naïve, wasn’t the storylines. In fact, I don’t think I could give you one plotline gleaned from the series. The stories weren’t memorable. They were told in short sentences. Nothing special or fancy. Just readable for a first grader. But I loved that the pictures helped tell the story. The children’s expressions ranged from gleeful to sour to upset.  Even before taking in the story word by word, I loved the emotions drawn on the page. It was as if watching a play, but with two-dimensional humans that spoke inside my head instead of a stage. I took to writing my own stories, using my own drawings. But my skill was limited in both departments, being that I was in public elementary school.

My Cousin Helen took my sister and me to see theatre productions. Hello Dolly. Peter Pan. The Nutcracker. Enthralled, I began to write plays. My sister and I performed them for our relatives during holidays. I was still just a little kid, not even a teenager. But to be able to make those words come alive through performance thrilled me. Again, evoking emotion from words. Facial expressions. Arm movements.

When I was fifteen, my mother introduced me to Christopher Pike. Or, at least his books. I opened up to a world of shocking horror. Teenagers, like me, with problems, like I had…and then a twist! Murder. (I don’t think my mom realized these were more or less horror novels, but…) I was shocked to read books about teens getting revenge on other kids in the most horrific of ways. Dick and Jane never did these terrible things.

But I loved it.

I immediately began filling up pages and pages with crazy, unhinged adolescents. My imagination had been released, and now I wrote novels. I didn’t care that they weren’t going to be published. Or read by someone else. I wrote for the sheer joy of creating. Inventing. Discovering where my mind wanted to go. While kids went to parties or stayed out past midnight drinking, I was in my room, scribbling away. Encouraged by my parents, who understood creativity well, as they were both prime examples of being artists in their own right.

In high school and college, I acted in plays. Again, loving every moment of evoking emotion, spilling it out beneath bright stage lights and the watchful eyes of a rapt audience. I took theatre classes in college, including a scriptwriting class. And over a weekend, I wrote a play my mom titled Something Blue. Long story short, I had it approved by the college to put onstage in their Blackbox Theatre. They gave me a stipend to use for supplies. I had a team that helped me. I directed it. We had full houses every night of the production. I sat watching the performance, listening to the audience laugh at all the right places, become silent when intense words spilled out of the actors’ mouths. People left the theatre crying, which I hadn’t expected. It had a sad ending. People felt that. I made people feel. They laughed! They cried! One person, an actor’s father, was shocked someone so young had written it.

I knew then that I wanted to be a writer.

It wasn’t that I wanted fame, to be noticed, or money. I mean, sure, I would have liked all that. But what made an impact was the way people responded. Like how I responded all those years ago after reading a story. It wasn’t the plot that held me captive. It was how the story made me feel. The way it touched me. Reached out with invisible fingers and nudged my heart. That was why I was so captivated with Dick and Jane. Watching Peter Pan. Reading Christopher Pike’s Chain Letter.

If you can make your audience feel, they will remember. And that’s been my motivation for storytelling (and my music, my art) ever since.

lcrwpres Presentation described, Uncategorized

AI is Here to Stay – the Facts

Our February presentation will be a video by Tamara Merrill. She is an award-winning novelist and short story writer with a diverse body of work, including historical fiction and psychological thrillers. She is a passionate advocate for reading and writing, and a self-proclaimed computer NERD who witnessed the evolution of technology from
early UNIX programming to modern AI. She is experienced in developing software solutions
and voice recognition systems since the 1970s.

In her word; we’ll take a look at common beliefs and feelings about using AI as a creator, and how you can make the decision of when and if you may want to use AI in your
creative process. Points she will cover…
 To help you in making an informed decision, we’ll explore current laws and legal
findings.
 Then I’ll attempt to give you an understanding of how AI actually works.
 And If we have time, I’ll list a few real-world applications for…
o Writing, editing, and illustrating your work.
o From generating content ideas to managing time-consuming tasks,
o Practical ways to use AI tools to streamline your marketing efforts while
staying authentic to your unique voice.

lcrwpres Author's examples, Blog

A LCRW Member Shares Her Writing Journey Story

Sally Steele’s Journey

I have no natural talent for writing, so it is a skill I’ve had to learn. I could blame
my high school English teachers for not preparing me to tackle the written word, but my
inattention during class is the more likely culprit. When I graduated from high school, I
couldn’t construct coherent sentences or cohesive paragraphs, not that I made any
serious attempts to try it at that time in my life.

My post-high school attempts at storytelling fell flat. I briefly considered taking
journalism in college, but I had no ideas, so I chose math and science instead. I never
did finish college anyway and the fastest computer at that time was the Cray II, and it
took up two rooms. Only big businesses, universities, and NASA had computers.

Life moved on and I got married and had a family, so any dreams I had of writing
languished. Then, after thirty-some-odd years, ideas came to me, but I still couldn’t
write a readable story. Fortunately, a night-school flyer arrived in my mailbox – the one
at the end of my driveway. (Still not up to the “everybody has a computer” era.)

Kim Gore, a member of LCRW, was teaching a class on creative writing, and I
signed up. It helped, but I still had a lot to learn. From the writing class, I heard about a
Critique Group in the Barnes & Noble at the Greece Mall on the Ridge. It’s every second
Thursday from 6:30 pm – 8 pm, and tuition is free, which fits into my budget.

At the Critique Group, I found out about LCRW. The membership fee is only $20
a year, again easy on my budget, and I have learned from seasoned writers on how to tell
a tale with clarity and color. I’ve even had a poem and an essay published in local
papers.

LCRW offers encouragement, instruction and friendship and I recommend it to
all aspiring writers. If nothing else, you’ll have fun. Don’t delay – you have a novel in
you the rest of the world should read. Come join us.

lcrwpres Presentation described

The Idea Tree – January 24 Presentation

Explore ideas for short stories or novels using The Idea Tree, a made-up concept by your happy prompt inventor, Kim Gore. From the twisted roots, to the mossy trunk, to the leaves basking in the sunlight, we will grow your idea until it stands tall and sturdy, declaring its space in the crowded forest of unfinished projects. Bring a notebook, a pen, your imagination, and the courage to read your newly created stories, your seedlings for the future formed from writing prompts.

Thanks!!!

Kim Gore

www.thebarebonesguides.com

lcrwpres Author, New Book Release

John Caligiuri’s New Release

Maelstrom Unleashed Book 3 of Novaroma series

In a distant corner of the galaxy, where humanity’s exiled descendants have forged the resilient Novaroman Republic, an interstellar war brews after four hundred years of uneasy peace.

Captain Gabriel Carloman, a forgotten heir to a fallen imperial dynasty, uncovers a sinister incursion deep within Novaroman territory by a species who called themselves, Ipis. The purple-scaled conquerors—derisively called “harpies” by humans—launch a devastating surprise attack, shattering the fragile peace and threatening to extinguish humanity’s very existence. Rising from the rank of a backwater frontier guard commander, Gabe rallies the fractured human fleets and forges alliances with enigmatic alien species.

However, cunning tactics and audacious raids are not enough against an implacable foe with unlimited resources. Ancient secrets, sentient machines from a forgotten Earth, and shadowy galactic politics collide in a desperate bid for survival.

In Maelstrom Unleashed, the third explosive installment of John Caligiuri’s Novaroma Series, heroes must navigate betrayal, innovation, and the void’s unforgiving fury. Will Gabe’s unyielding resolve rewrite humanity’s destiny, or will the harpies’ manifest destiny claim the stars? Epic space opera meets historical intrigue in this tale of empires clashing and legends born.

lcrwpres Author's examples

Kris Kringle

Kris Kringle is my name
Giving gifts is my game
Every year when snow flies
I take my sleigh into the skies.
Bags of toys filled to the brim
are covered up with bows and trim.
Christmas trees sparkling bright
Guide my reindeer on their flight.
Little boys and little girls
Stay asleep through my twirls.
No one knows when I am there
I sneak around, they know not where.
Cookie crumbs I leave behind
But somehow no one seems to mind.
Tinsel trim stuck in my belt
Holly leaves, their pricks I felt.
Glittered cards shed their sparkles
In my hat and down my farckles.
Christmas Eve ends all too soon,
I rush up north in a zoom.
The sleigh ride’s done
The toys are gone
Now I can sleep
The whole year long.

Sally Steele wrote this poem to share at our Christmas Party. Thank you.