Edit, Revise, Renew! Encouragement from the CE

I have resigned to allow the insight and help of a copy editor (CE) with whom I am personally close.  He's always been available, but only recently am I turning to him.  I have been reluctant because of  my own aesthetic distance to my work and the value I place on his opinion.  However, as we were collaborating today on the ins and outs of readers' desires, I asked him about his own writing experience.

"When you were finishing your first book," I began, "did you ever find yourself so sick of your own content that you couldn't possibly look at it again?"

He chuckled.

"I mean, regardless of content?" I included.  "It could be the most brilliant, colorful words ever, but did you ever find yourself tired of looking at it. . . one more time?"

"Sure," he responded from across the table.  "In fact, there were times when I didn't think I could look at something ever again.  And then when I got the copyedits back, I would find myself wanting to completely rewrite an entire chapter.  There's a balance."

Words from a Sage!

It seems there's something to this "balance" he mentioned.  I have not always been the biggest supporter of multiple revisions and rewrites, and yet I have found that this is the one thing that really propels my craft.  For instance, I often find a bit of my characters that needs fleshing out, or I will meet up with my old enemy, passive voice, and have to tear the whole thing apart.  Still, each time I do, my writing grows. 

Further encouraged to continue revising, one of my favorite writers on writing, Natalie Goldberg, suggests remaining loose in my attachment to my prose.  She says that "we think our words are permanent and solid and stamp us forever."1  Goldberg encourages distance in our revision process, stating that time can afford the needed objectivity for thorough revisions.  Consider the alternative, never breaking out of our first drafts.   If this were the case, my beautiful prosthetic wings would still have feathers!

Now, here's something to think about: if you can work with a CE, and if you can get beyond your delicate writer's ego, you are open to limitless possibilities in your writing.  Some item that they have highlighted and included a marginal comment might spark your imagination and take you in a new direction.  Additionally, a shift in syntax, a suggested change in sentence structure, could really help to detail a faded scene or flat character.  Let the distance of the reviser speak for itself.  They are not committed to you words, at least not the way you are.

You may also find that you vehemently disagree with a suggestion.  At this point, it might be important to ponder why you disagree.  Look at the words again and consider the suggestion from a different perspective.  Maybe even tell yourself that it was your idea.  If it still doesn't fit well with you, it may not be a great change.  After all, even CEs are human.  But if there is a chance that it might enrich your story, embellish your writing, or strengthen your craft, put it in and give it a test drive.  The worst that can happen is you take it back out again.  The best that can happen is your readers will love you!  But remember that you don't have to agree with each suggestion.  You should also remember that you and your CE are on the same team.

Here's a sample of what I got back today.  I had expressed the need to really tell the character's back story without being tedious.  My character needs the proper motivation to do what it is that brings her to the climax, but some of it is so subtle, it almost feels dull.  I know that the end justifies the means, but my reader wont know that until they've finished the peice.  There is also the delicate balance of not giving away too much in the beginning, and yet giving just enough to keep the reader interested.  It's like walking a tightrope while grinding coffee.

This is really why another perspective is so helpful, especially if they know the whole story.  And I would strongly recommend your editor know they entire story.  There is no need to save the suspense, especially at the expensive of their invaluable insight.  Here's the except:

Here. the CE is making a suggestion that really enhances the story.  If I give away too much too soon, then I run the risk of dampening the climax.  Additionally, I might also run the risk of insulting the intelligence of my reader (and I expect my readers will be smart enough to get this without too much help; they will).

It might be important to note that this blog entry would have benefited greatly from the insight of a CE.  But you should also know that I did a few revisions and this is not the first draft that you are seeing.

So, the long and short of it is to give yourself an opportunity to refine your writing along with the very helpful feedback of another set of eyes.  Or even a few pairs of different eyes, though I think the actual copy editing should be reserved to one person.  Then, get back to the keyboard, typewriter, papyrus and edit, revise, renew!  Everyone wins.

Write now!

1 Goldberg, Natalie: Writing Down The Bones, Shambhala Publications, Inc., c. 1986

Writers On Writing (Book Reviews For The Rest Of Us)

Here's a quick read for a little refresher on how to keep your writing crisp.  The book is Bonnie Trenga's The Case of the Misplaced Modifier, subtitled: How to Solve the Mysteries of Weak Writing.  True to its claim, it does get right down to the flaws in passive voice and weak sentence structure.  Additionally, I found it fun to read, in its hard-boiled detective language. 

One the best reminders for me continues to be modifiers.  Their placement, revisions and removal sometimes cause my head to swim.  Trenga gives some fairly concrete examples of what to do if you are like me when you revise.  Or should I say, "if you are like me when you revise, you will be glad to find many clear examples offered by Trenga."

It is important to keep your craft concise.  Trenga has an entire chapter devoted to flushing out vague clauses and replacing them with tantalizing and descriptive clauses that bolster clear subjects.  She also gives examples of weak writing and shows how to tweak things just so, creating more pop from your conflicts, more depth in your prose.  By the time I completed this read, I felt as if I could approach my own writing anew.  It had been a long time since I paused to consider active sentence structure.

Sure there are likely other, more current books out there, but I found The Case of the Misplaced Modifier to be just what I needed as a light refresher.  It also serves as a pretty good reference book for a quick change.  I'm sure we have all come across a sentence or phrase in our writing that doesn't sit quite right.  Trenga's book has afforded me a nose to help sniff out the "culprit" and directions on how to make the necessary corrections.

I give it 4 out of 5 "hoorays!"

Where To Go From Here

Good news!  The last possible publication I sent one of my short stories to has officially rejected me.  The reason why this is cause for celebration is because I am now knee deep in revisions that are leading toward the development of the 'Ignorance Is' project into a book. And, as always, I have found a few new things along the way to researching e-publication marketing in preparation for the change from short story to novel.  I will detail these over the next few blogs; but I wish to share two now.

One of such things is the standard for writing length for the Hugo Awards (see here).  It seems that I only need a mere 40,000 words for the work to be considered a novel in my genre.  No, I am not considering aiming for a Hugo.  At this point, I am simply trying to expand the work so that it fits the category of novel, thus enabling a credible e-publication on Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).  Still, a pipe dream has a tendency to smoke in all directions.

Another thing I have learned is about the craft of story writing.  The devices employed in a short are much different that those perhaps used in a longer work.  For the short, economy if key.  However, in a novel, I am free to give more flavor and texture.  I do not find myself asking "does this directly relate back to my protagonist on the ledge of a building?"  It doesn't have to.  Instead, I can dabble in the emotions of the character, giving her more depth and ennui.  I can stir the back story, motivating the conflict.  I can even add extraneous bits so that my reader doesn't think I am taking them for granted.

So, stay tuned.  I have a story to tell.  And I have just discovered I need more than 7,500 words to properly tell it.

Version 2 of the cover.  Note for those making their own cover: letters must be much more conspicuous than this.

 

WordPress vs. Blogger

I have been asking several people now about blogging for writers.  I have also been following some great blogs on the subject.  I keep hearing the same thing: as a writer, I should be blogging on WordPress.  Now, I am not sure if this holds any water.  I have been blogging for a few years here on Blogger and I have learned a some tricks of the trade just by charting my experiences on running.  Now that I am more purposefully engaged in blogging with the hopes that it will amount to some marketing aid once IGNORANCE IS hits the public, I am looking more seriously at this avenue.  I continue to hear about WordPress.  So, I think some investigation is in order.  I will use the comment section for my findings and I encourage your comments as well.

Good hunting!  Write Now!

ISBN, Not Your Grandmother's Book Number

Have you ever wondered about the process of getting an ISBN?  Well, here's some in-depth information taken from some reputable sources* that will help you on your way:

Why do you need an ISBN?  What purpose will it serve?  And how can you obtain one for your e-book?  These are questions that we all have had to ponder on our way to self-publication.  Fortunately, the process is simple and painless.  Still, anything worth having is worth working for, so here we go...

The International Standard Book Number, or ISBN, is a number that identifies your work from anyone else and their work.  It also uniquely identifies your different works from each other.  For instance, you may have a collection of stories with one ISBN and then later publish one of those same stories as a novella, or vice versa; each separate publication would have its own unique ISBN.  In fact, separate editions will also have separate ISBNs.  Additionally, each format type will have its own ISBN.  This means that a paperback version's ISBN is different from a hardback with the same exact content, title, forward, etc.

In recent years, the ISBN has moved from a 10 digit to a 13 digit number.  This is not important to the content of this thread, but I thought I would mention it in terms of changes in the industry since the mushrooming of e-publications.

In printed books, your ISBN will appear on the back of your book or on the jacket as well as on the copyright page.  The ISBN on the back cover or jacket is represented by a bar code as well as the ISBN in digits preceded by the letters 'ISBN.'  Here's an example:

This is a fictitious example and should in no way be deemed representative of any actual work.  If it does, it is merely a coincidence.

Yes, you have seen this a thousand times before.  But what happens when the publication is exclusively electronic?  Well, as you would imagine, each platform has a different approach.

If you intend to publish on Smashwords, they can issue an ISBN for you.   This defaults them as your publisher, but it doesn't cost anything. It also means you don't have to read any further on this thread.  However, if you are the type of do-it-yourself-writer/publisher that really needs to maintain it all, and you intend to publish to any of other platforms with your own ISBN, read on!

Amazon will also offer to publish exclusively to the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) platform without the use of an ISBN.  They will issue an Amazon Standard Identification Number (or ASIN) which is unique to Amazon but also limits the writer on where she can publish (i.e., KDP has issues of exclusivity that I will cover in another thread).  It is important to note that you can get published on Amazon without an ISBN.  However, if you intend to obtain your own Amazon makes it very easy to enter your already established ISBN as you upload your book.

Barnes and Noble requires an ISBN for tracking their inventory so be prepared to furnish one.

Bowker operates the ISBN database for the U.S.  Here, you can navigate to the self-publishing companies that Bowker has partnered with so that you can find the ISBN package that best fits your needs.  There are also loads of extras you can accomplish with Bowker, including a step-by-step guide to making your e-book into an app.  But for now, we will just focus on getting your ISBN.

The good old fashioned way to get your ISBN was to write to the ISBN Agency and request one (and you still can): 

ISBN Agency
630 Central Avenue
New Providence, NJ 07974
877-310-7333

Nowadays, it is much more efficient to visit www.ISBN.org and follow the prompts that fit your needs.  If you intend to publish in various formats (even eventually) it might be wise to invest in a larger block like the quantity ten ISBN package.  However, for simplicity sake, we will just leave our example as purchasing just the one.  

You can purchase a single ISBN for a current price of $125.  This does not include the bar code generator, but the good news is that bar codes are not necessary for e-books.  It is as simple as following the links on the Bowker hosted page for the ISBN Agency to the application.  Once completed, the wait time for processing is about 2 weeks, but you can use that time to generate hype for your upcoming publication on threads and social media. Don't be shy about this opportunity either.  After all, as a self publisher, you are your own PR and Marketing Rep.  I'll cover more about this in another thread.  But I digress.  

Once the ISBN is issued and your e-book is published, you should report your publication to Bowker for record into the ISBN Agency's database.  In some instances, this might also include free listing in their various directories.  Having an ISBN establishes your e-book's unique content in our ever-shifting world of publications.  It allows for easy submission to the many platforms available.  It also permits you to host your e-book on your own platform (such as a personal website or linked on a social network sites).  Do not underestimate the value of having your own ISBN in this fast-paced publishing environment.  And, you should also give yourself credit for this accomplishment.  You have your own ISBN--a proud moment, indeed!

Then, you're off to the races (so to speak).  Time to start marketing and selling your book.

Write now!


*
The ISBN Agency site: http://www.isbn.org/standards/home/index.asp

Smashwords ISBN Information: https://www.smashwords.com/about/supportfaq#isbn

Barnes and Noble ISBN Information: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/help/cds2.asp?PID=8153#3

Amazon ISBN and ASIN Information: https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=A36BYK5S7AJ2NQ#1-23_Do_I_need_an_ISBN

 

Kindle Singles

I have been researching the wonderful world of possibilities from Kindle Singles.  It seems that the process is not as straight forward as Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).  Yes, you still must format your work according to their guidelines, but instead of directly publishing to their portal, you instead email them your copy.

When Kindles Singles were first launched, the turn-around was pretty quick.  But now, with the onset of the popularity of Kindle Singles, it's not as quick as it once was; nor is getting your single or short published automatic.

Because of this, I am conducting a little experiment.  I am submitting, for consideration, a little piece I wrote called 'Ignorance Is,"  This is a story of a young woman who meets and falls in love with a doctor, agreeing to let him conduct an experiment on her by giving her prosthetic wings.  It is creepy and speculative and has all the elements that are current in today's no-longer-so-clearly-defined horror genre.  I will keep you posted on the progress.

So far, I have the cover:

According to a member of my fiction writers' group, it could use some tweaking (and I agree; I am not in love with the title formatting).  I welcome your comments as well.  

Next, the formatting needs to be spot-on.  As you can imagine, different e-readers will display texts in different ways.  So coming up with a universal format has been interesting between the multiple platforms available now with KDP, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, etc.  So, for simplicity, I am starting the KDP guidelines and going from there.  After all, my goal here is a Kindle Single publication and nothing more (at this point).  I will reconsider other avenues after this little experiment is concluded.

Follow the comments below as I update my readers on my progress.

Write on.  Write now.

Launching!

Here's a place where we can dialogue about the e-publishing world, share our insights and tips, and even offer a little constructive criticism on the writing process as well as the content of our work. 

Originally, I wanted to launch this blog so that I could keep track of my own process--sort of catalog the steps and track them for posterity.  But in doing so, I have encountered so many others who share this path.  So, with a little tweaking and a lot of patience, I have reworked this blog to fit the needs of the many. 

I hope. 

Let's see if this little experiment benefits others as well as me.  This is my goal here.

Write on.  Write now!