Editor Moment . . . Flesh out your scenes

I am in an online critique group and absolutely love the members of this group. In our crit group lately we have been talking about fleshing out scenes. It's something we all need to do from time to time with few exceptions.

I was pondering a little about fantasy writers and how different fantasy is from things like sci-fi. We were talking about how fantasy by nature is longer than other genres. And how sometimes because of pressure to stay under that "expected word count" the fantasy author strips the scene they are writing to the bare bones in order to "fit" that count. Or that the world/story is worthy of nine books and for fear of not selling the entire series they try to cram 3 books into one by again striping the scenes of the details and richness fantasy especially deserves.

Think about it, fantasy is the one genre where you have the pleasure of building worlds and magics and governments etc, etc, etc, with abandon. What's the point of doing all that world building if you can't use it in your book? Whats the point in introdoucing your reader to this world you've worked so hard on, if you fly past it on your way through the story.

My advise to any writer whatever genre is to write the best story you can. Granted there are rules you must follow. But if you write a wonderful rich book with scenes with a little meat on them you have a much better story and a better chance of getting published EVEN if the story has many more sequels. Don't short-change yourself, your characters, or your readers by writing less of what needs to be told.

Write the book that needs to be written. If it's too long, split it in half. If you have a lifetime of stories to tell, decide what parts of the story need to be told and expound on those and let the rest go. I promise the reader wont miss what you MC had for breakfast every morning or what kind of underwear he wears or if he wears any at all.

While publishing guidelines are there for a reason, there should be no stopping the writer from creating something rich, fleshy, and wonderful. I guess what I am trying to say is, write the story you want to write, the story your reader deserves from you.

Editor Moment. . . . . Following Through On Your Plot Promises

Another thing I have learned through the editing process is that if and when you promise your reader something, which is called a plot promise, you better show them that thing you promised.

For example, throughout the first three chapters my MC is talking about taking his wife to Tahiti. The next chapter I mention that they went and had a good time. My editor didnt like this. They wanted me to write the scene. I admit I was just being lazy and didn't want to write it so I didn't. When my editor asked me to write it, I did as they asked and found that not only did the scene turn out really awesome but it actually became my plot point #1 when I shifted the focus of the book from one plotline to another.

Another example is later in the book the MC meets up with a friend and the editor didnt know who it was. What I didn't realize is the chapter where I introdouce the friends is one of the chapters that I cut before my editor ever saw the MS. I will go back in a previous chapter and (re) introdouce them so the reader knows who they are.

The point of this post is this, If you are going to talk about something especially more than once you better include it in the story because you have piqued the readers interest and they want to "see" it.

Think about it. If Harry Potter had a twin sister and she was only mentioned a few times in the first book and then disappeared. You, the reader, would want to know what happened with her in the other six books.

When you include something of importance is a good idea to write it down. Even if it's a Post-It-Note on your forehead. I write all over my plot notes, or leave myself notes somewhere on my MS or computer, at least it keeps me almost allways on the mark. Reread your finished MS with plot promises in mind, and let others who arent as familliar with the story read it. They will be able to see things you can't see by being farther away from the story than you are.

Editor Moment. . . . . Repetitive words

I have been working with an awesome nameless editor for months now as I work on my manuscript. My freind at 700blankpages suggested to me that I should tell all of you what I am learning as I edit my book.

So from now on as I have a spare moment or a profound lesson, I will post them here under the title Editor Moment.

So now for the first lesson I learned from my editor. Word repetition.

In my third chapter I sent my main characters to a wedding. While the image of this huge luxury home in my head was amazing and lavishly decorated, it was hard to describe. I saw pale wood floors and dark wood furniture and banisters. Every surface was covered with white flowers candles tuelle and pictures of the happy couple. The smell of the home was also something I wanted to describe, heady with flower smells.

Going back to the chapter in editing mode, I found that when I had an object or image on my mind, I tend to repeat it. For example, in one paragraph I had the word FLOWER over six times. So in editing I had to rewrite the entire description so I did not have as many repetitive words.

I have found as I have worked through the chapters that my tendency to see repeat words has increased, and my tendency to repeat words in rough draft drastically diminished.