Why 50 Pages?

A popular post from May 2010

by Annette Lyon

"I want PEG to edit my entire novel."

When we hear that, of course we're excited. We love what we do, and we love helping writers. But instead of telling the client to send the whole puppy over, we usually request the first 50 pages, or sometimes only 30.

Clients' natural reaction is, "Um, why?"

After all, they're planning on using our services for the entire manuscript; why not send the whole thing at once?

For that matter, some people have even wondered if we're nuts based on a pure business perspective: Why in the world wouldn't we willingly take on 350 pages to edit (and charge for) and instead settle for 50?

So here's the scoop . . . and why it's in everyone's best interest that we generally function this way.

Case in point:

(This really happened recently, but it's also happened more times than I can count.)

PEG often gives free 10-page edits so the client can get an idea of whether we're a good fit. I did one such 10-page edit for a client, who then wanted their entire book edited.

GREAT! Right?

The client was instructed to send the next 50 pages. The client was confused. "I said I wanted you to edit the entire book."

The client pushed the issue, but Heather, our fantastic manager, held her ground and had me work on the next 50 pages.

I can honestly say those pages had some great potential. The writer had talent. But yes, it did need a pretty solid edit. There were several sections that needed smoothing out, clarifying, more showing details, and the like, but overall I thought it had some serious promise.

On the other hand, if I'd worked on the whole thing up front, all I would have done is repeat the same commentary and suggestions over and over again.

Almost like, "See the notes on pages 12, 29, 42, and 83. You're doing it again." That kind of redundant advice gets meaningless and wastes everyone's time.

Instead, we aim for the writer to learn how to write better by getting mini lessons through an edit of the first part of their work. Then they can learn how to fix many of the problems throughout the rest.

In the case above, I returned the 50 pages. The client soon e-mailed me back saying that a light bulb had basically gone off. They'd learned so much from the edit on those first pages that now they knew how to write better.

"I'm going to revise the rest before sending it back to you for editing."

Bingo.

That's exactly why we work this way.

If a writer can be taught how to make their work better simply by getting a detailed, 50-page edit, then they should have that opportunity. We'd hate to have them paying six times the amount to learn the lessons they could have figured out by page 38 of an edit.

After all, the very same beginner mistakes will almost certainly be made throughout the rest of the book. Why pay an editor to fix the same things over and over and over when you now have the ability to do it yourself?

Not only that, but when you're dealing with content edits, if the plot or other major elements have serious issues, there's really no point in editing too far: so much of the book will need to be rewritten that any edits on page 234 won't be relevant anymore.

It's not at all unusual for a writer to get their 50 pages done, go back to revisions, then send the full, revised version. Always, it's a step (or two or three) up from where it would have been had they sent the whole thing in first.

Here's another editing secret:

A single edit can take a book up one level, but it can't take coal and turn it into a diamond. The better a piece is before it reaches an editor's hands, the higher level it'll end up on the other side of the edit.

When an author in this situation rewrites and then sends in the rest of the book for editing, they've brought it to a higher level on their own. That then helps the editor to take the polished version and push it one step above that.

It's amazing to me how well writers learn from getting those initial 50 pages back. It's as if their writer toolbox is suddenly filled up with shiny, new tools. They're able to both see the flaws in their work more easily and know what to do about them.

In the end, not only does the writer get a much bigger bang for their buck this way, but their skill level for future writing goes up right along with the quality of the one piece they had edited.

Everyone wins.

How to Take a Critique

A popular post from June 2011. 

by Annette Lyon

As many of our regular readers know, I've been part of a great critique group for a long time (since January of 2000). I've been published for 9 of those years, and I've been editing professionally for at least five of those. It's safe to say I've been on both sides of the "get your work torn apart" process.

With that in mind, here are a few guidelines for when you get feedback, whether it's from a beta reader, a critique group member, or an editor.

1) No matter what anyone says, it's still your book.

No one's opinion is law. Therefore: you don't have to change anything you don't want to.

Sometimes that realization is rather freeing.

It's also a pain in the neck, because things are so subjective in the arts. At times it would be nice to have a formula: X + Y = success! It's not quite like that.

That said:

2) Consider each piece of feedback seriously.

Even if you totally disagree with someone's suggestion about changing a section, don't dismiss the idea out of hand. Think about whether they have a valid point. Maybe their fix isn't the best idea, but their diagnosis is right on: something is indeed wrong with the section.

So maybe Mark wouldn't say what the editor suggested, but is there a chance his original dialog was flat or unmotivated? Is pace sagging here? Is that chapter confusing? Sometimes editors are great at spotting problems and suggesting solutions, but it's your job as the writer to figure out the best fix.

3) Don't argue, debate, or defend.

You've asked for (maybe even paid for!) an opinion. If you don't agree with it, fine. But insisting that your reader misread or misinterpreted your work, or insisting it must be this way or the reader is an idiot and missed this or that and here is why? That's not useful. (And it can be insulting; you asked for an opinion and got one.)

Okay, maybe the person is an idiot.

Or . . . maybe your reader missed a big point because you didn't write it effectively.

Figure out which it is, and, if necessary, get back to work. If getting an honest critique or edit stings too much and/or makes you want to whip out your defensive karate moves, there's a chance you're not ready for outside feedback quite yet.

4) A corollary: Just because something "really" is a certain way or "really" happened that way, doesn't mean it'll be believable.

For example: Some time ago, as I prepared to write a scene where a character dies, I read several first-person accounts from people who had loved ones die in similar circumstances. In my scene, I added the kinds of details that really happened to real people.

My critique group got hung up on a few of them because they didn't feel real.

What did I do? I could have insisted that "Some people really do go through it just like this." (And I could have proved it.)

Instead, I recognized that if those details pulled them out of the scene, if the moment didn't ring true, I needed to revise. I found other details (also real) that felt more true and familiar. The result was a much more powerful scene.

5) Don't go back to your editor to answer their "questions."

I put that in quotation marks, because if an editor writes notes like "Where are they?" or "What's the name of that museum?" or "I don't think such a building on that street exists, does it?" the editor is not really asking because they want an answer.

They're asking for the reader's benefit.

The editor is merely pointing out an issue for you as the writer to address: something is confusing, telly, unclear, or unbelievable. The question is a way for the editor to tell you that something isn't working. Questions give you, the writer, a direction to go.

I don't know of a single editor who ever waits for a client to send an email with, "Oh, by the way, the building you asked about is two blocks west of the City Bank on Main Street. It really exists. Here's a Google Map link to prove it."

(Thanks . . . that was totally keeping me up at night . . .)

In my experience, most editors are happy to clarify what they meant by a certain question if you aren't sure what the underlying issue is. But trust me; they aren't expecting you to answer those questions in any place except the actual manuscript, which the editor may never see again.

Answering a question (especially if it's one of those "See? I was right," issues) can rub the wrong way. Which leads to:

5) Resist correcting your editor.

We're human, so yes, we make mistakes, no matter how perfect we try to be. Whether it's a typo or fact we're off on . . . let it go. (Even if the mistake is phrased as a question, as in #4.)

Imagine this scenario (this exact situation hasn't happened, but it hearkens to real events): Your historical novel has a World War I battle and lists it as taking place in 1920. Your editor points out that the war had already ended by that point, with a note along the lines of, "WWI was over by then. I think the final battle was in 1919."

You recheck your facts and realize that whoops, the war was indeed over before 1920. But check it! The war ended in 1918, although the Treaty of Versailles wasn't signed until 1919.

Hah! Your editor was WRONG!

Sure, technically. But here's the deal: Your editor was correct in spotting your error. That's all that matters here. You were saved from looking bad. Returning with "Well, you were wrong too," won't elicit a thank you or warm fuzzies.

6) Have Reasonable Expectations. Or: Apply what you've learned. THEN come back.

Often, we editors get e-mails from clients saying that they learned so much from the 50 pages they had edited, whether it's about showing, exposition, dialog, or something else, and thank you!

We love that kind of feedback; helping writers to improve their work is what we're after.

Next step: apply what you've learned to the rest of the manuscript! Then ask for more editing.

Sometimes a writer wants to hand over 300 pages of a draft, pay for an edit, and end up with gold. That doesn't work. A single edit can take a manuscript only so many steps up. The better a piece is before an editor gets their hands on it, the higher level it'll be at the end of the edit. No matter how great the editor, coal cannot be turned into a diamond. Create a diamond, even in the rough, and the editor may be able to find the right cut and shape for it to sparkle!

This is, as we've mentioned on this blog before, why we often do manuscripts in chunks: it gives the writer the chance to learn from the edits of the early pages and apply those lessons so that later edits will be even more effective.

And finally, because it bears repeating:

No matter what anyone says, it's still your book.

What's everyone's good news?

Once in awhile we need good news.

Yesterday, a client of ours told me that she just got her first request for a "full" from an agent after Julie Wright revamped her query. For more info about the rejection game, read here.

So let us know if you have good news! And, as always, let us know if you have an upcoming release, and we'll post your cover on our blog.

These past couple of months have been extra busy for three of our editors. Annette Lyon, Julie Wright, and Josi Kilpack have all had book releases. Congrats ladies!

Write-a-Thon **NEWS** and Tips

by Annette Lyon

Are you ready for Thursday evening?

You know what I'm talking about, right? The big Precision Editing Group Write-a-Thon!

You know the basics:

• Write for FOUR hours between 4:00 pm and midnight, Thursday, April 8, MDT.
• Enter your start time and beginning word count (if applicable) on the post that will be up then, titled, "The Write-a-Thon Starts Now!"
• Track your 4-hour block (set a timer if you need to so you don't go over).
• Come back and post your finishing time and your total words written during the 4 hours.

PRIZES: So here's the fun part!

• The person who writes the MOST words will receive a $50 gift certificate to Amazon.com OR a 50-page content edit from Precision Editing Group.
• One participant (selected at random) will receive a $30 gift certificate to Amazon.com

PRIZE UPDATE!

To encourage as many people as possible to participate, we've added a third prize, courtesy Pendragon's Bookbinding, who hand-sew blank journals. (Check out their website HERE. Their work really is a nearly lost art.)

One participant, again chosen at random, will win BOTH a copy of my There, They're Their: A No-Tears Guide to Grammar from the Word Nerd AND a hand-bound blank journal from Pendragon's Bookbinding . . . IF . . .

Yes, there's a catch: The journal (a writer's best friend, no?) and my grammar guide will be awarded ONLY if all participants' word counts written during the 4-hour marathon add up to more than 100,000 words.

That means in order for anyone to win a third prize, we need lots of participants!

So spread the word far and wide on your blog, via Twitter, and Facebook! Let's get as many people doing this as we can so someone can win prize #3!

Write-a-Thon TIPS:

I've done a few all-day writing marathons (8-10 hours each), and here are a few things I've learned that can make the time more productive than if you sit down and plunk your fingers on the keyboard cold:

• Think ahead, very specifically, to what you'll be writing. Consider going so far as writing a list of scenes you know are coming. A few key words or a sentence that will trigger your memory is plenty.
• Make your scene list 50% longer than you think it needs to be. This helps in two ways: not only will you have plenty to work with and not run out of material at 3.5 hours, but if you end up stuck on one scene, you can easily abandon it and jump to another one--without losing valuable time trying to work through a block.
• Have snacks and water nearby. You may think you won't need them, but four hours can (actually, WILL) result in brain fry and low blood sugar. Small snacks like cut-up apples, a little container of raisins, something with protein like nuts, or (because who are we kidding) some chocolate can help you keep writing . . . and prevent you from getting up to check the pantry.
• Plan on tiny breaks, then take them, but make them brief. Yes, technically you may lose 5 minutes here and there if you get up to walk around. But I've found that simply pacing the house for a few minutes is enough to get the juices flowing again. It helps your muscles AND your brain unkink, making you more productive when you sit back down (and more than making up for lost minutes).
• Do NOT use breaks for replenishing snacks. Mini breaks are meant to get your brain and body back into gear. If you spend them staring into the fridge, you'll not only get sidetracked, but your brain won't be taking the pit stop it needs (instead, it'll be contemplating salami versus bologna, Monterey jack versus cheddar).
• Write with a buddy. As long as the two of your are both committed to writing and not chatting, a buddy can keep you on track. Hearing another person's keyboard clicking away can be just enough to keep your fingers going (much like having a buddy in a race can keep you taking the next step and the next).

I can't wait to get started on my write-a-thon, and I hope we have lots of participants.

Good luck, everyone! Let's crack 100,000 together!

Recent Releases by Editors

As a reminder, if any of our "followers" have a book published, we'd be happy to post the good news here! One thing that is unique about Precision Editing Group is that all of our editors are published writers. So we really understand the challenges of writing, editing, and publishing.

This summer, Julie Wright's book Eyes Like Mine hit shelves. A YA novel about a 17-year old's journey of using the past to meet her present challenges. Congrats, Julie!

Also, Josi Kilpack, had a book released recently. English Trifle is the second in the Sadie Hoffmiller culinary mystery series. Delicious. Congrats, Josi!

Fall 2009 Writers Conferences

Writers conferences are a great way to network with writers, agents, editors, and to learn the most up-to-date information about the publishing industry. Not to mention fine-tuning your craft.

Various PEG editors will be teaching workshops at the following Writers' Conferences this fall:

The League of Utah Writers: 2009 Conference
September 18-19, 2009: The Homestead Resort in Heber, Utah
(Lu Ann Staheli and Heather Moore)

The Book Academy: A conference for Writers and Readers
September 24, 2009: Utah Valley University, Orem, Utah
(Annette Lyon, Josi Kilpack, and Heather Moore)

THE Teen Writers Conference

Precision Editing Group is proud to be a sponsor of the first Teen Writers Conference held in Utah.

Saturday, June 6, 2009
Weber State University

Ages 13-19

Registration Information:
http://www.teenwritersconference.com/

Conference Chair: Josi S. Kilpack
Contact: info@teenwritersconference.com

Parental Permission form required for ages 13–17
$39.00 Registration fee (includes lunch)
Enter the Writing Contest!

Congrats Josi & Annette!!

To Our BLOG Followers: We'd be happy to post a congrats and a cover of your book when you have a book release! Keep us posted!


With that in mind: Congrats to two of our senior editors, Josi and Annette!


Each of them had a book come out recently.



Josi's Lemon Tart was released January 2009:











Annette's Tower of Strength came out in March 2009:

Free Writers Conference in Utah

Life, The Universe, and Everything Symposium on Science Fiction & Fantasy

February 19-21, 2009

BYU--Provo, Utah

Presenters include:
Brandon Mull (Fablehaven series)
Tracy Hickman (Dragonlance series)
Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn trilogy)
Jessica Day George (Dragon Slippers)
James Dashner (The 13th Reality)


and our own Julie Wright will be presenting!

More information here.

Five Tips to Improve Your Writing

by Lu Ann Staheli

I’ve been working as an editor now for a long time, first with students at school, but more recently I’ve returned to editing manuscripts for local publishers. As I’ve been working on the most recent projects, I’ve started to keep a list of suggestions that would help the authors improve the flow and content of their stories. Each of these is a simple fix, yet applying them could make a huge difference in the quality of writing, and improved quality means a better reading experience for your audience.

1. Use the Natural Order for Dialogue Tags

“He said” is the natural order of things and should be used whenever possible. Lately I’ve read three manuscripts where the author has elected to use “said he,” every time. Although an occasional use of this order works, using it too often makes the reader begin to focus on the tag and not the dialogue, the place where the focus should be. In an effort to avoid the same-old-same-old, authors tend to let the pendulum swing too far in the opposite direction, thinking their new sentence structure will seem fresh and interesting. Instead, it feels awkward and annoying. My philosophy of writing is: Never annoy your reader. If your reader become too annoyed, they will no longer be your reader, and in the publishing world, that’s the last thing you want them to do.

2. Stop Telling Me How to Feel

Although it is important for your reader to experience a sense of place and character, adding a tag or beat that tells them how the character speaks easily becomes distracting. Words or phrases such as laughed, with a smile, in a serious tone, or asked happily are all examples of the author telling the audience. A better way is to strengthen the dialogue itself, so there is no doubt in the reader’s mind how the character feels when they say these words. Of course, an occasional directive may be needed, but most of the time these tags and beats can go.

3. Echoes are for Mountain Tops, Not Fiction

If you are in the habit of letting your characters echo or question everything that is said to them, you need to stop. When new ideas are thrown at a character, it is likely they will want to know more, but instead of repeating the key word from the previous dialogue, give them a question that covers new ground. Insist those characters listen the first time, then build upon the information they have been given. Stand-alone questions like what and huh are wasted words, something most novelists really can’t afford.

4. Put Your Dialogue Tags on a Diet

When you were in grade school, you probably had a teacher who insisted that you use a variety of words to replace said. It’s great that you know all those words, but in this case, your teacher was wrong. Dialogue tags need to be invisible. They are only there as place markers, a way for your reader to know who is speaking during a conversation with two or more characters. Keep your tags as bland as possible. Use said, whispered, and asked, always things a speaker can actually do with words. If you want to add a little spice, you may do so, but don’t change dialogue tags every time the character speaks. As a matter of fact, see how many times you can get away without using them at all.

One way to do this is to know how to use a beat, a descriptive phrase that also adds sense of place. Recently I edited a manuscript that used the following tags on a single page: said, questioned, replied, asked, replied, answered, said, said, questioned, answered, laughed. Not only were most of them too heavy, but the repetition of those heavier words stood out like an elephant in a group of penguins. An occasional beat like this might have worked better: “He could hardly keep the laugher from bursting through his words.”

5. Stop Beating the Dead Horse

Once you established a point, get on with it. Develop the information more if you need to, but don’t continue to tell us the same thing, just in new words. This might be harder for you to recognize in your own work than the other points I’ve made. Ask your trusted readers—the ones who see your manuscript before it goes to an editor—to look for times you’ve gone too far in making a statement. Sure, it might be significant to your story that the audience understands how handsome a character is, that another one is a klutz, and that they each have things they want, but give us credit for being able to remember that from the things they do and say, without you, the author, reminding us numerous times per page.

Final Words

These are the kinds of errors that are easy to make as we write with the muse. They are also corrections that are easy to do. Sometimes we need the help of other people to recognize we have fallen into their use, but most often, we can find them in our own work. Learning to write well requires constant work; each new piece brings its own challenges, but when we pay attention to detail and watch our writing improve, the rewards make all that work worthwhile.

101 Best Websites for Writers

by Precision Editing Staff

If you are currently submitting your novel or non-fiction piece, you are probably reading everything you can get your hands on about writing, editing, and finding that publisher or agent. On this blog, we frequently recommend or refer to Writer's Digest--a magazine and on-line newsletter that contains valuable and up-to-date information about the publishing industry (kind of like this blog . . .).

Recently, Writer's Digest posted the top 101 Best Websites for Writers. So your job researching the market just got a little easier.

Enjoy!

And, if you feel so inclined, you can nominate our Writing On the Wall blog for next year by emailing writersdig @fwpubs.com with “101 Best Websites” as the subject (deadline is January 1, 2009).

The Benefit of Multiple Opinions

by Annette Lyon

I've said it many times: The single best thing I ever did for my writing was get into an excellent critique group. It gives me the feedback I need to know whether I'm getting close to the mark or whether I'm totally off track.

As you seek feedback, keep one very important thing in mind:

Don't rely on one opinion.

Feedback from one person isn't enough, no matter how good the writer, no matter how experienced or excellent they are.

Here's why: Writing is subjective. There isn't just one right answer. Surrendering to one person's opinion might not be the best way to go.

What if you relied so heavily on one opinion that you overhauled your entire manuscript . . . only to discover after the fact that your book was actually better before your massive revision?

Or what if your original manuscript did need a big revision . . . but in a totally different direction than your only reader suggested?

My critique group is composed of published and award-winning writers who know their stuff. But even they sometimes disagree about whether something should be changed or whether a story element is working. While I usually take their advice (they are frighteningly good at what they do), I've ignored suggestions from every single one of them.

Usually (but not always) that's when the group is split on an opinion, and I take the majority's view to heart. But what if I had only gotten one opinion? What if I relied so heavily on one person that I missed out on the (even better) insights I could have gotten from others?

If you don't have a critique group like mine, don't panic. You still need outside feedback, so seek it out. Just do so from multiple sources.

For example, attend writers conferences and writers meetings, such as local chapters of SCBWI, RWA, and other organizations. Network with other writers and exchange contact information, then swap manuscripts and critique one another.

Go online to find online writing support groups. Many offer critique exchanges. Don't worry that you don't know how to give a good critique; you learn how by doing it. The more you read with a critical eye, the better you'll get at offering helpful advice and at finding weak spots in your own work.

When you're ready, consider having a professional look at it (like one of the editors from Precision Editing Group).

Just be sure to give your work out to multiple sources for feedback. If one source suggests major surgery, hold off and get a second opinion before putting your book under the knife. If sources #2 and #3 agree with #1, then maybe your manuscript really could use some time on the operating table. But what if #2 and #3 agree with one another . . . in disagreeing with #1?

You'll never please every reader, and you shouldn't try to. But the more eyes that look at your work, the wider the perspective and opinions will be. That means your chances will go up that you'll hit closer to the bull's eye with what you're hoping to achieve.

And isn't that every writer's goal?

Happy Holidays!

Remember to take notes when visiting the relatives this holiday season. They'll make great characters in your next book.

We'll be back soon. In the meantime, check out the latest Monday Mania.

Have a fabulous holiday!

Meet PEG

By Josi S. Kilpack If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you have likely picked up on who we are; Precision Editing Group, but you can call us PEG. Not only do we give free advice, reminders, tips, and tricks on writing and editing, but you can send us the first 30 pages of your manuscript and we'll read and evaluate it for free as well. The evaluation consists of our opinion on whether we feel you need a content, line or combination edit and we'll give you a price quote at that time. We'll also give you feedback on those 30 pages, pointing out any problems we see, specifying the type of editing you can expect from the rest of your book. When we send it back to you, you decide if you're ready to have the rest of your manuscript edited. You owe us nothing. If you decide you don't need our services, no problem, if you decide you need to do another rewrite, that's fine too. There are no hard feelings if you don't pursue a full edit, otherwise it would be silly for us to offer the free evaluation.

All that is WHAT we do, but that's only part of the equation. Why do we do it?

Heather Moore is the owner of PEG, she's the business mind and the visionary. She came to each of us and asked us to join her company. I point this out to address any concerns that we all just thought this up together and that it was no based on our own individual skills with editing. We are here because Heather knows us, we've edited for her, and for others, and she wanted us to join her team. I considered it a great compliment and we will likely add other skilled editors as the need increases.
The reason we all agreed to join PEG isn't because we don't have better things to do with our time, some of us are employed full-time, all of us are mother's and wives, and each of us are always writing something. We aren't looking for something to fill our extra moments. But what we are looking for is an opportunity to give other writers what we have given to one another--objective feedback so as to make your book the very best it can be. It has been a priceless gift for each one of us to get that kind of feedback, and we are now able to extend that to other writer's.

Not everyone feels they need to hire an outside editor, some people have friends that will do it for free, some people feel they know enough on their own. They could be right, but if you get 30 pages evaluated for free, why not give it a shot?

I know that I personally HAVE to have someone else read my work. I have not only used friends (like the other contributors to PEG) but I have paid an editor for my last four novels. I want what I hand in to be in it's absolute best dress when it makes it's debut on the publisher's desk.

So, bring em on. Let PEG tell you what she thinks. You don't have to do it, but at least you'll know.

(My apologies for posting early--I'll be driving across the Nevada desert tomorrow)