Freelance Writer and Social Worker

8 Tips for Editing Your Fiction Manuscript

I love being in that writing space when the words just flow. Sometimes it feels as if these characters given birth to by my brain have taken on a full life of their own and want to tell their own story.

And I'm cool with that. I know they usually do a better job than I do of defining their relationships and pulling all the loose plot ends together.

I have learned one thing, though. During the first draft, I send my inner critic on a paid vacation and let everything pour onto the paper. Then I set it aside for a few weeks.

When I'm ready to start editing and revising my work, I humbly ask my inner critic to come home and take over the process--and she is more than happy to do so. These eight steps she insists on following add strength and clarity to my fiction manuscripts. Maybe they will help yours, too.

1. Use a timeline. I use a piece of notebook paper, but one of my best friends who writes epics gets an entire roll of brown packing paper, spreads it out across the living room floor, and goes to town. A timeline can help you figure out what happens when in the story. If you jump around from scene to scene like I do, it can help you avoid embarrassing mistakes like Cousin Matilda, who tragically perished in an accident on Halloween, calmly joining the family for Christmas dinner.

My Favorite Freelance Writing Posts

Isn't it a shame that when you write a blog some of your best posts slip away into obscurity. (Then, of course, there are the posts that truly should slip away into obscurity, but that's a different story.)

Anyway, this week I was feeling a little nostalgic, and maybe a little lazy as well, and decided to rerun some of my favorite posts from the last year or so. If you missed the originals, I hope you'll find something amusing or something informative in these selections.

1. 25 Strategies for Smashing Through Writer's Block. No, I'm not going to take the time to argue about whether there is any such thing as writer's block. Whatever we want to call it, most of us have had times when we're simply stuck, and these tips can help.

2. Freelance Writers: 7 Tips for Caring for Your Hands, Wrists, and Arms. We may not be professional athletes, but we still rely on our bodies to make a living. If you aren't already, start treating those hands with kid gloves.

3. Dear Debra - A Letter to My Sixteen Year Old Self. My personal favorite blog posts. I just wish someone really had been around when I was 16 to give me that advice!

9 Pieces of Writing Advice I Wish I'd Never Heard

When you're considering a writing career, everyone wants to give you advice or tell you horror stories about the friend of a friend who tried to become a writer and ended up starving to death in her lonely apartment.

Aside from the scary stories (and I suspect they're told by the same people who like to regale first-time mums with tales of agonizing labor), I think most of what is said is well-intentioned. But is it accurate? Not always. There are a few pieces I wish I'd never heard. Here are some of my favorites.

1. Don't Quit Your Day Job

While it's true that you don't want to go rushing into the literary world without a plan, it's also true that if you want to live as a writer, you're going to have to make the plunge someday. Don't spend precious time waiting for the exact minute when all the stars are aligned and the wind is coming from the right direction. If you must follow some advice, why not make it the advice from the Broadway musical, Wicked? Just close your eyes...and leap!

2. Write What You Know

Do you know that Edgar Rice Burroughs, the creator of the Tarzan stories, never once set foot in Africa? For that matter, it's a pretty sure bet that he never went to Mars, either. And J.K. Rowling certainly didn't visit Hogwarts before her writing brought it into existence. Writing only what you know is dull. Write what you're passionate about and what you're eager to learn. Write the story you must tell. Everything else will work itself out.

3. Don't Tell Anyone About Your Project

It's true that some writers spend so much time telling others about their work that they never put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and create anything. But as long as you're writing, don't be shy about letting others know about your project. You never know when someone else may help you come up with the perfect plot twist or provide information on a subject you don't know much about.

Fiction Writing: Why Two Sets of Eyes Are Better Than One

After sending out a few manuscripts with embarrassing errors, I promised myself that I would never again hit the "send" key until at least one of my beta readers had looked at the manuscript and assured me the piece was good to go.

At first, I felt kind of silly about needing an editor--after all, I am an editor!

But after writing a manuscript, editing it, rewriting it, re-editing it, and so forth, it isn't long before all the words start to look like one big blur. They don't even resemble English anymore. That's when I pass the manuscript on to friends so that they can work their magic.

The errors they find are usually small and easily corrected--a typo here, a case of verb confusion there. But there have been instances when a beta reader has saved me some truly cringe-worthy moments. On reader--bless her!--caught the fact that one of my female characters had been pregnant for nearly two years straight. Another pointed out that my female protagonist "Kerry" became "Carrie" about two-thirds of the way through my story.

Finding a Beta Reader

It's great if you have a nearby friend who's willing to edit your work. If you can't locate anyone locally, perhaps you can find a writing group or a critique buddy online. If you strike out there, you may decide that hiring an experienced fiction editor is worth your money.

For instance, I work with writers who are just starting out as well as with those who have been in the business for years and just want a quick once-over before submitting their manuscripts.

To meet the needs of all my clients, I offer two levels of editing.

Writing Through Depression

Some mental health professionals refer to depression as the "common cold" of mental illnesses, not because it is not serious--30% who carry the diagnosis of depression will attempt suicide and about half that number will succeed--but because if affects so many people. In any given year, some 10% of Americans, or 24 million people, suffer from depression.

I carry a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Although it is fairly well controlled with medication, I know this means that there will be times when writing seems like the easiest thing in the world. The words flow, editors are thrilled with what I produce, and I can work around the clock without feeling the pain. I also know, however, that there will be other times, times when I can't motivate myself to do anything but stare at the keyboard, times when one task feels overwhelming and two feels impossible. In other words, times when I am clinically depressed.

Unfortunately, my financial obligations do not follow my bipolar schedule. The rent comes due on the first of the month whether I'm manic, depressed, or a happy medium. The companies who supply my utilities still expect to be paid, as do my creditors. And my editors just want the copy when I promised them they would have it.

In order to stay solvent, I've had to learn several tricks for writing through my depressive episodes. I'm sharing them here in the hopes that if they work for me, they might work for other depressed writers as well.

Stick to Your Schedule

If you usually sit down every night at 8:00 PM to write, you should be at your keyboard on the nights you are depressed, too. You may feel so bad that you won't get anything written, but you certainly won't get anything written if you don't bother to show up.

Crop Your To-Do List

This is not the time for an overwhelming three-page list of everything you ever wanted to accomplish as a writer. Think about what is due tonight. Think about what is due tomorrow. Make those items your priority. The rest can wait.

Force Yourself to Write the First Word

Make yourself put your fingers on the keyboard and start typing, even if you "know" what you're typing is sheer, unadulterated crap. Crap can be edited, but there's not a whole lot you can do with a blank page.

Don't Destroy Anything You've Written

During an episode of depression, I once shredded the entire first half of a novel I was working on. I also destroyed the back-up copy. When I came out of my depression a few weeks later and realized that the novel was actually pretty good, it was too late to save it.  

Edit Triumphantly

Don't be discouraged if you have to edit a lot of what you wrote when you were in the doldrums. At least you wrote it in the first place, and I've always thought editing was a hundred times easier than facing a screen with nothing on it.

Reward Yourself After a Writing Session

One of the hallmarks of depression is a lack of interest in activities you usually enjoy, so your reward may just be collapsing into bed and watching a South Park marathon. If that's what feels good to you in the moment, it's the perfect reward. Enjoy. You've earned it.

Seek Treatment

If your symptoms last for more than two weeks, or if you are having thoughts of suicide, see a mental health professional: a social worker, a counselor, a psychologist, a psychiatrist. There are many interventions that can shorten and lessen the intensity of a depressive episode. The faster you get help, the faster you'll feel better, and the faster you can return to being the fantastic writer you know you are.   

5 Dumb Mistakes I Made as a Newbie Writer (and What I Learned from Them)

Mistakes are a valuable part of learning. Everybody knows that. I've said it to clients hundreds of times and heard it from my own mentors at least that often. It's good that I can think of mistakes in a positive light, because I've made some humdingers, especially when I was first starting my freelance writing career.

Another good thing about mistakes is that you can learn from someone else's goofs, thus saving yourself the misery of having to make the error yourself. That's why I'm providing a list of the five dumbest things I did as a newbie writer. Maybe it will help some of you avoid these freelance writing pitfalls, thus freeing you up to make new mistakes to blog about. So, here goes:

To Phone or Not to Phone

Years ago, I published my young adult novel, Visiting Grandma, through Booklocker. Booklocker has an interesting philosophy. They are a small, family-owned company, and they do not communicate with writers via telephone. All communications are handled through email.

Although there were times when I would have liked to hear a reassuring voice on the other end of the phone line, I swallowed my apprehensions and signed on with Booklocker. I've never regretted it for an instant. Every time I emailed them with a question or concern, a helpful response was lodged in my email inbox almost before I could hit the "send" key.

When I began my freelance writing business, I tried to emulate Booklocker's philosophy by limiting my contact with clients to emails only.

Five Books Every Freelance Writer Should Have

As a lifelong book lover, I'm always looking to add to my collection of books about writing. Some of my finds have been incredibly helpful in teaching me spelling, grammar, punctuation, the art of fiction writing, business skills, and time management skills. Other books that I've bought with high hopes have been a waste of time and money.

If I had to pare down my extensive writing library to just five books, however, here are the ones that I couldn't bear to give up.

Honest But Kind

One of the very first clients who hired me to edit her novel-length manuscript sent me an email before she forwarded her prose to me. "Be honest," she wrote, "but kind. Be kindly honest."

Her words touched me deeply and reminded me of just how much courage it requires to send a little piece of your soul to a stranger for a critique. It's been years--no, decades--since I wrote my first (unpublished) novel. I still remember pouring my heart into it, as first-time novelists often do. I trembled at the thought of someone reading those words and finding them inadequate or, worse, shallow and laughable.