Editing check list

H. Flashman

thats a good list thanks eileen

desolate sun

EileenG wrote: »

A few things to look out for when editing, in no particular order.

Speech tags: Use "said" or "asked" or "yelled" or "whispered". Not "quipped", "postulated", "elaborated", "huffed". Said and asked are invisible to the reader, they don't notice how often you use them. A long list of synonyms just reminds the reader that this is a story.

Adjectives and Adverbs: They don't add to your story. In English adjectives go before the noun, so the more you have, the harder you are making life for your reader. For instance, take "The tall, dark haired, firm-jawed, blue-eyed schoolgirl". By the time you come to the noun, you have to go back and reassess all the adjectives to form your mental picture, so you've come to a stop in your reading and are less inclined to read on. Pick the noun that says what you mean. Instead of "a big house" try "mansion". Instead of "A small horse", try "pony".

Same with adverbs. Sometimes they are necessary, but when possible, find a strong verb that doesn't require an adverb. Rather than "He ran quickly", try "He sprinted".

Redundancies: "He shrugged his shoulders." What else could he shrug? "He shrugged" is enough.
"She thought to herself." Who else could she think to?
"He nodded his head" As opposed to his toes?

Non-words: Very, Absolutely, Completely, Totally, Visibly. They don't do anything except increase your word count.

I really need to get this off my chest. Eileen, this is your post and I wholeheartedly agree, yet your novel's first page is littered with these mistakes. The first line of your novel contains an adverb and it's redundant at that. There's also a bit of telling going on too.

I would have no problem with all that, but I've seen a couple of your posts where you are offering to read over the opening chapters of some newbie writer and telling them if it's ready for publication.
You said in one particular post that you don't hold back on criticism. I really have a problem with this, since you're not exactly practising what you preach.

And before anybody says I'm jealous, I'm not. I wish Eileen well.

EileenG

I know. The reason I put that list together was because when I was doing the paperback edit, I found I was doing all those things and didn't even notice before. That list was originally for me, to remind me to stop that crap.

When I offered to read over opening chapters, it wasn't with any intention of doing a line edit. God knows, my own spelling is so crap there's lots of things I wouldn't notice. But what I am pretty good at is knowing if the novel is opening in the right place. You can sell a novel with a few unnecessary adjectives or pov shifts, but not one which begins three chapters before the action starts.

pickarooney

Any tips/tools for consistency checking? I somehow only realised at the last minute that due to a fair bit of chopping and changing I had a character in two different countries at once! I need a surefire way of picking up on less flagrant continuity errors.

EileenG

That one catches me too. I had one character who had lived an extra two days over everyone else.

I've heard it's a good idea to keep a notebook beside you as you write every scene, and note down things like where they are, how much time has passed, what bits of backstory you have seeded etc.