Take Your Writing to the Next Level: Perfectionism

I learned something all over again the other day.

Sometimes I have to be dissatisfied with my work
in order to
take it to the next level.

That’s right. Sometimes that annoying little editor perfectionist b*tch that hangs out over my right shoulder… is okay. A little harsh, yeah, of course. But sometimes that mean hag is right. Sometimes her driving criticism is for my own good and I should listen.

And especially when I am doing something difficult. That’s when I really need to listen to her spurring me on so I don’t quit or do things half-butted.

So, what was I doing when this nugget hit me? I was working on organizing some of the information I have on my It’s All Kid’s Play website (check it out–I’m done!!!! (Well, mostly. Still some tweaking and images to add.) Tell me what you think. Does it need something? Do you like it? Feel free to pass the word on about it if you are so inclined).

I was trying to figure out an easy way for people to find the information (crafts and activities) on each page without a ton of scrolling. I have hundreds of activities for kids on the site and around 30 pages, so most pages have about 10-20 items per page. But that’s a lot of scrolling when each activity or craft has anywhere from 0-15 lines of text after them. I tried drop down menus within the paragraphs–too much work for the reader. I tried columns, but the irregularity of the paragraphs looked odd. I tried read more links–too much work. I experimented again and again and put in hours I didn’t have–damn that b*tch, but she was right again and again. It just simply wasn’t good enough. Why go to all this effort if I wasn’t going to be truly satisfied?

And so I kept trying. Kept working. Kept getting harangued by that snot on my shoulder. Eventually I came up with a solution that isn’t too bad. (I hope!)

It’s the same with writing. When I get to the hard slogging, I tend to buck and balk. Hey! I just spent two precious weeks on that scene, what do you mean you think I should take it out? Are you nuts??? And you want me to try something completely new? How much time do you think I have?

But she’s right. When she’s the loudest and most annoying, and I buck at her advice–that’s when she’s right about the most important things and I should shut the heck up and listen.

How about you? Do you ever balk at your internal editor? Did you listen to her/him and find they were right after all (and it was worth the grief)?

Stop the Edit Insanity!: Draft Read Throughs and How Your Ereader Can Save the Day!

In the past, whenever I tried to do a read-through of a story draft, I end up in Problemville due to several commonly held writerly personality issues.

Note: You may not be familiar with the names of these personality/behaviour issues as they often go undiagnosed, and therefore unheard, however, their descriptions may ring some bells–particularly if you are a writer or live with a writer.

This photo has very little to do with these editing “illnesses,” but it’s cute, and well, the cat’s expression kind of goes with how I feel when thinking of these issues.

TooCheapitis: Characterized by a cheapness that will inhibit the effectiveness of the writer’s editing efforts and often will cost them an inordinate amount of time in order to save a pittance, or to create less waste. You may notice this ‘illness’ most when a writer comes to the editing stages and needs to print their manuscript in order to see the numerous flaws than are ‘hidden’ on the screen. Basically, this is characterized by an unwillingness to print off hundreds of pages of a story that they know they will quickly read, then immediately shred since the quick read-through will highlight the multitude of issues/errors/omissions within the story that need changing/fixing/removing and/or improving (as is the quick read-through’s purpose). So, while the benefit to printing off all these pages is immensely valuable, the writer is unable to overcome TooCheapitis in order to edit in a manner that is the most effective.

MustEdititis: A very rampant plague that is characterized by the intense compulsion it creates in a majority of professional writers. For example, whenever faced with a subpar sentence, weak word, typo, a truly shoddy paragraph, or screwed-up chapter, the affected writer feels the distinct urge/need/undeniable compulsion to tweak, slash, delete, rewrite, fix, and generally make over whatever they have just read. Every time. Even if it slows them down, is not the read-through’s intended purpose, and their action knowingly throws them off their quick read-through which is being done in order to gain a feel for the story’s flow.

Until recently, there was no known cure for these two illnesses. However, it has been recently discovered that doing read-throughs on ereaders (rather than paper) negates the effects of both TooCheapitis (assuming the writer has managed to overcome TooCheapitis at some point in order to purchase an ereader) as well as MustEdititis.

Doing a quick read-through of a manuscript is a valuable editing step for writers who have concerns about story flow, pacing, as well as to reacquaint themselves with how the story’s plot is progressing. Here is a brief list of some of the beneficial side effects experienced by writers who use an ereader cure for their TooCheapitis and MustEdititis:

• Readeritis: Writers actually read their story like it is a story and therefore, experience it like a reader.
• BigPictureitis: Writers are able to see the big picture stuff as MustEdititis no longer causes them to stop and fix ‘small picture stuff,’ thus allowing their editing brain to get a better feel for pacing, plot progression, etc. Writers are then able to see things they normally wouldn’t be able to.
• HaveGotitis: Writers are less likely to end up utterly despising their story as they are more likely to forgive the small errors/omissions/run on sentences/flatness/excessive telling/poor sentence structure/etc. since they are keeping their their minds on the ‘big’ story. In other words, writers are able to see what they have and not what they don’t have.
• Workimgitis: Writers get a better feel for their characters and what is working in their story.
• KeepGoingitis: Writers are not tempted to stop and change every little thing that isn’t up to snuff.
• TimeSaveritis: It takes less time. (And editing is a slow process, so wherever you can save time–awesome!)
• Friendlinessitis: It’s more reader friendly–reading 400 pages of gook on one’s computer is never that much fun.
• EcoFriendlyitis: The writer is less likely to get paper cuts or worry about destroying five forests in order to get their story perfect.
• Brevititis: The writer is less tempted to make 80 million notes to themselves. (They might be tempted to write 80 quick ones instead.) If the writer does make notes to themselves, they are brief, general notes written on the fly that are less likely to fence them in creativity-wise when it comes to finding a fix-it-solution later on.
• Noticeitis: Writers who make brief notes throughout (rather than succumb to MustEdititis) are more likely to notice if the same ‘issues’ are coming up time and again. throughout.
• Keepitis: Writers making notes are less likely to accidentally change or remove something in an early chapter that they later discover was intrinsically important.
• Consistentitis: Changes made based on notes rather than on a read-through are more likely to be consistent across the whole story as well as with the story’s voice, pacing, and overall tone.

How Does That Happen?: Obvious Errors

I was reading a really great book the other day. (Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford.) Seriously, a great story based around the Japanese internment during WWII, teenage love, culture, family, and so much more. The problem was… one small little thing. It is 1984 and the main character’s grown son (just finishing college) decides to track down his dad’s long-long love. Great! However, he uses his computer. Really? Commodores who still needed bootstrapping back then could find someone who has been lost for, what, 40 years? Wow. And the thing was that everyone in my book club noticed this. How does this happen? This manuscript went through the author’s edits (and maybe even a critique group), his agent, his publishing editor, and maybe even some family members. How did this not get caught? Was this a last minute change and everyone forgot that ‘current’ time in the novel was actually 1984? Or was ‘current’ time actually 1994 and then at the last minute got changed to 1984 and this once-correct fact slipped by?

Why do I bring this up? Because weeks later… it still scares me. It is one tiny thing, but it can throw the whole novel and all the painstaking research into question. I trust that the rest of the novel is accurate–because it rocks and feels so very real–but the fact that one slip up can carry through… well, as a writer I know it is just a matter of time before I make a mistake like that. In fact, I know I will because I have already caught mistakes that I have unwittingly made. How can we not? I’m simply lucky in that they haven’t been published. (Who’d a thunk I’d be referring to my unpublished status as lucky, eh?)

Do you have a ‘big fear’ when it comes to your writing?

Edits As a Form of Self-Abuse

That’s right. I said it.

Editing your own writing can be like a form of self-abuse. Seriously. Stop and think about it. What are you doing when you edit your work? You are sitting there, knowing what you have written needs work. Knowing it isn’t as good as it could be. Knowing you’ve made mistakes. Knowing there are places that fall flat. Knowing, knowing, knowing.

So you have your nitpicking glasses on and your internal editor is fully caffeinated and ready to go.

All you see are your faults sitting on that page. All you do for hours is fix, fix, fix.

And then when you have reached the end, you turn around and go through the manuscript/article/what-have-you and do it again. And maybe even again. And every time you find something that could be better. Something that can be tightened, removed, or fixed.

It’s no wonder that some writers hate their work by the time they are done editing. It’s no wonder they are wondering if this writing thing is really for them. Writing is a part of you. And to pick apart your writing is to pick apart a piece of yourself. Over and over again.

No pressure…

But then… sometimes you surprise yourself. You get to the end and you feel refreshed, inspired, happy, and ready to climb any mountain. Why? Because you rock. You accomplished something. You didn’t just write all that, but you made it EVEN BETTER!

So next time you edit, go easy on yourself. If you are feeling that anvil of self-doubt dangling above your head about to drop at any moment and crush your very being… step back. Take a deep breath. Go do something you enjoy. Refresh your batteries. Write something new. Go for a walk. Then, when you are feeling more hopeful, come back and tackle it again. And for heaven’s sake, don’t try to fix everything in one go. Take several editing passes. The first one for the big stuff, the next one for smaller issues, and the final one for things like punctuation. Otherwise, it will take you forever and you will feel such agony that when your head inevitably crash lands on your keyboard, you won’t be able to lift it again.

So, when editing, be kind to yourself. Take it easy. Otherwise, either your manuscript or your self confidence is going to take a bad beating. And we don’t want that.

Reaction Phrases

My instructor, Susan Meier, from my Can This Manuscript Be Saved class had us look for reaction phrases in our work as part of an assignment. Sure we as writers try and make the reactions make sense in things like dialogue. But honestly, I hadn’t really thought of ‘reaction’ as something separate. Something that had the power to affect the whole story’s tone. Even one small word or the way they handle something (reaction) could change your perception of a character. Holy crap, the power of words. Eeek.

Anyway, I have been skimming my manuscript looking for reactions that haven’t fit right. Luckily, I my critique partner has already gone through and pointed out the areas where she wanted to slaughter characters because of…yep, you guessed it, reactions and my word choices. Yikes. Small reactions had made one of my characters into a mean friend that was very unlikeable. Who wants an unlikeable secondary character who is supposed to be a supportive friend–and is mean instead? Yuck. So really, on the grand scale of things, I’ve lucked out in this case. Still, there are the odd places where I have the wrong word or a reaction is just so blah. Or, I’ve used the wrong words to describe something. The nice thing is that by going through and skimming quickly, I don’t give myself a chance to analyze or excuse what I’ve done. I just mark it and move on. Later it will be attended to with an unrelenting eye. (Yikes.)

Right now I am reading Jennifer Weiner’s book Good in Bed. It is a good read and although I get lost in it, at times I pull out and begin critiquing it from a writers perspective, which is a really weird sensation for me–a novice. I feel as though at times there is a focus issue, which isn’t strange at all. I think this was her first book and as agent Joshua Blimes said in his AQ chat the other night, it is a common problem of beginning writers. Still, I love the story and I love the protagonist, Cannie. What makes me bring her up is that she is an AWESOME example of the great use of reaction phrases in regards to creating a fabulous, believable, and very real character.

Cannie is an overweight, heartbroken, pregnant gal. She is talking to her weight loss doctor on the roof of the medical building after she’s decided to keep the baby and drop out of the weight loss program. Anyway, they’re chatting and she’s trying to figure out his sense of humour. He says he is funny. She is in slight doubt. Here’s the reaction that really speaks to Cannie:

“Oh,” he said. “So if you were to describe yourself, you’d say you were funny?”
“No,” I sighed, looking out at the night sky. “At this point, I’d say that I was fucked.”

See? If I had been writing that, I, in all likelihood, would have continued on with the ‘I’m funny’ conversation. Instead, Weiner looked at her character and thought about what reaction would be most true to Cannie and where she was psychologically at that moment and then delivered it.

So, off I go. Checking for reactions. Hopefully, I will have some good reactions like above that really add some punch to the story. And if not, well, maybe I’ll catch them on the next pass!