Let's Talk Story

To Edit or Not to Edit

Okay, seriously, it's not even a question. Edit.

I ordered a book the other day. The title and blurb sounded promising. I liked the subject matter. Amazon did not give me the option to read the first page. If it had, I would not have bought the book. Hindsight.

I received the book in the mail and eagerly unwrapped it. The author spent the first four and a half pages telling me about the character. It was all "he did this, he liked this, his wife did this, and his children did this."  

Example 1: "Dick turned off the alarm clock and got out of bed. He smelled coffee. His wife Jane was making breakfast. He loved his wife. The breakfast smelled good. His children were laughing. He loved his children. It was sunny outside. He needed to finish packing for his vacation. Maybe after breakfast."

Don't tell me, show me. Show the character's life.

Example 2: "The alarm clock jarred Dick from his dream. Groggily, with one eye half open, he fumbled for the off switch, almost knocking his glass of water over in the process. Rolling over, he stretched and wished he could stay in bed, but the scent of fresh coffee and the sound of his children laughing lured him to his senses. It was Saturday, and his vacation started in five hours."

The second issue was the use of repetitive words.  In example 1, "smelled," "children," and "loved" are all used twice.  Pick up a thesaurus and find a different word or say it a different way. "The inviting scent of coffee beckoned to him." Doesn't that sound better than, "He smelled the coffee."

The third issue was the dialogue did not start until midway through page five. Five pages of he said and did this. Five. And yes, I repeated the word five. 

I understand how it feels when you finish your book. It's a magical emotion. You write those words, "The end."  You give it to your friends, and they love it. You see it being nominated for an award and movie producers contacting you. You envision a movie made, walking down a red carpet to cheers. It's so perfect. This is the dream. But draft one is never perfect. You need to edit. You need to go through line by line, page by page, chapter by chapter. You need to check for grammar, punctuation, and content. Do the names change? (Worst self published book I ever read had the main characters name change in the middle of the book.) Is there a hook at the beginning? Does it grab you? Is every scene important? 

The first draft of my book, Secrets Cafe, The Appetizer, was eighty-eight pages long. It was good, but after I went through it 15 times, it was better. Even still, it went through three rounds of edits with the publisher. 

Do yourself a favor, and do not send the first draft out. Edit it. Have a friend edit it. Send the book to beta readers. Read it out loud, read it backward, and read it to your writer's group. Polish the story. Clean it up. Make it shine, and then ... send it out.

--Gina G


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