My response to...

My response to: http://dreamersperch.blogspot.com.es/2012/11/from-nano-to-publication-editing-process.html

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I am a writer and an editor. When I first started writing I hated the thought of anyone messing around with my 'baby'. I self-published rather than be edited. I still have a very strong emotional attachment to that book so, even though now I cam see it has a few flaws and could probably be tightened up in a few places, I'd struggle to change it. However, what I have learned from writing and editing since, I think has improved my own writing tremendously. When I send stuff off to my editor, I look forward to getting it back as I know that any changes she suggests will only improve my book. Also, I have learned enough so that when I rigorously self-edit beforehand, there shouldn't be all that much she has to change.

I have discovered I suffer terribly from exclamation point-itis. I use far far too many! So she painlessly removes them for me, and my characters don't come across as quite so manic as they otherwise would.

As an editor, on the other hand, I have had some authors who are wonderful and some who defend every last cliché and adverb.

Those four rules in particular I would take issue with. It is not necessary to always write in US English, especially if one is a British writer and the book is set in Britain with British characters.

One POV - ridiculous!! Some of the best books I have ever read have multiple POVs. A single POV can be powerful if done well, but it is by no means necessary and can be detrimental and limiting.

And the tense used should be appropriate for the writing. The simple tense is not always correct or appropriate.

As for the adverb issue, there are many times where the writing IS improved by replacing a weak verb+adverb by a stronger verb. However, some adverbs are wonderful and help to set the scene beautifully. It all depends on context.

I do tend to strip out unnecessary dialogue tags, all those he saids and she saids, when one can tell perfectly well who is speaking, just get in the way and clutter up the work.

As an editor, if I read something and it pulls me out of the story, then it needs rewriting. The best writing draws you into the world the writer has created so much that you should not even be aware you are reading a book - you are there, in the story, with those characters.

Five fiction mistakes that spell rejection: No. 5 - No Point

Fiction Mistakes that Spell Rejection

by Moira Allen

No Point


Editors — and readers — aren't just looking for great action and strong characters. They also want a sense of "why." Why should I read this? Why did you write it?

"This is not to say every work should address an Aesopish moral or a grand theme, but rather every story should contain at its core a reason to be," says Max Keele. "In fact, that is my single personal demand from a story: That it add up to something. That it shock me, scare me, unnerve me, make me think, or cry, or vomit. Something."

Ellen Datlow of SciFi.com says she reads far too many stories with no apparent reason for being. "I have no idea why the writer bothered to write the story — no passion, no unusual take on the subject, dull, unbelievable characters. A story has to have something special to make me want to buy it."

A story without a point tends to be "flat," according to Rhonna Robbins-Sponaas. "If we come away with the peculiar feeling that we don't really know why we've just read what we've read, or our first thought is that the washer has finished and the clothes are ready to be put in the dryer, then the writer hasn't conveyed the 'why' of the story as strongly as she could have and should have."

The solution? "Were I to tell a writer one thing, I'd tell her to go back and be certain what her story is, then be sure that she's answered the 'why' of the story so that the reader comes away from the experience with as much a sense of its importance as the writer had," says Robbins-Sponaas. Brown and English of Stickman Review urge writers to, "Write sincerely. Write stories about those things that matter the most to you. If you're writing about something you don't really care about, it'll be obvious to your readers, and they won't care either."

Review: Pulse and Prejudice by Colette Saucier

5 out of 5 stars Very well-written! For anyone who might be thinking, "Pride and Prejudice with vampires?? WTF??" Can I just say, I was blown away with how good this is. I was prepared for it to be awful and was dreading the thought of wading through a mangled adaptation of my beloved Austen. BUT it is really really good. Colette tells it mainly from Darcy's tortured POV and so many things make so much more sense when it's revealed some of the characters are vampires, it makes you think "Oh, so THAT's why such and such a person did that!" We get a lot of back story and Colette ties everything together so well. I was truly impressed, and it takes a lot to impress me. If you like P&P, you'll like this!

The trials of thinking up original names

It's virtually impossible to create normal character names that haven't been used. I am sure there are loads of Linzi Hugheses and Michelle Hamiltons.

But one of the characters in my novel "Money Can't Buy Me Love" (coming out in September with Secret Cravings Publishing) is an obnoxious footballer who plays for Manchester United. Obviously he has to be fictional as I am going to have him do all sorts of distasteful things and he is not a very nice person.

I initially gave him the name of Shane Long as I thought of a hilarious play on words on his name, which you will have to read the book to find out. Came home, told my husband all about it, said, jokingly, “I hope there isn't a real footballer with the same name.”

My husband said, “Oh I think he plays for Reading.”

Obviously I thought he was kidding at first but played along and looked him up - and guess what!

So, then I decided on Sean Long, only to discover that he plays Rugby for Hull:

Next choice was Seamus Long - surely this one had to be available. But apparently Seamus Long plays football for Waterford United in Ireland:

So unless I went with Sherlock or Sheridan, or change it entirely and lose the joke, I decided to go with Shaun Long and hope that Sean Long doesn't sue me :o(

Sean - if you're reading this - sorry! It's not you - honest!!