Evading Extraneous Edits

Over my short career as an author thus far, I've pinpointed five popular pitfalls in the drafting phase. I hope my past struggle will be your future gain in evading extraneous edits.

1.  Use adverbs sparingly (ha ha)

While adverbs can enhance a sentence when placed in a strategic way, often I find the adverbs I use repeating what I said.  For example, if I say, "Gina peeked quickly inside her locker." I'm repeating myself.  Peeking is quick.  No need for "quickly" to clutter a sentence.  It may not be healthy, but I've grown fearful of adding any adverbs to my stories (sure...I still use them outside novel writing).  At the same time, I've grown in leaps in bounds with how I express words.

2.  Passive voice vs. Active voice

Passive voice is better known as "telling."  Active voice is "showing."  This might be the most difficult aspect of manuscript writing for children.  For a child to remain engaged in the story, he/she must be active with the character.  I've learned this the hard way.  Below is a before and after example from my most recent novel, Mice Don't Taste Like Chicken.

Before:

A dozen reptiles eating, drinking, and doing their business in a confined space makes a trip to a Port-a-Potty seem like a stroll through a rose garden.  I’m a guy—I can take it.  Not the girls though.  I watched their faces pucker.  Some of them even gagged. 

After:

He inhaled with anticipation. The stench of rotting vegetables, wood shavings, and animal droppings invaded his nostrils.  A dozen reptiles eating, drinking, and doing their business in a confined space magnified the smell’s potency.  He resisted his gag reflex and took it like a man.  Sasha Barnett entered behind him. She wrinkled her nose and flapped her hands.  Her friend Cindy rushed from her desk and tugged Sasha further into the room.

3.  Anything other than "said" often isn't necessary

I'm struck by the irony of what I'm encouraged to teach my young writers in the classroom and what is applicable in the literary world.  All too often, students are encouraged to play around with the tags to dialogue.  I've even seen classrooms hold funerals for the word "said."  If said is dead, it must be replaced.  That can't be further from the truth in the publishing world.  Often, anything other than "said" isn't necessary.  

4.  Let the reader feel smart

In my first shot at novel writing, I spelled out way more detail than necessary.  Despite the fact I enjoy feeling smart as a reader, I gave my readers more than they needed and made them mindless to the action.  Give yourself permission to leave room for reader interpretation or that "a ha" moment. 

5.  Depending on your editor, "was" and "were" are four letter words

This ties in with passive and active voice.  'Was' and 'were' tend to create passive voice, telling the reader what occurred rather than showing them through character action or dialogue.  I've found that was and were served as a crutch for me.  It is much more difficult, but rewarding, to craft a sentence free of these words.

~Scott Heydt

"Live, Learn, Teach"

www.scotthbooks.com

http://scotthbooks.blogspot.com