A Challenging Editing Journey - by SC Skillman
Editing a manuscript: some of us loathe it, some of us love it.
My current editing journey is both tedious, demanding - and full of revelations.
Well before you submit your Word document to your publisher, you need to edit - to get the word count down to the required length and to ensure you don't submit an embarrassing sloppy document full of loose sentences, repetitions, and redundant adjectives and adverbs.
Here, the writer's friend is Search and Replace. I'm going through my manuscript looking for the following: ly, was, had, there and ing. It's amazing what this may reveal to you. Not only do I alight upon lazy, repetitious, pedestrian sentences, but I see paragraphs in a new light; it's clear to me what can go, when I have included 'Too Much Information', or where to tighten up a sentence or find a new and much brighter way to express myself.
One of the snares lying in wait to trap the writer, is the temptation to write in the passive form. If I discover an instance of this, I seek ways to express it in an active form instead. At once the text becomes more lively and interesting.
Another fascinating discovery - when you are writing history, as I am, you often discover a phrase similar to: "they were put into the ducking stool..." . But when you research to find out exactly who put people into the ducking stool, you can't find that information anywhere.
What were their names? What was their job title? Now, it may be that some of you English social historians reading this will have the answer to that question. I welcome enlightenment on this subject!
Well before you submit your Word document to your publisher, you need to edit - to get the word count down to the required length and to ensure you don't submit an embarrassing sloppy document full of loose sentences, repetitions, and redundant adjectives and adverbs.
Here, the writer's friend is Search and Replace. I'm going through my manuscript looking for the following: ly, was, had, there and ing. It's amazing what this may reveal to you. Not only do I alight upon lazy, repetitious, pedestrian sentences, but I see paragraphs in a new light; it's clear to me what can go, when I have included 'Too Much Information', or where to tighten up a sentence or find a new and much brighter way to express myself.
One of the snares lying in wait to trap the writer, is the temptation to write in the passive form. If I discover an instance of this, I seek ways to express it in an active form instead. At once the text becomes more lively and interesting.
Another fascinating discovery - when you are writing history, as I am, you often discover a phrase similar to: "they were put into the ducking stool..." . But when you research to find out exactly who put people into the ducking stool, you can't find that information anywhere.
What were their names? What was their job title? Now, it may be that some of you English social historians reading this will have the answer to that question. I welcome enlightenment on this subject!
Totally agree - that Word tool should be counted as the eighth wonder of the world ;)
ReplyDeleteRe the ducking stool, look for anything on Wikipedia on witch trials, preferably from a feminist perspective! I am betting they weren't - and it is a urban myth... so disappointing when we have thought that back then lots of weird stuff was done... I can't remember, but long while ago when doing a course on Gender I had to write an essay on witch trials...
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment Claire. I understand that the women put in ducking stools were often just 'scolds' rather than witches. Yes I must research it. In terms of my book, the phrase I have used is probably all right, but the question still intrigues me - who did the ducking? Was it the local vigilantes, or just any of the local mob who felt like doing it, or someone employed by their answer to the local magistrates court or police?
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