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Posts tagged ‘editing’

Mar 14

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How to murder your darlings…or cut what doesn’t serve your story

In my last post, I wrote about finding my real story while writing my memoir. I ended up with about 110,000 words in my finished manuscript. When an agent recently suggested I cut between 25,000 and 45,000 words I was stunned.

If you could hear my thoughts, it might have sounded something like this: No way! Really? Well, maybe I could cut SOME words but not that many! I need those words! There’s some really good writing in those words. 

I put the project away for awhile and worked on something else. I knew I was too close to it to see it clearly. As I worked on my other project, I gradually thought about sections of my memoir. I asked myself the questions I wrote about in my last post: Find your real story by asking these questions.

Then my mom passed away and everything was a blur for several weeks. During that time, I came across a contest for memoirs just a few days before the deadline (which happened to be the day of Mom’s funeral). I really wanted to enter the contest–mainly to use it as a deadline to make those dreaded cuts–and the contest had a page limit that fit what the agent had suggested. Read more

Jan 24

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Ask this simple question to get a new perspective on your writing

Last week, I had two lessons about the benefits of looking at things in a different way.

First, we had a tremendous (for us) snow storm here in the Pacific Northwest. Normally, we get a dusting of snow once or twice a year which is usually gone within a day. Last week, we had six inches and it lasted three days. Since we’re surrounded by hills, we were snowed in. The first day was fun but by the third day, the snow was interfering with our business. Since Fed Ex couldn’t get to our home, we walked our boxes to the drop-off location about a mile away.  No big deal. We like to walk in the snow.

As we headed toward the road we normally take to Fed Ex, my husband said, “What if we went up this side street? The hill isn’t as steep and it may be shorter.” So we tried a different route and along the way we met a new neighbor out shoveling his sidewalk. Read more

Jan 12

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How to take your finished manuscript to the next level

When I was writing my memoir, it seemed as if the editing process would last a lifetime. When I finally felt as if my manuscript was ready to send out to the world, I took the advice of agent Don Maass and applied one final editing technique. The results were pretty remarkable. I highly recommend this process for all writers whether you’re a beginner or a published professional.

Here’s how it works: When you think you’re done with your manuscript, take a handful of pages (20 to 30) and throw them up in the air. Repeat until the entire manuscript is scattered across your floor. Then randomly gather the pages into one big pile.

Now, go through your manuscript page by page (still out of order). As you read each page, find a way to do these two things per page: Read more

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