Category Archives: revision

January 18, 2017 · 6:07 am

Tell It Like It Was

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@memoirmusic

Why write it? Why illuminate your innermost self and risk potential pain of ridicule or criticism? You ask yourself this, over and over, even as you name your secret places, confess your transgressions, light up your dark desires.

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Thanks Friends of the Royal Botanic Gardens

Perhaps you reveal your wild and strange garden because of that gnawing, burrowing inner gopher. You know the one—nibbling the tendrils of your memories and digging through your synapses in his blind foraging. You know the dark feeding will stop in the light of your pen.

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ramweb.org

 At first you write to expose the bully, the crazy parent, the mean sister, the pain-giver. That may be your catalyst, but will revealing trespasses against you trap the hungry rodents like a hunting cat, pouncing on those unseeing beasts, dragging them from the dark and laying them at your feet?

In the end the revelation is you.

images-5        Writing your memoirs? Creating a family legacy?

                      Looking to publish your story?

Join the Rianda House memoir writers:A forum for craft, critique and positive encouragement.

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This group welcomes beginning memoir writers as well as more experienced writers who wish to explore their lives through the written word, both creative non-fiction (memoir, personal narrative, essay, autobiography) and poetry. Writing craft is discussed in the group and writing topics are suggested. All participants are encouraged to share their work in class.

Mondays 3:00-5:00 at Rianda House 1475 Main St. St. Helena Free

#70755 (Pre-registration at Rianda House) Feb 6-May 22 (no class 4/10)

 

Resources:

http://namw.org

http://www.judithbarrington.com

http://shewritespress.com/

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June 8, 2016 · 4:08 am

An Agent’s Take

Part 2  Revision for Publication

From a talk for Sisters in Crime NorCal by Elizabeth K. Kracht, Literary Agent at Kimberley Cameron and Associates May 14, 2016.

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Writing Quality:

  1. Avoid adverbs (5 only. And that’s per piece.)
  2. Avoid clichés
  3. Watch out for repetition
  4. Avoid passive voice: was/were/seem/maybe/perhaps/had been, etc.
  5. Avoid progressive verbs: verb + ing
  6. Cut : suddenly, then and words like just, very, well (and I’m not fond of ‘oh’)
  7. Avoid past tense verbs as dialog tags: she huffed, he scurried, they screamed

Voice:

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

  1. Is the main character too “voice-y”? (sometimes this might look overwritten)
  2. Are your voices genre appropriate?
  3. Is voice making your character unpleasant, mean or generally un-likeable?
  4. Are the character voices distinct?
  5. Is author voice bleeding through into the characters’ voices?
  6. Is the past tense pushing the voice over the top? Eg. Huffed, shouted, stammered, screamed (see attribution)

Plot:

Is your plot believable?

Aim for a multi-dimensional plot. Exploit your characters for subplots.

Themes: (sometimes called motifs)

Add themes for layering. 3 or 4 themes should run throughout your book.   Make a list of your themes and check your chapters to be sure that 1 or more of the themes is present in each chapter.

Character:

  1. Avoid focus on characters that don’t string through the story.
  2. Be sure the main character is sympathetic.
  3. Each character has his or her personal arc.
  4. Make sure the protagonist is sufficiently challenged
  5. Is the setting or the narrator a character?
  6. Are there too many characters?
  7. Stretch character descriptions throughout the entire book, don’t bunch all the describing up at first meeting.
  8. Even characters need to be wary of clichés.

Dialog:     

Is dialog your strength?

  1. He said/she said is invisible. Use ‘said’ over other choices.
  2. Only tag if who speaks is unclear.
  3. Do not use adverbial tags: she said emphatically.
  4. Avoid common pleasantries: “Hi, Bob. How are you doing?” “Great Jack. Nice day isn’t it?” This is boring.
  5. Don’t use dialog to “download” or “dump” information.
  6. Use dialog to reveal character.
  7. Go easy on dialect and colloquialisms.
  8. Translate foreign words (with my caveat that constant translating is distracting and some foreign words and phrases should stand, especially where context will point to meaning.~AM)
  9. Use contractions.

Pacing:

Ask yourself:

  1. Is the backstory necessary?
  2. Is the dialog slowing the pace?
  3. Is there excessive description?
  4. Is the story going off-topic or on tangents?

There’s plenty more to pay attention to during the revision process and Kracht suggests:

Get editorial feedback and proofreading before submitting.

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