Skip to main content

#HistFicThursdays - A Significant Day For A Significant Age

I don't write many older characters. I suppose age - as with most things - is relative in fiction. When I began writing The Watcher's Heir  (my will-be-finished-one-day high fantasy epic), I was still at school and my hero began the story aged 25, an age I could not imagine ever reaching but an age I thought would still be considered young by many. If I ever manage to finish and edit that story, I'll be extending his - and a few others' - age! Having grown older, I've realised the advantages and the benefits of age. Of course, it's a bit of a disappointment that I'm never asked for ID in the shop anymore, or that people assume I'm my younger sisters' mother(!). But, on the whole, the pros have far outweighed the cons. The biggest con in terms of writing, is that it's difficult not to put an old head on young shoulders. Looking through books - both my own and those written by other people - it is clear just how easy it is to slip into the "ol...

Day 10 - Editing

Editing




One of the things that is a real privilege about being from a family of writers is having the opportunity to read raw, unedited first drafts. There is something very exciting about how those first thoughts and forays into a deep, rich imagination make the transition from brain to paper (or screen). I’m told that I’m bad for laughing at the mistakes that people make, and a first draft is always a great opportunity to do that too! The best example was almost certainly one of my own:
High Fantasy novel I wrote as a child/teenager/young adult: The king was returning from a big battle and about to enter the capital city with his annihilated army. Naturally, he was concerned, so he said, “how can I tell them that their sons and fathers will be returning?”
So, since then, I’ve been known for missing out “not”s in sentences.
Of course, when you have passed that exciting First Draft Stage and you’re beginning to look at preparing the book for going out into the wider world, the first edit that you need to do is going to deal solely with proofreading. All the accidentally hilarious bits have to go, and you’re left with a manuscript which is much more like what was originally intended. I would suggest that you really need the work printed for this, although it can just be on a standard printer and look like a big pile of A4 paper.
The following edits will be more contentious. For these, I strongly suggest getting a book bound so that the editor (whether professional, semi-professional or amateur) can experience your manuscript as a book. These will be content edits, although they will also get into the nitty gritty of things like sentence structure. With Crowvus, I have done a few of these edits, and the books that I edited are kept as treasure trove: this was the moment where an amazing story by a talented writer was turned into an actual book. I always say “one day they’ll be worth something”, but really they’re worth something now: they are timecapsules!
The conversations which stem from these edits is where your editor needs to have a relationship with the author which allows for frank conversation without descending into arguments. Anything that the editor suggests, the author needs to either agree with or else provide a strong reason why it should remain the same.
Remember, authors: the editor has their own view of your story too. I remember editing Beneath Black Clouds and White, having already edited Day’s Dying Glory and read two other manuscripts in the same series. For those who don’t know, Doctor Fotherby features heavily in them. I was nearly at the end of editing the book when suddenly the author wrote something about his “dark hair”. Hold on, wait a minute and hold your horses! I was most indignant about this: I had always imagined the good doctor to be fair-haired (I think, in my head, I based him on someone I knew from work!) and being told I had got his physical appearance wrong at this stage was just too much! Probably unsurprisingly, given how tenacious I am, this was removed from the book.
Being an editor is a tricky business, but working with authors to edit their work is one of the most rewarding things you can do in publishing. If you find yourself on this side of the manuscript, be prepared to make your author see their work in a way they hadn’t realised. I don’t believe in the “author is dead” theory, but they are certainly not the only ones whose imaginations are invested the fantastic manuscripts they have written.

Judith Crow
www.crowvus.com

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Masterworks: Legacy - Samantha Wilcoxson - Interview

  Today is the last of a series on nine interviews I'm sharing on the Crowvus Book Blog. These are from the authors of the short stories included in the  Masterworks  anthology by the  Historical Writers Forum . We're running through chronologically, some are video interviews, others are written. I am delighted to welcome the fantastic Samantha Wilcoxson, who is sharing the artist inspiration for her short story Legacy , as well as the appeal of James A. Hamilton, and the delights of researching. First of all, tell us a little bit about yourself, what you write (besides Masterworks!), and what inspired you to begin writing. I was inspired to write by my love of reading. After watching me read, write reviews, and keep journals for twenty years, my husband asked me why I didn’t try writing, so I did! Without really planning on it, I ended up writing historical biographical fiction. I’m drawn to a tragic tale but also to lesser known historical figures with emotive stor...

#HistFicThursdays - Apollo's Raven - Linnea Tanner - Book Blast

 If you've been following this blog for a little while, you might remember me sharing a fabulous guest post about this book in 2022 (which you can read here ). It's always great to welcome Linnea Tanner onto the Crowvus Book Blog, and I'm delighted to be taking part in her Coffee Pot Book Club book blast blog tour. So, let's meet the book... A Celtic warrior princess is torn between her forbidden love for the enemy and duty to her people. AWARD-WINNING APOLLO’S RAVEN sweeps you into an epic Celtic tale of forbidden love, mythological adventure, and political intrigue in Ancient Rome and Britannia. In 24 AD British kings hand-picked by Rome to rule are fighting each other for power. King Amren’s former queen, a powerful Druid, has cast a curse that Blood Wolf and the Raven will rise and destroy him. The king’s daughter, Catrin, learns to her dismay that she is the Raven and her banished half-brother is Blood Wolf. Trained as a warrior, Catrin must find a way to break t...

#HistFicThursdays - Strait Lace by Rosemary Hayward - Guest Post

For this week's #HistFicThursdays blog, I'm delighted to be welcoming  Rosemary Hayward  to the blog with a guest post about her new release  Strait Lace ,   as part of her  Coffee Pot Book Club  tour. Read on to discover the history surrounding this fabulous book. But first, let's meet the book... Blurb It is 1905. Edwardian England. Harriet Loxley, the daughter of a vicar and niece to a prominent Nottingham lace manufacturer, spends her days playing cricket with her brother, scouring the countryside for botanical specimens, and never missing an opportunity to argue the case for political power for women. Given the chance to visit the House of Commons, Harriet witnesses the failure of a historic bill for women’s voting rights. She also meets the formidable Pankhurst women. When Harriet gets the chance to study biology at Bedford College, London, she finds her opportunity to be at the heart of the fight. From marching in the street, to speaking to hostile c...