We’re having some painting done inside our house. Years of children with sticky hands have taken their toll on our walls. :)
While the painters were here, the owner said to me, “Would you like us to do your front door and shutters, too?”
I frowned. “Why? Do you think they should be painted?”
He hesitated. “Well, what color do you think they are?”
“I think the shutters and door are black.”
“Could you step outside with me for a minute?” he asked.
As he pointed out, and as I was surprised to see, the shutters and door had faded quite a bit in the sun. They used to be black—but now were varying shades of grayish-black.
He painted them yesterday and the house looks brand-new. But I never would have noticed that they needed to be done because I drive up to my house every single day. I don’t even see it anymore.
You see this analogy coming. :) It’s true, though—we get just as close to our manuscript. It can be really tough to see its problems when we’ve been reading the book every day.
First readers or an independent editor are obvious solutions to this problem. They will read our work with fresh eyes and the problems will pop out at them easier.
Unfortunately, some of us may not have first readers to help us out. I’ve had a couple of writers volunteer to read for me, but because I have more than one project going on at once, I tend to get right up on top of my deadline. I just don’t feel comfortable asking anyone to drop everything in their life to read 280 pages in a few days’ time. Oh—except I do ask it of my mother. :)
So what’s the solution if we need to get some distance from our work to thoroughly edit it?
Time: You can put your manuscript down for as much time as possible, then return to it. This method does work, although I don’t have the time to do it anymore. When you pick up your manuscript again, it’s almost as if someone else wrote it.
Reading aloud: This is a method that I use and it does help. There are only so many pages I can read without going hoarse, but the reading does put a bit of distance between us and the work.
Change of scenery: I really don’t know why this works, but it does. If I’ve written the majority of the book at home, then I’ll go to the coffeehouse to edit it. Different setting, different task at hand? Whatever it is, it seems to work for me…I think my brain is easily tricked. :)
Different font: I’ve heard this trick before, but haven’t used it. Some swear by putting your manuscript in a completely different font for editing.
How do you get distance from your words?
Elizabeth – I’ll bet your house looks beautiful now!
I agree that we need to get some distance sometimes. I rely heavily on my beloved beta readers for that. But I also do put my work aside for a few days sometimes. I give myself three or four days, and then pick it up again. It’s funny, too, that you would mention reading aloud. I actually tell my students to do that to help them catch inconsistencies, awkward sentences and so on. Foils, you would be surprised how helpful that trick is. And it gives you public speaking practice.
I’ll vouch for the different font and one more tip–print it out in columns as well. That will make the eye scan totally different, and all sorts of things (especially using the same words too often) jump out at you.
Terry
Terry’s Place
Romance with a Twist–of Mystery
Excellent advice – as usual.
And yay for mothers! One of the few disadvantages of writing in English is that I can´t ask my mother to read my novel, but both my daughters did, and they are also great critics in each their way.
With regard to change of scenery, you reminded me that I had decided to make a pdf-version of my manuscript and try reading it on my Kindle. I thought that that might make it easier for me to distance myself from my own work.
I read aloud. I try to not use silly voices, but sometimes anything helps.
Great points! I’ve noticed that I even writing differently when I’m outside as opposed to inside.
I’m fortunate to have an independent editor who works with me by chapter, which is the way I write best.
The time of day helps me. I write all week at night and edit on Sunday mornings (my time). That gives me a little distance. I have a wonderful online crit group that I exchange manuscripts with and they keep me straight, but the little detail things, I usually end up picking up by re-reading, re-reading, re-reading.
I also edit on my lunch hour and believe it or not the different environment does make a difference.
Every few weeks, I print out my WIP in four-pages-per-sheet format.
Not only does this use less paper and let me work on the story when opening a laptop would be impractical, but it gives me what I like to think of as a “mid-picture” view: not quite the big picture view of the novel as a whole, but larger than the single page I would see on the computer screen.
I find that this level really helps work out pacing, sequencing, and consistency in a way that is more difficult when looking at a single page or the entire outline. For example, you can more easily notice when a character described as wearing green is inexplicably dressed in red three pages later.
Also, I feel more free scribbling half-thoughts and experimental ideas onto paper than I would typing them into the Sacred Gold-Copy MS Word file.
(Bonus: I often tag things on this hard copy for inclusion in the story’s “bible.”)
It helps me keep the soft copy clean while still allowing for the messiness of creativity! Every couple of weeks, I sweep the current hard copy to make sure all the notes have been incorporated (or stored for later) then file it and print a new one.
Re. reading aloud until you get hoarse – I’ve found I can get almost the same benefit by mouthing the words with just a whisper of sound. I’ll hear the words as I’m almost saying them rather than how I wrote them, and it saves my voice.
I love reading my manuscript aloud! It is a powerful tool that is now part of my editing process. The things I catch that way amaze me!
I’ve been known to put my writing aside for well over a year, by which time I’ve usually forgotten all about it and have the fun of being amazed by what I’ve written.
The last couple of times I thought I had finished editing, I got a printed copy from Lulu and read through that, just to make it seem different. There were still typos and plot holes, needless to say, and a lot of stylistic errors I hadn’t even thought of. I didn’t really think of this at the time but it probably didn’t cost much more than the printer ink and paper to do it myself.
I couldn’t make it without my test readers. We’ve also read dialogue aloud (not my strong suit) and eliminated some lame stuff.
Happy Thanksgiving, Elizabeth!
I read aloud, or I just let it stew for a while. I’ve never tried moving around, or changing the font; those are good ideas!
Margot–Great advice for your students! I bet it helps them find a lot of errors that they didn’t catch the first time around.
Laura==I used to do the same and found it really helpful.
Teresa–It makes us a little sick of the work, doesn’t it? But it’s so worth it in the end.
J. Nelson Leith –You know, I haven’t printed my WIP for a while now and you’ve reminded me how helpful I found that in the past. I like your idea about printing only a few pages at a time to go over in detail–and to find those pesky continuity errors.
You are SO right about keeping the different versions distinct…I’ve been burned by that before. I try to date them now.
Linda–Thanks for the tip! I’m going to have to give that a go. It doesn’t take much for me to get hoarse…
Terry–In columns? What a great idea!
Dorte–What a wonderful idea! I think putting it up on Kindle and reading it would work really well.
Heather–Isn’t it? I guess it’s all because of the unfamiliarity of hearing our voices read our work.
Elspeth–I’m going to give the silly voices a go!
sheila–Time really does help with the distance, doesn’t it?
Alex–Happy Thanksgiving to you, too! Looks like we’ll have some decent weather in NC tomorrow, doesn’t it?
The Golden Eagle–Hope they’ll help!
I like to go to the library and write. It really works. Nice and quiet. No phones. No kids. No TV. Just me and silence. And my laptop.
Stephen–My library is pretty noisy! But I still do love writing there. :)
I’m a huge fan of reading out loud.I cannot be sure my words flow properly until I say them aloud.
Great post.
We never see our writing the way another person does.
Can you tell I’m catching up on my friends’ blog posts? I’m so far behind.
One of the reasons I have a break in my routine is that one novel draft is sitting on the floor while I gain distance before starting revisions. I use all of your methods, Elizabeth, but letting a draft sit for several weeks (or months) has been very helfpul.