My second book in the Memphis Barbeque series, Finger Lickin’ Dead, will launch June 2011. Last week I got the copy edited version of the manuscript—with items for me to clarify and corrections for me to make.
I was very happy to see that there weren’t really many edits or revisions to make. But I couldn’t feel smug about it—because it’s not like I always write clean copy. You’d think that it would be more of a linear thing—that the more books I write, the cleaner the copy gets. That’s sometimes true…and sometimes not.
But, despite the light load, there were my usual problem-areas to address. Editors are worth their weight in gold.
There were a couple of mind-boggling mistakes on my part that made me grit my teeth and get completely irritated with myself…and wonder if I’d had a small stroke in between the problem sentences. The cook is grating cheese and then is abruptly chopping onions? In the same sentence, practically? Really, Elizabeth!
The way that Berkley works is that even when these really, really stupid errors come up, they ask what I’d like to do. So on track changes, there was a comment in the margin—a polite “Would you rather have this be cheese? Or onions?” They don’t automatically pick one for you—you rewrite the problem area.
So, a few times where I guess the phone had rung when I was writing (or I temporarily lost my mind), and I made inconsistent statements, continuity errors, etc.
Now, of course, typos or style mistakes get automatically corrected. But not continuity or timeline errors.
A couple of the mistakes were much more subtle. There’s a can of beans that plays a (small) role in the book. It started out as baked beans. Then fifty pages went by and I referred to them as pork and beans. Then another one hundred pages went by and they were baked beans again. Continuity errors—got to love them.
This happened because I was writing the book pretty much straight-through—and I’d thought I’d written pork and beans, as I was busily working on the scene. I’d gone off of memory instead of checking the reference earlier in the manuscript.
I didn’t catch the error. My first reader didn’t catch it and my agent didn’t catch it. Thank goodness for the copyeditor. I went back and fixed all the references, thanking the editor in my head again.
Most of the errors were mistakes like that. They were easily fixed.
There were a couple of timeline errors that were also easily fixed—where I’d said that something was going to happen in a particular frame of time, but then—if you counted up all the days when I said “the next day” or “the next morning” or “two days later,” then the event hadn’t happened in that timeframe.
This is also a fairly common error of mine. It helps to keep a spreadsheet of the days. It can get complicated when lots of events happen during a novel.
Luckily for me, there was only one error where I went, “Oh hell.”
It was a timeline error and it was a fairly big one. It was going to cause me some rewriting.
I did what I usually do when I face a bigger revision—I slept on it.
The next day I made a list of all the possibilities I could think of to write myself out of the hole. And found the solution to the problem in my list.
What kinds of revision problems and edits do you usually run into? And how do you resolve them?
Timeline errors happen to me frequently (and one of my critique group members is a champion at finding them, thank goodness). I think that’s because I write through a character’s train of thought, and no one thinks in a straight line. One moment we’re in the present, the next moment thinking about something that happened years ago, and then hopping on to our plans for next week. Doesn’t work so well in fiction, however, to hop around like that.
I usually have issues with timelines too. It’s funny though when we miss the obvious — it still happens to me and I think whoa! How could I have missed that!
Timeline is where one normally goes wrong, I guess.
And there are times when you write in a character, then write him out but (s)he doesn’t go completely.
Elizabeth – Oh, I know all about those errors that just make one blush. I’ve done my share of blunders like that, too. For me, it’s not so much timeline. I’m OK with that generally. For me, it’s continuity errors. For instance, in my WIP, my sleuth talks about knowing a particular fact that he couldn’t possibly know, because he’s never met the person who reveals it. Grrr.. when my beta reader pointed that out to me, I went back and simply had my sleuth not know that fact, and rewrote the scene in which he mentioned it. Not fun, but…
Thanks for sharing your experience.
I had to laugh at the cheese or onion choice.
Teresa
Timeline boo-boos get me, too. Also, I seem to have trouble remember what season I’m in. I once had a roaring fire going (in a fireplace) in August. I found that one myself.
Ah, we seem to be back in Blogger synchronicity again … my topic is edits and revisions (and they’re not the same) at my blog today. Although I’m still in the proposal stage, so I’m dealing with adjusting a new project to something the agent thinks she can sell.
And I agree – a copy editor (or a crit partner) with a good eye and a good memory is invaluable.
Terry
Terry’s Place
Romance with a Twist–of Mystery
I hate it when I find inconsistencies… I mean, it’s not like I pour my soul into writing a book and trying to make it perfect before I send it out.
Sounds like this publisher does a good job. I would think those small continuity errors would be the hardest to catch. As for the timeline one, wow! Bet that was fun to fix.
Me? I’ll let you know. ;)
Michele
SouthernCityMysteries
Clues… i.e., when I cut a scene without realizing there was a small but necessary clue tucked in there. Harder to catch in rewrites because my mind knows I put that clue in somewhere. I think it’s easier to see a mistake than an omission.
I’ve run into those types of errors. In my latest manuscript, I had packed so much into the days of my characters, I’m not sure they could have done all the stuff they did, I had to go back and let days pass in between. Especially when the murder happened and two days later all the postmortem and lab work are back? That just doesn’t happen. Things take time.
CD
Congratulations on only having a few revisions. My manuscripts contain a wide variety of errors, but I think my weakest point is inconsistency. I look hard for these inconsistent moments during each revision.
I don’t seem to have many problems with timelines, thank heavens. However, I did have an issue with people suddenly knowing things they had no business in knowing. That took some cleaning up.
Timeline errors are so frustrating. But thanks for sharing your experience–it’s fascinating to look into other’s editing processes!
Hi Elizabeth, interesting post.
Two “howler” edits of mine off the top of my head (there’s plenty more ;-):
I too had a cheese/onion thing in my second novel, except mine was a name. Within the same paragraph it changed from Arthur to Albert then back again. (I chose Arthur).
I know the reason for this is a form of word blindness. Knowing my own words inside out, upside down over the years, I fall into a trap of reading it almost like a script I’ve learned, rather than trying to read with fresh eyes as if the first time.
One of the probs with my first novel needed more work: I have a character running from a burning building to an abandoned church. Now, despite the fact that she has become totally mad, she still wouldn’t run that far, despite the attraction of what’s in the church (explained within the novel) as well as being chased. I mulled this over for a week or more but then the solution was easy: move the church! So now the abandoned church is a small family church next to the manor house.
:-)
I made a lot of mistakes, some of which weren’t caught (or I failed to correct) until the final edit.
You get to laugh at some of my mistakes in my guest post tomorrow, too.
I’ve had very similar kinds of errors in my manuscript. It’s impossible to keep all of those things straight. Thanks for sharing these, Elizabeth. Helps to know the kinds of things other writers struggle with.
karen
Patricia–That’s how we *think*, though, isn’t it? It does make it tough to write, though.
Lynda–It makes me really irritated with myself! Sometimes I think I’m looking for bigger stuff and miss some of the small (but still important) errors.
Rayn–Yes! They won’t leave the book. It’s easy to delete the references when you call the character by name, but not when you refer to them as “my husband” or “my neighbor” or something like that. Makes it hard.
Linda–Clues and red herrings are sneaky. Now I flag them in the manuscript so I can find them later!
Clarissa–I’ve had to spread things out in a manuscript before, too. You start looking at the timeline and think, “Wow! They’re busy.” It seems TOO busy sometimes, so I’ll put in “Several days later…” to fix it.
Margot–I had to do that with a scene in this WIP, too–the suspect knew something that they couldn’t have known–and it WASN’T a clue, so I had to undo it.
Teresa aka JW–Isn’t that silly? There were a couple of those, but that was the worst.
Jane–I had fewer of those this time, but they were still there. Mine tend to be along these lines: a character was NOT present at a conversation where some information was disclosed. But the character is aware of this info later, even though they weren’t part of the conversation.
Jackee–It’s good to know we’re all making the same kinds of mistakes. :)
Spider–Sounds like you and I have the same kind of problems going on!
In the South, we’d fix that by making it a double name. :) So he could be Arthur-Albert.
I hear that putting a manuscript aside for a few weeks is a good idea. But I never have that much time!
Isn’t it funny how sometimes the solution is easy, but we can’t see it? I think it’s because the world we’ve created gets so SET in our minds that we think it’s real brick and mortar and can’t be adjusted. I’m glad you found your solution.
Alex–I’m glad I’m not the only one! I’ll look forward to reading some of yours.
Alan–Ha! I used to do that, too, but now I always make it summer. I really don’t know why. Maybe because it’s so hot in the South in the summer and we all get grouchy…and want to murder people.
Terry–We are synchronized! Good luck with the new project–I know it’ll go well.
Kristen–It’s really frustrating. Especially since you go over the same section a million times and it doesn’t pop out at you. Bleh.
Michele–When I first saw the timeline correction I needed to do, I think my mind just shut down! That’s always the first thing that happens…this block comes up. But then I think through it and it’s never *quite* as bad as it looks.
I love the cook both grating and chopping. Can s/he juggle too? LOL.
My ms, is being edited right now. She asked me to search and eliminate as many ‘ly’ and ‘ing’ words as possible. That has made me so aware of adverbs and what function they play in writing.
Nancy
N. R. Williams, fantasy author
PS. Thank you Elizabeth, for stopping by my blog and leaving comments while I was to sick to reciprocate for too long.
Nancy–I’m thinking this cook can do it all! Maybe some sauteing was going on simultaneously. :)
I hope you’re feeling better now! There are times when all of us can’t get out and about as much as we’d like online (for whatever reason.) The important thing is to take care of yourself! :)
Elspeth–Figuring who knew what, when! Yes, me too. :)
Oh, you’re lucky your drafts are fairly clean. I had to giggle at your moments of insanity, as you always seem so totally collected.
My second round of editing was HUGE (first round is only fixing typos so I could READ the darned thing) so I suspect my most prevalent problems will be editing scars–I change something and miss all the ripple effects the change should have. I’m sure there are run-of-the mill brain farts, but fortunately I have SEVERAL first readers, so I am hoping most will get sorted out (though Leanne is really my only micro-reader)
Continuity is one thing I do well – everything else is a struggle! And I are not the grammar queen, so there’s lots of those mistakes, too.
Hart–Oh, it gets crazy. :) I just have to wonder where my brain was.
Editing scars–what a great way of putting that! Yes, in every edit, there’s a point where I have to correct something that referred to an old version of a manuscript–and I’d changed the plotline.
Diane–I need to get some continuity tips from you!
Karen–We all have *something* that comes back to bite us. :) If a writer says they don’t, then I don’t really believe them!
I have hardly written enough to tell what ´usually´ happens, but it is so funny to see that four people can read your stuff and then it is reader no five who notices silly POV problems in the first chapter (and thank you for noticing, Clarissa Draper!!!)
My Danish manuscripts were written slowly so the language was fine but the plots weak.
My English cosy was written very fast (for me) so there are more small errors (typos etc), but with regard to content my speed writing seems to work amazingly well.
I’m so happy to know I’m not the only one who suffers these glitches. For a long time, I felt really stupid.
Mine are missing words. I can write a sentence and leave out the word “the” or any other word and my brain reads right over it every time. I also had a character who had one eye and would find places where I referred to her “eyes.” ;-)
Thanks for making me feel normal.