Manuscript

The Mentorship Begins . . .

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 1 Comment

Yesterday I got my first feedback from Garry Ryan. #writetip Garry is an author from Calgary, Alberta. He writes the Detective Lane series. For those of you who have been reading my blog for a while, I wrote about the Crime Writer’s of Canada mentorship program. I didn’t end of partnering with David Cole, but all has worked out and the program is underway. Garry has volunteered his time to help my make my novel better.

I won’t bore you with the details, but I want to mention one highlight in his comments. There has been talk about series writing this week on some of the writing blogs. Well, my novels aren’t a series, but I do have characters that are in all three novels.

Garry pointed out to me that I don’t describe my characters in the opening scene. Seems obvious, but for me, I’ve lived with them through three novels, so I know what they look like. I just forgot to tell the reader.

Garry is the first person to read my third novel who hasn’t read the first two. I’m not sure my readers who read the first two would have picked up on this omission. I guess it’s good to find readers that haven’t read all your work. You never know what improvement you might be able to make. Thanks Garry.

Related articles

First Draft Readers

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 3 Comments

Am I nervous? #writetip Of course I am. I have a new reader for my third novel. I decided I needed someone to read my novel that hadn’t read the first two. So what did I do to prepare my reader? A reader has different responsibilities at each stage of the  novel.

For the first draft I give the reader a list of suggestions and questions.

1. Don’t worry about proofreading for typos. That will come later.

2. Each time you suspect a character of committing the crime, write it in the margin. This allows me to see if I’ve dropped too few or too many hints.

3. Did you start to skim anywhere? This is how I find out if I’ve put too much detail.

4. Are you unsure who is speaking? This means I didn’t add enough dialogue tags.

5. Sometimes a character doesn’t appear for a few chapters. When they reappear, do you remember who they are or do I have to add a reminder?

6. Is there anything you didn’t understand or that was confusing?

And finally I ask them to comment on any passages they liked. To me this is just as important as finding out what didn’t work. Then I can review that passage and understand why they liked it. Okay, and it’s a nice boost to the ego.

The Beginning: The End

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

How important is it to come full circle in your novel? #writetip

I find myself at the first draft stage of my third novel. This is a good opportunity for me to check that the ending fits with the first chapter.

Here are some important questions you can ask:

1. Do you close off on any problems you created for your protagonist or other main characters?

2. Do you answer any questions you left hanging in the first chapter?

3. What reasons did you give the reader to keep reading after chapter one? There must be closure to these issues.

4. Do the first and last chapter have something in common?

I like a novel to feel rounded. I want to know there was a point to the first chapter and that the author wrote it as part of a story and not a gimmick to get me reading.  The questions help me ensure my novel offers the reader the same courtesy.

Is your novel too long?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 2 Comments

Has your agent/publisher asked you to shorten your novel by thousands of words? #writetip

Here’s what I did when my agent, Margaret Hart, suggested I pick up the pacing near the end of my first novel. I ended up cutting 6,000 words, but this technique will work for more/less words.

I re-read each scene and asked myself why I wrote it? Was is critical to the story? In no, I removed it. If yes, what was in the scene that I needed? In one scene I was revealing a piece of critical information. I added that information to another scene and cut the original scene. Poof, there went 1,000 words.

Next I analyzed each minor character. Could I combine two characters into one? This worked for cutting about 500 words.

Following that, I re-read the narrative and made notes on how I described characters or setting. By making notes, it enabled me to see where I had repeated myself. Another 500 words gone.

You can see I started big and worked my way to the little cuts. I think it made my novel a better story.

Any suggestions on how you do this?

Editing Online

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 2 Comments

Pages or Word have functions that allow you to edit a manuscript online. #writetip I’m working on a friend’s manuscript and am doing it over the internet. Since I’ll be traveling for the winter, it’s not practical for me to work on a hard copy. Yesterday I started reading the manuscript and decided to use two methods for editing online.

The “comments” functions allows me to  insert comments on the margin of the document. This is where I put things like, “Where did the garbage bags come from?” I made this comment on a scene where a group is on the run and they are about to jump off a train and into a lake. They packed their things in garbage bags before jumping. There had been no mention of garbage bags to this point. I use this function to mention anything that doesn’t make sense.

This is also where I mention what I like. It’s just as important to tell an author what you do like. They need to hear what’s working in their novel.

The “track changes” function allows me to correct typos, and punctuation or grammar mistakes. The author can then accept or reject the changes without too much effort.

On a side note, if you like my blog, you might also like to read Jennifer Eaton’s. She has some interesting things to say about what to look for in a manuscript.

Chapter Headings

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 3 Comments

There are many formats for chapter headings, but one thing that can’t be wrong is the numbering. #writetip If you’re self editing, and I would guess lots of authors are, at least before submitting to an agent or publisher, check your numbers carefully.

By the time an author completes a novel, I suspect scenes, if not whole chapters, have been reorganized. You might move a scene to an earlier spot in your novel. You might remove a chapter. Infinite changes are possible.

In the end, don’t forget to check the chapter numbers are in right. It’s easy to re-use a chapter number or skip one all together. I print my manuscript and spread is chapter by chapter across the floor.

Other small things I check:

– Are the headings a consistent font and character size?

– Are the headings positioned at the same spot on the page? By this I mean, check the number of lines before  and after the chapter heading. Are all the heading centred, left aligned, or right aligned?

– Do the headings start on a new page?

This many seem small, but it will enhance the professionalism of your submission.

Sentence Structure

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 2 Comments

Variety  in sentences can reduce choppiness and smooth the narrative. #writetip

Early in my writing, one of my mentors (Joan Barfoot) suggested I work on variety in sentence structures. I decided to be methodical, about it and here is a method I use to check for variety.

Randomly choose a page of your novel.

Hit return after each sentence. Basically, you form a new paragraph with each line.

Run through the following checklist:

– Are the sentence lengths different? If not, you might want to vary the lengths.

– Do you ever use introductory phrases or clauses. If not, why not try it and see if it changes the sound of your writing.

– Do you use sentences that contain conjunctions? Are they different or do you repeat the same ones?

–  Short declarative sentences can be powerful, but if used to often can lose their power.

Proofreading A Novel

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 2 Comments

Being asked to proofread someone else’s novel is a scary and flattering task. #writetip I’ve been asked to do this, and I started thinking about what this means.

I asked the author and myself the following questions:

What is the author looking for? Does he want comments on punctuation and grammar, characters, or plot line.

Does he use a style guide that I should consult?

What are my own talents? Being honest here is important. Can you pick up typos? Or does your eye easily breeze over them?

Do I have the time? It’s a big commitment to review a manuscript. It deserves my full attention. The author has spent many hours creating the manuscript, and it’s better to say no to reading than to rush through it.

With that said, I’d better get focussed and start reading.

New Points Of View

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 2 Comments

When a character appears out of nowhere and wants the POV, let the writing flow. #writetip Sometimes a scene needs to be written. You many not want the extra POV in your novel and can decide later whether you use it or not.

Yesterday I wrote a scene with an existing character, but one that I have not given a point of view scene before. I didn’t end up using the scene in my novel, but I did write a follow-up scene with a different character as the POV, and it was much better (in my opinion) because I knew exactly what had happened behind closed doors.

Character A and B argued. Character B revealed a key piece of information to character A. I wrote this from Character A’s POV. Then I removed the scene.

Next Scene. An RCMP officer interviews character A right after the heated argument. I found it easier to describe Character A, his mannerisms, his answers, etc. because the fight was fresh in my mind. Character A had a hard time talking with the RCMP when he hadn’t processed the information.