Writing Tips

Editing. Ugh…
So you’ve finished that first draft – congratulations! Now’s the time to have a long, hard think about whether everything in that book deserves its place. It’s time to “kill your darlings”.There are plenty of reasons why a story element might not make the final cut (I’ve looked at these in the previous three blogs), but removing what might be a beautiful piece of prose is always painful.

So here is my advice. Cut what needs to be cut – but don’t delete it. Copy and paste it into an ideas document. Not only is that less distressing than deleting it entirely, but it also means it’s there to use in a different book.

I have a file with a mixture of completed prose – paragraphs of polished story that wouldn’t look out of place in a finished novel, loosely plotted sub-plots and even fully fleshed-out characters.
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Some of these idea fragments will never see the light of day; others may end up in a new book (perhaps heavily disguised). Still others might be the inspiration for a new idea. If the darling was a sub-plot, maybe it could form the basis of a short story?

Whatever happens to those fragments, one day you might be glad you buried your darlings in a shallow grave, rather than cremated them.

Now where did I leave that shovel?

Kill your Darlings! The chances are, that if you are interested in writing, then you have probably heard this refrain. But what does it mean, and how can you tell which darlings need to be killed?All books are jam-packed with interesting characters, fun scenes, interesting research and hilarious occurrences. I’m sure that your first draft is full of all these and more. But have they earned their place? Every book is different, every writer is different and every reader is different. But one thing is the same: there are things that belong in your book, and things that need to be chopped.

In the previous two blog posts I have made suggestions about how to identify some of these darlings and how to decide if they stay or go, today I want to suggest a few more.

Speed it up or slow it down?
One of the most common reasons to cut material is to control the pace- cut things to make the narrative flow faster. But don’t just assume that faster is always better. Think about what you want your readers to be doing. Some novels hit the ground at a sprint and don’t let up until the last page.
For others, you may want to give the reader time to catch their breath and think about what you’ve written. Perhaps a less kinetic section with more details or character interactions is needed every so often.

No, they’d never do that!
It’s very easy to get carried away when writing fun scenes, but sometimes it doesn’t fit the character’s personality or established skill-set. If you’ve spent all book (or series!) having your character grumbling about how unprofessional their work colleagues are, you’d better have a really good justification for retaining that amusing scene where they get drunk and sing Dancing Queen at the office Christmas karaoke.

Should that character be made redundant?
We’ve all done it; that amazing character that comes fully-formed into our heads and just has to be written about. But do they need to be there? In books, the reader has to remember all the characters in a scene after you’ve told them they are present. It’s not like TV or film, where you can see everyone in the room, even if they aren’t speaking or doing anything.
Does a character need to be in that scene, or could they be omitted, with their lines and actions plausibly handed over to someone else? Does that character even need to exist in that book?

Thanks for reading. Next week I will be suggesting what to do with those newly massacred darlings, so please pop back or browse the archives for more tips.
Please feel free to comment either here or on social media.
Paul

Aside from a few oddballs, most writers will tell you that editing that first draft is one of the hardest – and least enjoyable – parts of writing a novel.“Kill your darlings” is a widely shared piece of advice handed down from experienced writers to novices. Don’t be too wedded to story elements; each part of your book has to earn its place, or it needs to go.

In the last blog post, I suggested a few things that you might consider when identifying these darlings. Carry on reading for more ideas.

Nobody cares!
OK, this is going to sound harsh, but you really have to decide how much of those pages of research into a really fascinating subject are necessary to tell the story. There are no rules for this but consider the impact on the story’s pace and what sort of book you are trying to write. Information dumps are rarely a good idea (although one incredibly popular thriller writer has managed this).
But remember, it’s impossible to please everyone – I get reviews telling me how fascinating the science that I include in my books is, and others saying they skipped over it.

Does the story work without it?
I crafted a lovely idea for a sub-plot with a nice red herring. But there were already some diversions written into the story, and this one took up space. There was nothing wrong with it, but with 15,000 words needing to be cut it had to go.

Does it add necessary extra detail?
I write a series with ongoing characters. These characters grow over time and I am conscious of the fact that many of my regular readers are, in part, popping back to see how Warren and the team are getting on in life.
Because of that, I often find myself imagining their interactions; we learn about them as people and I enjoy writing those scenes. But how necessary are these passages? Do they negatively impact the pace (in which case maybe they could be moved, rather than deleted), do they add anything meaningful or are they just a bit self-indulgent?

Is it worthy of its space?
Similar to the points above, there may be good reasons to include passages in your book that would be out of place in someone else’s story.
I enjoy writing humour and like to slip in some banter or even the occasional daft situation, but my books are not comedies. A two-page setup for a brilliant gag would not be an appropriate use of space in one of my novels. On the other hand, readers of the Discworld series read them for that very reason.
Similarly, early Tom Clancy novels are filled with pages of detailed trivia about weaponry and military hardware that his fans love, but which others may not.
So consider your audience, and be prepared to kill those darlings!

Thanks for reading and come back next week for more suggestions on how to kill those darlings, or browse the archives for more tips.
Please feel free to comment either here or on social media.
Paul

Aside from a few oddballs, most writers will tell you that editing that first draft is one of the hardest – and least enjoyable – parts of writing a novel.Aside from the obvious chore of correcting grammar gremlins and wrestling ugly sentences into shape, it’s also the time to have a long, hard think about whether everything in that book deserves its place.

“Kill your darlings”, a quote often (mis?)attributed to William Faulkner, is one of the most valuable pieces of advice that more experienced writers can share.
Sometimes it helps to consider another great 19th Century writer, Charles Darwin. Imagine that everything between the covers of a book is fighting for survival. Only the fittest will make the final cut. Everything has to earn its place.
There are plenty of reasons that a story element might not make the final edit. Over the next few blog posts I’m going to consider a few of them.

Size matters
A few weeks ago, I finished the first complete draft of what will become DCI Warren Jones 7. According to the number in the bottom left-hand corner of MS Word it weighed in at a whopping 145,000 words. That is at least 15,000 more than I want.
There are plenty of well-known authors whose readers will lap up 900 pages without question (and even some genres where anything less than 750 pages is considered a pamphlet), but frankly, I’m not one of them and I dare say neither are you. I could hand it in to my editor as it is, but I know exactly what she’s going to say, so why not save us all some time and get those scissors out now?

Does it advance the story?
In plot-driven genres, particularly those with an expectation of pace, it’s important that the story keeps on driving forward. If a narrative element doesn’t do that, then ask if it needs to stay. You don’t have to cut it, but perhaps there has to be another reason for its inclusion.

​Do convolutions give the reader convulsions?
The contortions necessary to parse this sub-heading illustrate the point for me here.
Bond movies need a couple of set piece spectaculars each film – it’s what the audience are there for, and so viewers are more forgiving of convoluted storylines that are clearly just paving the way to the big stunt. But how often have you watched another film and found yourself rolling your eyes as barely credible plot twists deliver the excuse for a multi-million-dollar car chase?
Do you have to twist your story to make a key scene plausible? Obviously, that’s part of being a writer. But ask yourself if that scene is really necessary for your book. If it is, then twist away – that’s one of the best bits of writing. If the story works without it, then consider killing that darling.

Thanks for reading and come back next week for more suggestions on how to kill those darlings, or browse the archives for more tips.
Please feel free to comment either here or on social media.
Paul