Write Now Editing

Floating Body Parts: Yes or No? by Karen Saari

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“And the wrench is still there. What would it be like to operate with a professional team? I wouldn’t know that’s for sure. Give me more suction.”

Eyes rolled around the room.

I wrote this a few years ago and never gave it a second thought. But when I read it over yesterday, trying to determine if it was suitable for a contest entry, all I could see was eyeballs rolling around the room like they were on little roller skates. Now that’s a floating body part (FBP)!

I think you know what I was trying to say – everyone in the room rolled their eyes at the Doctors comment on professionalism. But that’s not what I wrote. There is nothing wrong with using the phrase rolled her eyes, as long as it’s connected to a person.

“Trying not to laugh, she rolled her eyes at his antics.”

We all know what that means. A writer could get super technical and write, “Trying not to laugh, she looked up and down quickly, at his antics.” That’s ridiculous. I wrote the sentence and I don’t know what it means! The sentence doesn’t qualify as a FBP because we understand the idiom. And the alternate, about looking up and down, will stop the story.

How can you tell which eye rolling is a FBP? In the second sentence those eyes are attached to a she. In my original sentence — Eyes rolled around the room – those eyes are rolling free!

Floating body parts are easy to spot. Every time a body part is mentioned it should be attached to a body. Referring to any body part without the stability of a whole body behind it, sets it afloat. Let’s look at a few.

He dropped his hands. My literal, visual brain sees a man standing, and his hands drop off his arms. What could you write that conveys the same feeling of frustration or giving up? His shoulders drooped. Or He slumped in the chair.

She slammed on the brakes and her arm shot out. This is a cause and effect situation. As adults, nearly all of us have reached out without thinking to protect our passenger. But the way this is written it sounds like the brakes caused her arm to shoot. She slammed the brake pedal and instinctively her arm went across the empty passenger seat. Because I used the word slammed, speed is suggested and we don’t need words like shot or flew.

There is a fine line between nabbing all apparent FBPs and recognizing an idiom. The determining factor should be – does it stop the story? If not, then carry on. If yes, then rephrase it.

Karen Saari loves to play with words, whether it’s writing or editing. She is a Christian, wife, mother and grandmother. Karen is currently working on her BA in English and Creative Writing. She writes contemporary Christian women’s fiction, and is working on a new book – The Neighbor’s Club.

An avid reader, she also sews and knits and is learning to draw and paint with watercolors. Yard sales and thrift stores are her favorite shopping places, besides craft stores. She lives with her husband, Robert in the mountains of northern California. They enjoy traveling the Oregon coast and photography.

Karen blogs at http://karensaari.com

4 Tips to Creating a Cleaner Manuscript By Sue A. Fairchild

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Last year, I began doing proofreading work for a publisher. Proofreading examines a previously edited manuscript to find and correct typographical errors and mistakes in grammar, style, and spelling.

At the proofreading stage, the manuscript has already been thoroughly edited by other industry professionals. This means I rarely find too many mistakes—only minor errors here and there. This is great for me because it’s almost as if I’m simply reading a book for enjoyment!

Although I had previously been more of a content editor, I love the proofreading work. In addition, it has assisted me in other areas of my editing business because it helps me understand how added spaces or incorrect formatting can affect a final manuscript. Since I’ve started proofreading, I’ve noticed I look for these types of errors while I’m completing other edits as well. I pass these corrections on to my clients so they can ensure their manuscript is ready for publication.

Here are a few items to look for and correct within your manuscript.

Additional spaces after a period. This one is standard and should be done by every editor, in my opinion. Most writers type more than one space after a period at least once in their manuscripts. Additional spaces can be easily found and corrected using the Find/Replace tool in Word.

Spaces before a paragraph return. I have discovered that almost every author (or at least the ones I’ve worked with) will sometimes press their space bar before the enter key when they want to start a new paragraph. This can cause some issues with formatting so I will utilize the Find/Replace tool again in Word to find this issue throughout the document and correct it. Simply click the “special” pull down menu within the Find/Replace menu and choose “paragraph mark.” In the Find section, you’ll see a caret before the letter P. Put a space before that and Word will find all the spaces before any paragraph marks in your document.

Chapter headings. Most of the publishers I work for do not want the manuscript’s chapter headings to have any indent. I choose each chapter heading and ensure I set it to left justified without any indents.

The red underline. In Microsoft Word, misspelled words are underlined in red with a squiggly line. It’s easy to skim through your document and catch those words thanks to that red line. Remember, it might just be a word that the program is unfamiliar with or one you’ve made up (especially if you’re a fantasy writer), so make sure you know which word you truly want. Utilize Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary to check any words of which you’re unsure.

Editing encompasses so much more than these four things, of course, but every author can take these small steps toward creating the cleanest manuscript they can before sending it off to an editor. But even if you do, I’ll still check!

Sue started out as a devotion writer, but now also claims the titles of editor, proofreader, webmistress, and blogger. She has written and self-published three books as well as helped a variety of authors get their manuscripts into readers’ hands. Sue loves working with clients who are working toward the greater good of sharing God’s message in this world. Email sueafairchild74@gmail.com to discuss a free sample edit. Check out her website for testimonials: suessimplesnippets.wordpress.com

When You Can’t Afford an Editor: 5 Easy Tips for Stronger Content

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Few people go into business planning to give it their second-best effort. Instead, they prepare. They plan. They invest in the website and store front, possibly in business coaching and financial planning. They do what it takes – spend what it takes – to provide the best services and products possible.

But not many of them leave room in their budgets for content writing or editing.

It’s one of those things that most people do for themselves (regardless of whether or not they should). But I’m not here today to try to convince anyone that they should hire an editor. The truth is that most of the business owners I know realize they need help with their content, but they just can’t afford it. Until that glorious day when content writing skills are as appreciated as accounting skills, I understand that people will write their own content.

That doesn’t mean I have to sit by and let them do it badly.

There’s no substitute for a professional, trained editor, but there are things that anyone can do to help strengthen their business’s or organization’s content. Here are five easy tips for writing stronger content.

  1. Have another industry professional read it. No one knows your industry as well as the people in it, so there’s no one more qualified to spot an informational error than those people. If you’re in a professional association, see if someone there would be will to fact check your content; if you’re not, ask a local colleague. They’ll help you spot any industry-related inaccuracies that others will miss.
  2. Have someone outside the industry read it. Once the pros have had a go, head the other direction and find people completely unfamiliar with your work. These people will be able to tell you what does and doesn’t make sense to layman (which is especially helpful when you’re trying to draw in new clients).
  3. Have an English teacher read it. But not for grammar. English teachers around the world might revolt because of what I’m about to say, but it’s the truth: your content writing doesn’t have to be technically correct. Remember when you were taught not to start sentences with conjunctions? And when the teacher said not to end a sentence with a preposition? Forget it, especially if you’re writing for your website. Proper grammar isn’t the most important thing; connecting with your audience is! Instead, see if an English teacher (or other publishing professional) can give you a solid copyedit – spelling, punctuation, word usage (should you use whet or wet?).
  4. Read it backwards. Start with the last sentence of your copy and read it backwards, one sentence at a time. When you read it as written, your mind fills in spaces with what you know should be written (even if it isn’t there or if it’s written incorrectly). By reading it backwards, you force yourself to read each line individually, which will help you identify those typos.
  5. Read it out loud. It’s easy to skim over an awkward sentence when you’re reading, but it’s hard to ignore it once you’ve spoken it out loud.

Will these five tricks turn you into a master copywriter? Sorry, no, but using these tricks with help you strengthen what you’ve written, making your content more effective.

Did you find this information helpful? Sign up now to receive more business writing and entrepreneurial tips right in your inbox! And don’t forget to connect with me on Facebook!

Merry Christmas and Happy Editing!

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Using A Computer For Browsing Internet And Checking Email

I’m writing this before Christmas but it will post after the holiday . I haven’t gone to my first Christmas party yet, but by the time you see this I’ll have attended several. By the time you read this I will also have given all of my gifts, but as I write I still have several left to buy. That’s okay though, because I have a list. I know exactly what I’m getting for each person – I just need to buy it. I don’t leave my gift-buying to chance. That’s a recipe for disaster. Instead, I have a plan.

You should approach editing the same way. You don’t want to start editing and hope you end up with something publishable. It’s not enough to correct your punctuation and grammar. Several factors contribute to the sale-ability of your manuscript, so go into editing with a plan and you’ll increase your chances of seeing your work in print. Here are a few things to consider before you start editing.

  • Word Count. If you want to publish a contemporary romance but it’s 120,000 words long, you might have a problem. Likewise, if your article is only 500 words but your target magazines have a 1,000 minimum, you’ll need to keep writing.
  • Audience. The age and education of your audience matters – you’ll want to tone down or amp up your vocabulary accordingly. Periodicals can be written anywhere from 6th grade to high school reading levels. A trade magazine, however, will require more specific and technical explanations. Make sure you know what your publisher requires.
  • Purpose. If you’re covering the news, your opinion shouldn’t show up anywhere in the article. An op ed piece or blog post, however, can be written more like a personal essay. You don’t want to be too stiff or personal, depending on the publication.
  • Format. Blog posts work best when they include a list, bullet points, and white space. Magazines and book publishers will require more traditional formatting (double spaced, first line indent, etc.). Where will your manuscript appear?
  • Publishing Guidelines. Every publisher has its own requirements, so it’s important to do your research. You don’t want to submit a manuscript in Courier font if that publisher only accepts documents in Times New Roman. It may seem insignificant to you, but not following the publisher’s guidelines is the easiest and fastest way to get your rejection.

Go into editing with a plan and you’ll save yourself hours of re-editing later. Understand the publishing guidelines of your target publisher, and you’ll increase your chances of getting noticed by the publisher.

Good luck, and have a great New Year!

 

5 Secrets to Successful Self-Editing

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vector-colored-pencils-913-1856If you write anything, you need to proofread it. Whether you’re writing a blog post, email, or promotional material, your work needs to be edited. Not everyone has the time or money to hire an editor, however, so you need to know how to do it yourself. Don’t assume that because you can write you’ll automatically catch every mistake. Good editing takes practice. Here are five self-editing secrets to help you get your work ready to submit.

  1. Let it sit. Don’t jump right into editing after you finish writing. Give it some time to sit before you start making changes.
  2. Print it out. It’s tempting to read through things on the computer screen, but it’s easy to miss mistakes when you compose, read, and edit digitally. Print it out and grab some pens and highlighters.
  3. Read it out loud. You can’t really understand how awkwardly something is worded until you read it out loud. Find yourself a secluded spot and start reading.
  4. One at a time. If you’re having a hard time finding the errors in your work, grab some highlighters and tackle one topic at a time. As Ann Lamott’s father told her, “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.” Look for passive voice first, then tackle telling, then punctuation, etc.
  5. Wash, rinse, repeat. Do it again. While it would be nice if we caught everything on the first pass, that’s rarely the case. Give it at least one more read (depending on the length and complexity of the manuscript, maybe more).

While it’s always best to have a professional look at your writing, it’s possible to present a well-crafted, well-polished manuscript by practicing these simple tricks. And here’s a bonus tip – swap manuscripts with other writers and offer to edit each other’s work. You learn by doing, and that’s a great way to exercise your editing muscle.

Still confused, or struggling to understand some concepts of editing? Contact me and let me help!

ABOUT ME

Editor. Teacher. Novelist.
A passionate lover of fiction, Karin doesn't just write novels, she helps others write their best stories! A certified substantive editor with the Christian Editor Connection, her goal is to help authors to put her out of business by equipping them with the tools they need to become better writers.

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Karin understood my advertising and marketing writing needs and accomplished the project in record time. She asked all the right questions up front to equip herself with enough … [more]

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Substantive Fiction Editing: A substantive edit looks at the big picture. Start here to tackle the big issues before moving on to the nit-picky details. Substantive edits not only point out … [more]

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Lover of all things fiction, I also love University of Michigan football, the Detroit Lions, Tigers, and Red Wings, kayaking, gluten-free cupcakes, and my husband.

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Press Release Tool Kit Stop waiting and hoping for people to notice you and your organization! With this Press Release Tool Kit, you’ll learn to apply the step-by-step process I use to … [more]