Writing Tips: A Chat with the Editor

Earlier this past weekend/week, I gave you guys the chance to submit questions for my editor, Jeri. She’s generously answered many of the inquiries I received. To make it easier on Jeri, I condensed and combined some of the questions, and anything in italics is from me–I couldn’t help putting in a few side-notes in addition to asking the questions. Now, before we get started, I want to give a little bit of background info.

Jeri–or Editor #1 as I usually refer to her–has worked with me since I released The Wild Swans in 2014. She’s edited almost all of my books–although some she didn’t get a chance to take a crack at until recently–and she’s the only editor I use for everything. (Editor #2 just works with me on Timeless Fairy Tales. Jeri has gone through all of my stories.) I consider her to be an excellent colleague, but she is also an awesome friend and has the best taste in books. Okay, we’re ready to get going!

KM Shea: For our first question, could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Jeri: Oh, wow. An interview and a personal question? I feel like I have a spotlight pointed at me… I’m a working mom with three kiddos, a fantastic husband, and two dogs. I was born and bred in the West and have lived in multiple states and cities around the Rockies. I have an MA in English, and with that I taught technical writing and composition for years, leading me into the editing world. However, editing hasn’t been my day job for a long time. I just do it for fun on the side while I work in corporate training for my 9-5.

K: How did editing become your career?

J: I actually stumbled into editing from an academic pathway. I planned on being an English instructor (after I realized doctors don’t get to go home very often) and worked as an adjunct at four different universities/colleges while we settled and started our family. The class I loved teaching the most was technical writing because commas and grammar make me happy. That technical writing background was absolutely mandatory for what I do to help KM Shea. An editor must know when to use a comma and when to use a semi-colon, to know the difference between a phrase and a clause, a compound and a compound-complex sentence.

From there, I worked as the senior editor for an academic research program for several years. In that role, I got very good at figuring out what authors meant through their context and at being able to articulate it for them without changing their voice. That skill/talent is critical. KM’s voice is so awesome that you want to hear her, not me. So it’s important for any editor to have the gift of…translation, so to speak—to be able to pull out of an author’s context what she’s really trying to say and to keep the “fix” clean enough to sound like her, not like the editor.

Editing is kind of a marriage between those two skills—the technical, math-like nature of grammar and usage and the gut-feel of knowing what an author really meant to say, but didn’t. (KM Shea: She’s right. While I mostly wax poetry about Jeri’s ability to fix my various cases of comma abuse, her ability to tweak a sentence so it is structurally complete but sounds the same is just as important.)

K: What is your editing process? Do you edit while you read, or read the book first then edit, do you watch for specific things, or just fix whatever errors you find?

J: I read and edit simultaneously. But, this comes down to the difference between copyediting and editing. And I kind of do both. Because KM’s nice and patient with me, she doesn’t care that I make organizational and character recommendations as I go—acting as more of an editor. And for that, I have to read. (KM Shea: *snorts* What she’s not telling you is those “recommendations” point out critical flaws. Addressing them help flesh out and fix the characters/scene/story.)

But, I make copyediting changes as I go, too, wiping out commas and spelling errors. And then I do a second pass after KM has made revisions because, like everyone, I’m human and miss things the first time around. (KM Shea: She’s being generous. She also has to take a second pass because I’ll make changes and add paragraphs/scenes and muck the whole thing up again.) As KM has mentioned in her posts, I think I have two talents: though I can’t make up a story for the life of me, I am good at finding the holes in the stories others weave. And I know how to fill those holes and what that character would say or do (especially if the characters are as awesome as they are in KM Shea’s books). Then, I know where the punctuation should be changed to make that meaning come across and to be true (as much as is possible, with some artistic license) to the English language and all its crazy intricacies.

K: How long does it take you to edit a Timeless Fairy Tale? In comparison, how long does it take you to edit a King Arthurs story?

J: KM sends her novels to me in amazingly good condition. They don’t take me very long at all. Because her voice is so clean and her characters already so well fleshed out, I can edit a Timeless Fairy Tale in about a weekend (around feeding my kids and going to the grocery store). The King Arthurs took me less time because they were short. I think I cranked through four of them in a long weekend.

That said, though, I have edited some books that have eaten my life for months. KM’s just come to me immensely clean. For instance, I just finished a project for another friend that went through 8 drafts. Yep, 8. So, if you’re feeling like editing’s always going to be smooth and easy, it’s not. And sometimes the content is atrocious. Tax books are really boring to edit.

K: Which of K. M. Shea’s books have the hardest content to edit?

J: Hmmm…this one’s hard. She’s such a clean writer, that content isn’t really the problem. The faster the writing flows for her, though, the more I have to edit—when she’s on a roll, she’s really going fast. Then there may be a few more goofs than normal, or a character may need a tweak or two, but that’s about it. She’s a dream to edit.

The content is really the characters and this new world she is creating. She is very adept at introducing it a piece at a time so readers aren’t overwhelmed, but receive what they want when they should be getting it. So, as an editor, the only thing I have to watch is if a first-time reader would get it or not. If not, then she’ll have to fix it. If so, then we’re good.

K: What’s the hardest part about editing?

J: The hardest part is that usually, a 9-5 editing job is filled with boring content. Tax books and history texts can sometimes really make me yawn. The several years I worked as an editor for my full-time gig, I was editing Department of Defense stuff. Snooze-fest. I totally lucked out in finding novels as freelance. And even if you are editing novels, editing GOOD novels is a completely different experience. I have a dream gig here, folks. (KM Shea: I feel honored you would say that, but a part of me wants to protest because I see all the corrections you make to polish my manuscripts!)

K: What is your favorite book?

J: Too many to count. I actually have over 1500 books at my house. I kind of have a slight obsession…

My favorites of KM’s are these (I think in this order, but that changes daily):

1. Rumpelstiltskin

2. MBRC

3. Red Rope of Fate

4. Arthur stories

5. Cinderella

6. Snow Queen (but none of you have read it yet…) (KM Shea: Hahah, that’s so sneaky of you to mention it!)

Some of my favorites as these (in no particular order):

1. Persuasion

2. Count of Monte Cristo

3. Night Circus (KM Shea: Ohmygoodness, she introduced me to this book, and I LOVE IT! It has such beautiful language!)

4. Love Walked In

5. Desert Solitaire

6. Much Ado about Nothing (though Hamlet and Twelfth Night are right up there, too)

7. Edenbrooke (KM Shea: Another one she introduced me to, you MUST read this one if you like historical romances!)

8. Walden

9. Seeking Persephone

10. The Wednesday Wars

11. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

12. Flowers for Algernon

13. The Mother Tongue (but really, anything by Bill Bryson is amazing)

14. Sherlock Holmes (I love the short stories more than the novellas…The Speckled Band is really fabulous)

15. Walden

16. Silas Marner

17. O Pioneers!

18. The Scarlet Pimpernel (I love that it was written by a woman aristocrat)

19. The Cask of Amontillado (if you haven’t read Poe in October, you’re missing out)

20. The Lord of the Rings series

21. Harry Potter series

22. Nearly anything by Robin McKinley, Shannon Hale, ED Baker, or Gayle Carson Levine

23. The Mitford series by Jan Karon

24. The Virginian (and pretty much any western ever…Louis L’Amour can spin a great yarn)

25. The Good Earth

26. The Tempest

27. And, I should probably stop there, or we’ll be here for a while…

K: Like I said before, she has excellent taste. That’s all for today, although I’m hoping to have Jeri here on the blog again in the future. Please give her a shout-out, if you like, in the comments! A good editor, like Jeri, is worth her weight in gold. Thanks for all your hard work, Jeri! That’s it for this weekend, but I will tease you all and let you know that I have a fun announcement to share next week… until then, Champions, have a great weekend!

Writing Tips: Difficult Romance

Today I’m reverting back to answering reader questions!

Shaylee said I really love your books and I really want to know who the hardest romance for you to write was? And how did you finish writing it even though it was hard?

Oh-ho-ho-ho, this is a question I am so looking forward to answering!

Hands down, Elle and Severin from Beauty and the Beast were the most difficult couple I have ever written. Never before (and hopefully never again) have I written a pair of characters who were so completely disinterested in each other. Their lack of interest comes from their fascinating backgrounds, and it provided a great backbone for the story, but when I hit the halfway point I was pulling out my hair because neither of them would speak to each other. The entire story hinged on their backgrounds, so it wasn’t something I could rewrite, but I knew I needed help, or the pair would never fall in love. Disinterest between a couple is much more difficult to handle than dislike.

You have to be aware of someone to dislike them, but disinterest is dangerous because it means you don’t notice the other person is alive. If you have two characters like this, it will be a real challenge to make them shed their apathy.

Having painfully learned this while writing B&B, I knew if I wanted to make the romance happen, I had to have a massive intervention with the entire cast of B&B. I took an afternoon where I sat down and asked Severin and Elle what it would take to make them get interested in each other. I ended up concluding that the duo would not willingly start down the path of friendship, but I realized that they both prized their relationship with Severin’s servants. I swapped my attention to their servants, and Emele enthusiastically volunteered and became the vehicle used to brow-beat Elle into befriending Severin. Once Elle was convinced an attempt at friendship was necessary, she was going to force Severin into talking to her, whether he wanted to or not. This opened up interactions between the duo, which is what allowed their relationship to blossom.

Most times the couples I write are self sufficient—like Ahira and Azmaveth from Princess Ahira, or Gemma and Stil of Rumpelstiltskin. If I give them enough “screen time” together, they will make the romance happen themselves. Sometimes the characters need a little nudge—or a big wallop, like Elle and Severin. It’s important to have a strong cast of supporting characters, or several outside factors, which can impact the hero and heroine and open a path for them. Even my books where the couple falls in love on their own have strong supporting characters, because it provides a deeper canvas for their relationship to be displayed on. Having dowdy secondary characters will not make the magic of the romance stand out more, it will make it less believable.

Another helpful trick I’ve learned in trying to jump start character relationships, is to collect real-life examples of romance. Ask married couples how they met and how the proposal was pulled off. You’ll get some sweet and some hilarious stories, you’ll learn a lot about romance and how it affects the way a couple interacts, and it will also teach you what won’t work. In example, the invasive persistence Colonel Friedrich of Cinderella displays would have utterly terrified Tari of Red Rope, and the relationship never would have gotten off the ground.

That’s all for today! Next week I will receive the corrected draft of the Little Selkie, so I will have a better idea when it will be released. Also, I updated the “Coming Soon” tab with a tentative/estimated release schedule, so check it out when you have time. Thanks for reading, Champions! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Writing Tips: Productivity

I’m sad to say I’m pushing back The Little Selkie‘s release to early April instead of mid March. The delay is a downer, but I’m actually excited about it! It’s being delayed because a second editor is taking a look at it! I’m hopeful this will give my books a boost in terms of quality/proofreading, which will deliver a higher quality read. Or it should. I hope. Time will tell what you Champions think!

Also, fun news! The Wild Swans will be available on Amazon for FREE from March 5, to March 7. Pick up a copy, or send a copy to your friends! 😉

Moving on, today I’m tackling two questions about writing and time management. Let’s begin!

Maddie asks “How can you find time to write while in school and taking an extracurricular?”

I’ve been out of school for a while, but as I’ve mentioned before I did write a few books while in high school and college. When I was in high school I tried to set aside an hour a day to write. Some semesters that hour was my study hall, but typically it was the hour after I got home—before dinner and before I did any of my night activities. In college it was a little easier because my schedule was so flexible.

An hour a day is what worked for me. For you it might be half an hour every day, or an hour every other day, or maybe three hours on Saturdays and Sundays. The amount/frequency of the time isn’t  as important as the dedication. If you manage your time so you can write half an hour every day, (Or three hours on the weekends or whatever you choose) it will become habit. If you really want to make your time count, try to write in a place that is free of distractions—this means probably NOT your bedroom. In college I wrote a lot at my university library. It was great because I couldn’t ever get distracted by food, roommates, or noise.

It’s easy to say “carve out an hour to write,” but it’s another thing to do it. You’ll probably have to make some kind of sacrifice. ( For example, I watched zippo TV in high school, but I was okay with that because to me writing was more important.) Now days if I want to squeeze extra time into my day for writing, I get up an hour early.

Another option–besides the dedicated time–is to try and redeem “lost” minutes. Instead of writing on a computer, do all of your writing in a notebook, or maybe your ipad or your smart phone. (Some Japanese stories are written entirely though texts, with each new “chapter” being one text.) Carry your chosen recording method with you EVERYWHERE. Whenever you have a few minutes (if you arrive at school early, or you’re waiting for practice to begin or class to start, or you’re riding the bus) take out your notebook/ipad/smart phone and get writing! The downside to this method is that it can be jarring to delve into your writing only to disconnect several minutes later. However, the short time periods can help with your creativity. I know of an author who writes short stories using twitter. About 5-20 tweets make one story, and they are really entertaining. Anyway! If you’re absolutely desperate for time, this is your way to go!

I hope that helps, Maddie. Good luck!

Annnnd for the next question, Kelly asks, “How do you write so fast? Most other authors I follow write so slowly compared to you. They take double the time or longer. (This includes the post-writing process)”

The building blocks of my speed are practice, and time. I’m a full-time author, which means I log anywhere from 40-50 hours a week on my books. As for practice, my first book (It was HORRID. In fact, let’s not talk about it. It brings back nightmares.) I wrote almost fifteen years ago. When I started it took me over a year to finish a book, but practice and reading a lot of non-fiction books and articles about writing helped whittle it down to roughly six to three months depending on the book length. Mind you, I had written about eight books by the time I got to that point–and at least four of those eight books will never see the light of day. It’s like the old saying “It takes 10,000 hours to master something.”

The biggest game-changer was when I read a book called “2k to 10k” by Rachel Aaron. On average, most authors write 500 to 2,000 words per day, which is roughly 2-5ish pages in a Microsoft word document. I usually managed to write 5 pages a day, or 6 on a particularly good day, and this was considered impressive. After reading “2k to 10k” I jumped to writing 13 pages a day.

And the final reason why I am relatively fast, is because I tackle my books in much shorter succession than most authors. For instance, last month I wrote Little Selkie. This month I’m aiming to start and finish Puss in Boots. Most writers take a few months in between their books. I don’t. My mother tells me I’m a wee bit obsessed. I choose to use the term “passionate.”

As a side note, my fast pace is due mostly to my writing speed. The editing process takes much longer than you would expect, because I’m trying to balance my schedule, my beta reader’s schedule, and my editor’s schedule. Plus, whenever anyone edits the book I have to go over it again to read their comments and view their changes.

I hope you found this post informative, Champions! Have a great day, and I’ll chat with you soon.