Experiencing my first professional edit
In 2011 I had an idea for an original novel. Naturally,
as I’d been writing gay m/m romance in my fanfiction, I decided this was going
to be my genre. I suppose my beta saying that I was rubbish at writing het sex
may have had something to do with my choice. I only know it felt right for me.
I set my story in Wales because I know the area, having been born there, and much
of the fanfiction I’d written had been set there too. Also, one of my MCs was a
rugby player and we Welsh are obsessed by the game. My other MC is a teacher
because again that’s what I know, and he became a history teacher as I was for
thirty years. And so I began writing Sporting
Chance with no real idea what I was doing – I simply wrote before work,
after work, during holidays and even at lunch time, if I managed twenty minutes
without interruption. It took me nearly three years to finish. I remember the
elation I felt when I wrote THE END. I’d written a story with 80,000 words.
I’d written in the third person, with most of the story
from the point of view of either Dan or Iestyn, but other characters had
opinions at times. I also, although I didn’t know it, slipped into omniscient
point of view. I will admit to not knowing what this was until my editor
pointed out when I’d done it. The first lesson I’ve learnt is very much about
how to keep my writing so the point of view is clear. I read other stories to
see how they do it, and I know from my current WIP that I’m learning to do this
much more accurately.
Another thing I’ve learned is about active v passive
voice, combined with show not tell. No more he blushed, now it’s heat spread
across his cheeks and no more he felt tired, ill, fed up, scared. Felt is a
no-no word, and I’ve learned more how to show these emotions. My editor gave me
a few examples and I took it from there – I hope. Now, I look for the ‘was’ in
my writing. I also look for ‘that’ and cull them where I can. I have lists of
other words that should apparently be used as sparingly as possible, such as
all, own, just, really and wonder. My characters often used to wonder or
realise. I’ve also learned about repeating words too closely together and now
have a whole host of alternatives for ‘look’ and ‘pull’.
Next discovery was that different publishers have
different rules about punctuation and the sort of thing you can include. I have
to admit punctuation and grammar have never been my strong points. I failed my
English language ‘O’ level on my first attempt, and my first essay at university
was thrown back at me; I was told to go away and learn how to write. I bought
Roget’s Thesaurus, but I was lucky to be sharing a room with someone who did
English language ‘A’ level, and I owe my roommate for teaching me how to use a
semi-colon. Over thirty years on and she still reads and beta checks everything I
write. Ironically, my publisher doesn’t use semi-colons. I’ve yet to find if
this is the norm.
Lastly, the aspect of editing or revising I found the
most difficult. It is rather intimidating that my publisher gives each story
gets a heat and sexiness rating. I have no idea where my story will come of the
publisher’s scale, but my editor very gently pointed out areas where I needed
to add sexiness because this was, after all, supposed to be an erotic romance.
I’m still not sure what this means. I know I’ve read some books which I find
erotic, but writing these scenes can be like walking a tightrope. You have to
make sure you don’t fall into the purely mechanical part A slots into part B,
or the purple prose of a “throbbing love muscle”. At one point in the revision
process, I was trying to imagine what I was writing about and suddenly realised
moving my hands in that particular fashion might have got me some strange
looks. Maybe it’s a good excuse to ask “can I touch you in this way and you
tell me how it feels to you”. Obviously, don’t do this to passing strangers on
the high street! I hope in the end that these scenes were ‘improved’. I know
one morning I had to rush downstairs to get the perfect sentence I’d written at
three in the morning as part of my MCs first kiss down on paper. I also know I
could have kept tinkering with one word here or there for ever. I groaned much
like Dan or Iestyn at times – well perhaps not exactly in the same way! Oh
dear, I used an exclamation mark – not supposed to use them either.
Overall, my first professional edit has been exhausting,
but worthwhile. I did thirty six hours of work, over four days, sat in front of
my computer, as well as numerous other minutes and hours when I was thinking
about how I could improve certain passages. I think years of marking essays and
pointing out where my students could improve their work has helped. I know I
will be a better writer, and I also know my next editor will hopefully feel the
benefit.
Writing is a learning curve, a steep one. You can learn
to write well, but you do need a story to tell. I suggest buying a few books about writing. Hopefully Sporting Chance is a story people will enjoy reading as much as I
loved creating all the characters. At least now, it’s certainly a better story than
the one I finished writing over a year ago.
Sporting Chance by Alexa Milne and published by
totally Bound will be available as follows
Pre-orders:
29th September 2014
Early download: 10th
October 2014
General release: 7th
November 2014Amazon UK - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sporting-Chance-Alexa-Milne-ebook/dp/B00PC750DS/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_1
Amazon US - http://www.amazon.com/Sporting-Chance-Alexa-Milne-ebook/dp/B00PC750DS/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_3