When SA Larson over at Writer's Alley said she was holding a blogfest to honor a blogger buddy, I couldn't resist.  But who to choose?  I would like to say that there are several blogger buddies that have been wonderful, but I just won a book off Carrie at Peevish Penman so Carrie, I GOT YOU!.  

For those of you who haven't had the honour of meeting her, this is Carrie E. Bailey.  See?  Doesn't she just look like the kind of person you want as a blogger buddy?

Not only is she a lovely person, Carrie is also the editor for Peevish Penman, a hugely informative blog on writing.

"Peevish Penman aims to encourage aspiring writers to further their careers and entertain"

The below outlines why I've picked Carrie as my blogger buddy:

Now that you know how incredible Carrie is, you can find out if you are worthy to be her blogger buddy too by using my handy-dandy flowchart!

And, if you bothered to read my awesome graphs, you would have noticed that Carrie lives near the biggest new and 2nd hand bookstore in the world.  So here is a pic of me and Carrie in the bookstore*:

*visual representation only.

So, if you're not following Carrie or Peevish Penman please do so!  

And let her know its all because of me :-)

Blog: http://peevishpenman.blogspot.com
Twitter: @PeevishPenman
Tumblr: http://carrieebailey.tumblr.com/

Peevish Penman's "My best advice to new writers" blogfest got me thinking.  For those of you wanting to see my post on that, check it out here.

I've also come up with some advice for 'new editors' - that is, those new writers who are at the stage of editing.

I'll admit, I've never been a big fan of the 'editing' phase of writing.  Researching, planning and simply thinking about what I could write is the most exciting time.  When the words flow the actual writing itself is fun.  But editing.  That just seems like a chore.

I have no idea how many times I've read the same words over and over.  All 130,000.  Ugh.  I've been editing the same piece of work for nearly 8 months now.  Yes, I'm a perfectionist, but I do not find editing fun.  It's hard work!

Thankfully I have discovered some useful techniques to make the process a little easier.  They may not work for you, but anything is worth giving a go, right?

Up to you.  Here are my top ten tips for editing your writing.

1) Change the font.
Change from Courier to Arial and you'll pick up on all sorts of things you never noticed before.  Change the size and you'll notice even more.  Why?  Because you've been looking at the same words for so long that changing the font gives your brain a wakeup and you'll notice mistakes that you've probably glossed over ten times without noticing.

2) Edit in a different format.
Staring at a computer screen can hurt your eyes, make them blur and therefore increase your chances of missing errors.  Try printing out your work and doing the old fashioned red pen edit.  Or, for the technologically advanced, read your work on your iphone or something similar.  Works the same as changing the font.  You'll trick you brain into thinking you're reading something completely new.

3) Get help.
Having others crit your work (or at least pieces of it) can be hugely helpful in discovering things you didn't know were wrong.  Beg, bribe and beg some more to get some critiques from others.

4) Make a list.
What do you need to work on?  Spelling errors?  Sentence structure?  Passive voice?  Make a list of what you need to work on and go through your work paragraph by paragraph.  Once you've ticked off your list, move onto the next paragraph.  Tedious?  Yes.  Productive? Double yes!

5) Computer and online tools.
If you use Microsoft word, you may not know that the grammar check has settings.  Most of the time the "passive voice" checker is not on.  Go into your spelling/grammar settings and turn everything relevant on.

Autocrit is a fantastic tool which points out overused words, repeated phrases etc.  It has a free wizard (limited to about 800 words) for those of you too cheap to buy it but you can use it five times per day.  Worthwhile for looking at individual scenes.  

6) Macro before Micro
There's no point in editing every sentence of a chapter that could potentially get cut.  Before you even bother looking at things like sentence structure, macro edit.  That is, get your plot sorted so that you've cut any unnecessary scenes.


7) Read aloud
Yes you might sound like an idiot but who cares?  Reading aloud forces you to read every single word and prevents skim reading.


8) Edit in the morning
If you're like me and are a nocturnal writer, you may need to edit in the morning.  Ideas flow better for me at night, but in the morning our brains are more switched on and able to look at the tiny details.


9) If in doubt, cut it out
Most of us are too wordy.  If you're even considering whether a scene is necessary, then cut it.  Every scene, every WORD must be needed.  Cut anything superfluous.


10) Save multiple copies!
Just in case you cut something you want back later, save everything with the date on it.  You never know.  Cutting is necessary but its always best to play it safe.

Thanks to Peevish Penman for hosting today's blogfest!  You can find out all about it, and read all the other entries here.  I've also done a post (for those interested) on tips for 'new editors' - or rather, new writers who are editing.  You can check that out below or here  (It's actually a lot better advice than the below blog :-P)

What defines a new writer?  It's a tricky one.  I wrote my first full-length 'novel-style' story at eight years old.  I may have moved on from shipwrecked adventures, but I still feel very much like a new writer.  I've been working on my novel for nearly two years now, and it is the first one I have ever completed to a point where I'm actually terrified at the thought of my USB dying, my laptop getting stolen, my home computer shorting and the back up versions in my email, sisters laptop and friends computers all disappearing.  Everything else I wrote ended up getting the good ol' "move to trash" click of the mouse.

I still feel like a new author.  Even if I get published I doubt I feel any 'older' as a writer.  After all, writing is learning.  About yourself, your characters, your world and most of all your writing.

Even so, I have been given some good advice that I can share.  Here are the top five tips for 'new' writers that I have been given.  They helped me so I hope they help you too!


1) Write a novel.
The sense of accomplishment you get when you write the final line of your first draft in incredible.  To 'finish' (I'm ignoring the months and possibly years of editing when I say this) a novel is huge.  To pour all your heart and soul into such a huge piece of work and actually complete it is a feat not many people achieve.  How many people can actually say they've done it?  We are an elite few.  We should allow ourselves to bask in the glory for a while.

National Novel Writing Month is an exhilarating experience.  50,000 words in November.  It's insane and not for the fainthearted.  I wrote "Phoenix's Ashes" in Nano 2009.  I'd been working on it since 2008, but decided it wasn't working so literally ripped it up and started again.  It was the best thing I could have done.  If you haven't taken part in NaNo before I highly recommend it.  For those in the Southern Hemisphere, Kiwiwriters also hold SoCNoC, which is 50,000 words in June. 

2) Work on more than one writing project at a time.
It's ok to work on more than one project at a time.  I'm working on four.  Concentrating on one, but the other three are stewing away.  The way to finish that novel is to keep writing.  Sometimes, when I'm ready to throw the towel in, I just work on one of my other WIPs.  That way I'm always working on something and never have an 'off' day.

3) Critique other's work
Join a local crit group.  Network online to find crit buddies.  Critters.org is one I'd recommend for fantasy, sci-fi and horror writers.  Not only will you get others to read your work, but you will learn so much from pointing out flaws in others work.  My writing has grown 100% since I started critiquing.  You start to notice repeated mistakes that make you look back at your own work and find the same ones.

4) Never (and I mean NEVER) let anyone read your first draft.
Other than the fact that it will be full of spelling and grammatical errors, cliches, horrible sentence structure and no flow, the person you give it to will probably never want to read anything else of yours again.  You could end up with some harsh crits that make you want to give up.  Take the time to edit first.  Take the time to edit it several times!  You will get relevant ideas from your critiquer that way, rather than having them point out every spelling mistake.

5) Don't be afraid to put your work out there.
Even though I said don't hand over your first draft, that doesn't mean you shouldn't let anyone read your work ever.  Get friends and family to look at it.  Yes, they will probably sugar coat everything and tell you its the best thing since Harry Potter, but they may come out with a few gems.  Ask them the right questions and you may get some information out of them that is helpful.  Plus, they'll make you feel good about your writing!

Then, be brave and search further afield.  Join writers and readers networks like Books Down Under (who have a crit group!) and get to know other writers.  Join Critters.  Hop on twitter and find other writers.  Find a local writers group like kiwiwriters.  Meet people, and crit their work.  Then find people to crit yours back.

Yes, some people might rip your work to shreds.  Rise above the bad ones and learn from everything.  Your writing will thank you.


That's all folks.


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