On Writing Romance_ How to Craft a Novel That Sells - Leigh Michaels [132]
• Just write the story. Don't fret about finding exactly the right comparison, and don't worry about making every single line of dialogue sparkle. That's what second drafts are for. Nobody but you will see the first draft (unless you choose to share it), so it doesn't matter if it's not up to publishable standards.
THE REVISER'S SELF-HELP TOOL KIT
What works for one writer isn't always the best solution for another. But here's a basic plan for you to consider and try, and then adapt to suit your working style:
• Give yourself a break. Don't try to write and edit in the same session. The two jobs are very different, and trying to switch back and forth can drive you crazy and make you think there's something wrong with a section that in fact is perfectly fine.
• Give it a rest. Let your writing sit for a few days, if you can—without looking at it—before you try to decide what's good and not-so-good about it. The more distance you gain from the writing, the more able you'll be to look at it strictly from the readers' perspective.
• Work on a hard copy. A rare few people can edit efficiently on the computer screen, but for most of us the words have more reality when they're printed on paper. Working from a hard copy makes it easier to flip back and forth
to compare or to review changes you've already made. Hard copy feels more final and more important—and typos and other errors stand out more clearly on paper than on the screen.
• Read it fast. When in doubt about whether a story is working, lock up your pens and just read it straight through. The goal is to absorb the whole story
so inconsistencies and plot holes can't elude you. (I often take the manuscript onto the treadmill. Since I can't make notes while I'm walking, I'm forced to just read, without fiddling and getting distracted by details.) After you've finished reading, think about how you reacted as a reader to your book.
• Read it onto tape. The act of reading a section aloud will tell you whether your dialogue is natural (if it isn't, you'll feel stiff or find yourself changing the words). Listening to the tape will help you discern whether the story pacing is good, the characters are likeable, and the POV is clear. If you were listening to this tale as you drove across the country, would it keep you on your toes or put you to sleep?
• Get out your colored markers. The more the merrier. Highlight dialogue with one color, introspection with a second, narrative with a third, attributions with a fourth, description with a fifth. You'll quickly see whether you've overdone the storytelling, internalization, attribution, or description, and whether the proportions of each in the manuscript are right. If the book feels as if it's dragging, the highlighter test may show that you have lots of dialogue in the first half of the book but much less in the last half.
• Set aside a block of time. Go through the manuscript page by page to actually make your changes. If you can do it in a few sittings, you'll be better able to remember the details than if you work over a period of a month.
GETTING HELP
Getting advice from other writers, romance readers, or contest judges can be very helpful, but sorting out the useful feedback may not be easy. Trying to apply all the suggestions is a sure recipe for mental breakdown; every critiquer will have a different opinion, and sometimes they will collide.
When you're weighing feedback, separate the suggestions about the story (comments such as "convoluted plot" or "inconsistent characters") from suggestions about the presentation ("not enough dialogue," "too much introspection"). Look at the big picture first—does your story work?—before considering feedback about the way you've told the story.
Consider each