Editing Lessons

Defining Minor Characters

Once the protagonist and antagonist are identified, minor characters are everyone else in the story from the protagonist's sidekick to the owner of the weapon shop who only has one scene.

Minor character have the same issues as your major characters. You need to make sure you know their backgrounds, how they would react, what makes them tick. The major difference is the less time the minor character spend in the story so the less you have to tell the reader.

Identify Your Villain

The next step in revision is to take a hard look at your villain or antagonist. Note that I use the singular—“villain” or “antagonist.” If you have more than one, you may be diffusing the impact of the character’s villainy by spreading it. Stein on Writing Page 280

By going step by step, we have discovered a major matter that needs correcting and will impact the entire story.

The steps I am about to propose are not written in stone. Their order can be changed, as long as the principle is maintained: major matters are attended to first.
Stein on Writing page 278

We want to start with a hardcopy of the story you’re editing. It’s easier to work from paper, and after you’ve made major changes, you can reprint and look at a fresh copy. What are major changes? Anything that changes the bulk of the work; fixing characters, plot, setting, style. Grammar and spelling mistakes are easy.

Until now, the Editing Lessons have reviewed the broader aspects of the editing and reviewing phase of story writing. Now we're going to take a story through the editing process, just like we took "Biker Mice From Mars: Domestic Bliss" from idea to finished product.

The Story

You've read a story and you'd like to leave a comment; something more useful than "that was good" but less than offering a suggestion for any flaws like an in-depth critique. Orson Scott Card in his book How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy gives five questions that concentrate on story mechanics instead of literature theory.

What the Heck is Pacing?

Pacing is an often overlooked element of a story. Have you ever put a story aside because it dragged? Were completely confused because of the rapid speed? Agitated because there was nothing but action, action, and more action? In short, pacing is the managing of internal pieces for the story's best interest (and the reader's continued pleasure).

You've heard it ad nauseam. It's the first rule of writing fiction for a reason. And when applied to your own writing, all you can do is stare at the prose and ask yourself "where am I not showing? Everything's there!"

Resist the urge to call the critique a hapless twit. It's the first rule because everyone makes it when they begin to write. Even experienced writers can slip into it. "Telling" a story is the quickest way to get the story onto paper, because it summarizes ninety percent of the story. Consider these two experts:

As a responsible author, you should feel the need to help other writers. Then again, all you might feel is a desire to improve your own skills. You can do both with one activity: reading! You can't remain a good writer unless you are aware of what other writers are doing with your genre, with your language, and with the universe for fanfiction. I haven't found an advice book yet that doesn't stress the importance of reading. As Stephen King says: "If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that." (On Writing 147)

Okay, you have gotten your story as far as you can take it. Now it's time to let someone else read it. If you're a lucky writer, you already have a great beta reader partner (yes it is a partnership to make the story the best it can be), but most of us have to have replacements or backups or multiple betas for every story. Or maybe this is your first time beta reading for someone and you're in a panic on where to start. We're going to start with a few guidelines for both the author and the beta reader.

FOR THE AUTHOR

Note: The style sheet I'm referring to has nothing to do with the web coding trick called Cascading Style Sheets, Style Sheets, or CSS. Please do not confuse the two.

WHAT IS A STYLE SHEET?