One Last Edit – Rethink Before Submitting | Writing for Children with Karen Cioffi

Contributed by Linda Wilson

Can you look through your completed book without making any changes?

I tried it after thinking I had finished up the basic editing and even the polishing. There couldn’t possibly be anything more to “fix,” thought me. Wrong. I found more changes, important changes, many changes.

Throwing caution to the wind, I gave up all notions of completion and continued, alternating between rummaging through additional passes as the need occurred to me with my pinpoint-sharpened #2, and then laying my book down to rest for short periods of time. My conclusion? The persistent question: When will I ever be done?

What do I need to re-think?

While in the throes of this quest I decided, what the heck, what’s one more pass? I came up with: What do I need to re-think?

It turned out to be the most revealing edit of all. It resulted in a title change, removal of a subplot (that was BIG, but I had to do it), addition of a character (that was fun), rearranging some of the scenes and re-checking the arcs, making sure someone or something didn’t fall off the face of the page. Each character arc, including arcs in each character’s dialogue, and each event, had to be followed from beginning to end. If I hadn’t done that particular check, pearls of the necklace I had begun to string would have fallen off before the clasp could have been attached. Nightmares could have resulted. I could have wound up with another fire-engine red I, another school daze Incomplete, only this time from an editor and not my teacher (if I should be so lucky!)

Take One More Look

Go back to the theme card you prepared before or during the writing. Make sure the main theme shines through and ask yourself, Do the minor themes bolster the main theme?
Check the structure one more time. Is it solid?
Does each character have an arc? Each story part introduced have follow-through to the end? Follow each one all the way through to make sure.
Is your main character’s flaw/need evident in the beginning and satisfied/solved from what she’s learned by the end?
Have you done a scene check to make sure there isn’t any section that might work better elsewhere?
Is there any character or scene that doesn’t move the story forward?
Is there anything to add to strengthen any part, or any weak part to delete which will strengthen the story?
Is description kept at a minimum (in a children’s story)? Is the story told through dialogue and action?
If it is a mystery, make a list of the clues, red herrings and reveal to make sure everything is covered.

Do one last fact check.

If you grow weary of so many revisions, give your story a rest and come back to it later. One of my writing instructors once told me, you don’t write a book, you re-write a book.

When at first I thought I was done, I had to disengage from disappointment when finding so many glaring errors. This must be the armor people talk about that writers must grow and wear, and perhaps why people admire authors so much. For the fortitude and single-mindedness it takes to do the seat-time, on and on, until we are finally satisfied with the finished product, whatever it takes.

Being sure of your work is a must if a writer wants to produce a sparkling, page-turning, humdinger of a book!

This article was originally published at:
http://www.writersonthemove.com/2016/12/one-last-edit-re-think-before-submitting.html

Linda Wilson, a former elementary teacher and ICL graduate, has published over 150 articles for adults and children, and several short stories for children. She has recently become editor of the New Mexico SCBWI chapter newsletter, and is working on several projects for children. Follow Linda on Facebook.

Whether you need editing, rewriting, or ghostwriting, let me take a look a your children’s story. Just send me an email at: kcioffiventrice@gmail.com. Please put “Children’s Writing” in the Subject box. Or, give me a call at 347—834—6700

Let’s get your idea off the launch pad or your outline into a publishable story today!

Or, if you’d rather give it a shot and do-it-yourself, check out my book, FICTION WRITING FOR CHILDREN.