As I revise JACKAL, the fourth in the Jessica James Mystery Series, I realize
that editing is like brushing a Persian cat. It’s time-consuming but absolutely
necessary. You have to keep at it, sometimes gently, other times with force,
stroke after stroke, cutting out a mat here or there, all the while holding
onto the wriggling mass and cajoling it into submission.
I have two Persian cats, Mischief and Mayhem. I
chase them around the house to groom them, little-by-little, day-by-day, until
their coats are smooth. When their knots get out of control, I have to call a
professional groomer. With my novel, as with the cats, professionals see rough
spots that I missed. The difference is that the cats will survive without
grooming; they can live with their knots and tangles and hotspots; my novels
may not.
Luckily, I enjoy editing, almost as much as I
love brushing my cats. I especially like going back through my manuscript to
accentuate the differences between points of view, reserving certain words for
certain people. Writing different points of view gives me the opportunity to
voice diverse perspectives on events and characters.
When editing, I comb the manuscript for common
verbs that I can replace with more exciting ones tailored to each POV. I revise
descriptions of places and people to reflect the metaphors and similes
unique to each character telling the story.
Another
challenge in editing is balancing backstory and action. Sometimes I have to cut
out big matted chunks of it to keep the action moving. Then I go back and sprinkle
bits throughout the novel.
As I edit and revise, I brush away what isn’t
necessary to develop the characters and advance the plot. I smooth out the
rough spots so the reader has a seamless experience. The reader doesn’t need to
see me fighting with the wriggle mass to enjoy the end result.
Okay,
time to get back to brushing, combing, and teasing out the mats from JACKAL.
Like the coat of my two Persians, some days the novel gets smoother and finer
until it flows beautifully. On other days, I just have to say to hell with it
and get out the clippers.
Kelly Oliver is the award-winning,
best-selling, author of the Jessica James Mystery Series, including
WOLF, COYOTE, FOX, and JACKAL (2018). Her debut novel, WOLF: A Jessica James Mystery, won the
Independent Publisher’s Gold Medal for best Thriller/Mystery, was a finalist
for the Forward Magazine award for best mystery, and was voted number one
Women's Mysteries on Goodreads. The second novel, COYOTE won a Silver Falchion Award for Best Mystery. And, the
third, FOX was a finalist for the
Claymore Award. When she’s not writing novels, Kelly is a Distinguished
Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University, and the author of fifteen
nonfiction books, and over 100 articles, on issues such as the refugee crisis,
campus rape, women and the media, animals and the environment. Her latest
nonfiction book, Hunting Girls: Sexual
Violence from The Hunger Games to Campus Rape won a Choice Magazine Award
for Outstanding title. She has published in The
New York Times and The Los Angeles
Review of Books, and has been featured on ABC news, CSPAN books, the
Canadian Broadcasting Network, and various radio programs. To learn more about
Kelly and her books, go to www.kellyoliverbooks.com,
where you can get WOLF for free
through the end of August.
great comparison. I look forward to reading your books.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fabulous analogy! Thank you for visiting. Do you keep some of the wonderful fur and weave it into future books?
ReplyDeleteGreat analogy. I'm always looking for ways to explain the process of writing and I will definite use yours.
ReplyDeleteI think your books are ones I'd like to read. Comparing the editing of your books to brushing your Persian cats makes me think about brushing my full sized beautiful tri-colored Collie, Maggie. She only puts up with just so much. I, too, don't mind editing my work. I do have two critique partners who find little glitches here and there, but over all I do the major editing part.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great analogy! I'm editing a book now and your struggles with Mischief and Mayhem (great names) resonated. Thank you for stopping by!
ReplyDeleteMy cats are all short-haired, but as they get older, they don't groom themselves as effectively as they used to. Much the same way, the further along a manuscript gets, the more it becomes obvious that I need to work on editing.
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