Home
About
Chapter One
Contact
Free Stories
Helpful Resources
I, Sherwood
My Books
My Videos
Resurrection Train
Announcements and Shameless Plugs
Book Reviews
Celebrabrations and Shoutouts
Guest posts
Reading
Vlogs
Free Stories I, Sherwood Resurrection Train
Posted by K.M. Weiland on Mar 10, 2014 in Editing , Guest posts , Writing | 10 comments
Whether or not you edit as you go really isn’t the bazillion-dollar question. The real questions you should be asking yourself are “What’s the 50-page edit?” and “Why am I not taking advantage of it?”
Okay, so it wouldn’t take IBM’s Watson computer to answer that the first question. The 50-page edit is pretty obviously an edit that takes place around the 50-page mark. Why 50 pages—and not 40 or 60 or 38.5? Well, honestly, no good reason except that the big five-oh is a memorable milestone, one that should find you approximately a quarter of the way into your story. That’s far enough for you to have some serious mileage in your rearview mirror, but not so far that your destination is anywhere in sight. In other words: It’s the perfect place to stop and remember where you’ve been, so you have a better idea of where you’re going. In his book Revision and Self-Editing , legal thriller author James Scott Bell refers to the 50-page edit as the “20,000-Word Step Back”:
After 20,000 words you stop, take a day off, then read what you have. By this time your story engine should be running. You’ve done enough of the novel to know pretty much what it’s about. You then take some time to make sure you like the characters and the direction…. You can also make a decision about the tone and feel of your novel. It may want to take on a different emphasis than what you had planned. A better novel may be asking to be released.
Bell only recommends one 50-page edit, but I take it one step further by printing off my manuscript every 50 pages. So maybe you’re now asking yourself a third question: “Why should I go to the time and trouble of editing my novel every 50 pages?” Take a look at some of the benefits:
Grounds you in your story.
Helps you spot inconsistencies.
Helps you fix plot holes.
Reminds you of details.
Helps you identify potential foreshadowing and symbolism.
Allows you to recognize when you’re on the wrong track.
Polishes your first draft.
Helps you build the next 50 pages.
Whether your preferred writing method is planning or pantsing, by the time you actually start crafting your first draft, it’s amazingly easy to get lost in the minutiae. The fact that crafting a single scene sometimes takes days can put us in a mental time warp and fog our memories about scenes we wrote even just a few pages back. The 50-page edit centers us in our story, reminds us of what we’ve already written, and keeps us on track for the next 50 pages. In a novel-writing journey that can span months and even years, the 50-page edit is an important tool for ensuring our stories maintain cohesion and consistency over the entire story arc.
K.M. Weiland lives in make-believe worlds, talks to imaginary friends, and survives primarily on chocolate truffles and espresso. She is the internationally published author of the Amazon bestsellers Outlining Your Novel and Structuring Your Novel. She writes historical and speculative fiction from her home in western Nebraska and mentors authors on her award-winning website Helping Writers Become Authors .
photo credit: *manci* via photopin cc
K.M. Weiland March 10, 2014 Thanks for having me today, Braden! Reply
Thanks for having me today, Braden!
Rayne Speryll March 10, 2014 Thanks for the post, Miss Weiland! I’m at a 50-page edit phase in one of my main novels. And boy, does it need it! Not only does it help clean up dialogue, description, and over-all writing, but it also helps me keep timelines straight in my head. Reply K.M. Weiland March 10, 2014 Keeping the timelines straight is one of the main reasons I do a 50-page edit. It takes us about ten times as long (at least) to write a book as it takes readers to read it, so we can often get lost in our stories and forget important details. The 50-page edit is great for orienting us and keeping us focused on what’s *really* happening. Reply
Thanks for the post, Miss Weiland! I’m at a 50-page edit phase in one of my main novels. And boy, does it need it! Not only does it help clean up dialogue, description, and over-all writing, but it also helps me keep timelines straight in my head.
K.M. Weiland March 10, 2014 Keeping the timelines straight is one of the main reasons I do a 50-page edit. It takes us about ten times as long (at least) to write a book as it takes readers to read it, so we can often get lost in our stories and forget important details. The 50-page edit is great for orienting us and keeping us focused on what’s *really* happening. Reply
Keeping the timelines straight is one of the main reasons I do a 50-page edit. It takes us about ten times as long (at least) to write a book as it takes readers to read it, so we can often get lost in our stories and forget important details. The 50-page edit is great for orienting us and keeping us focused on what’s *really* happening.
Annegirl March 10, 2014 I’ve never done a 50 page edit. I hope to try it some day but for now I need the nano pace to keep me afloat and that would take a lot of time. Reply K.M. Weiland March 11, 2014 It does require the patience to slow down and stop writing for a few days now and then. If you feel you’d be unable to regain momentum afterwards, then it’s probably not for you. But it reaps great dividends if you’re able to take advantage of it. Reply
I’ve never done a 50 page edit. I hope to try it some day but for now I need the nano pace to keep me afloat and that would take a lot of time.
K.M. Weiland March 11, 2014 It does require the patience to slow down and stop writing for a few days now and then. If you feel you’d be unable to regain momentum afterwards, then it’s probably not for you. But it reaps great dividends if you’re able to take advantage of it. Reply
It does require the patience to slow down and stop writing for a few days now and then. If you feel you’d be unable to regain momentum afterwards, then it’s probably not for you. But it reaps great dividends if you’re able to take advantage of it.
Lisa H. March 11, 2014 I’m interested in doing the 50 page edit, but I have a question: should it be a true edit (killing my babies, tweaking dialogue, etc.), or should I simply be reading to decide the direction for the next part of my novel? Reply K.M. Weiland March 12, 2014 It can be whatever you want it to be. I generally do a total edit. If something major needs changed, I go ahead and change it, since those changes will effect everything that follows. Reply
I’m interested in doing the 50 page edit, but I have a question: should it be a true edit (killing my babies, tweaking dialogue, etc.), or should I simply be reading to decide the direction for the next part of my novel?
K.M. Weiland March 12, 2014 It can be whatever you want it to be. I generally do a total edit. If something major needs changed, I go ahead and change it, since those changes will effect everything that follows. Reply
It can be whatever you want it to be. I generally do a total edit. If something major needs changed, I go ahead and change it, since those changes will effect everything that follows.
R.G. Nairam March 12, 2014 I haven’t heard of this before–it sounds like a really neat idea to do on purpose. I say on purpose, because I’ve found in my last two novels that by about the time I get to chapter 5 (which considering my average chapter lengths, is between 15,000 and 20,000 words), I usually get a bit stuck. I re-read stuff, usually jump ahead and write a bit on the climax, and then return and move forward. This tends to make my work a bit lopsided, with chapter 5 onward focused on that climax in mind, while everything before is kind of the “prework” before I figured out where the story was going. And I say this as an outline writer–how something comes out is usually different than I originally planned it. So it would be interesting to do an /actual/ edit at this point in time. I’ll try to remember this the next time I’m working on a rough draft! Reply K.M. Weiland March 12, 2014 If you’re not doing so already, I would encourage you to focus on story structure. If you understand how each piece of the novel fits into the overall puzzle, it makes it much easier to figure out how to get unstuck – and much easier to avoid getting stuck in the first place. Reply R.G. Nairam March 14, 2014 I do focus quite a bit on structure in outlining. I just have trouble with chapter 5s! I’ve gotten stuck on every single one I’ve written–and sometimes in editing, too. Now I’ve figured that out, though, I’ve become better at just powering through. I think, too, that jumping ahead and working on the climax, as I’ve done a couple of times at that point, does help me get a better idea of the story puzzle. Reply
I haven’t heard of this before–it sounds like a really neat idea to do on purpose. I say on purpose, because I’ve found in my last two novels that by about the time I get to chapter 5 (which considering my average chapter lengths, is between 15,000 and 20,000 words), I usually get a bit stuck. I re-read stuff, usually jump ahead and write a bit on the climax, and then return and move forward. This tends to make my work a bit lopsided, with chapter 5 onward focused on that climax in mind, while everything before is kind of the “prework” before I figured out where the story was going. And I say this as an outline writer–how something comes out is usually different than I originally planned it.
So it would be interesting to do an /actual/ edit at this point in time. I’ll try to remember this the next time I’m working on a rough draft!
K.M. Weiland March 12, 2014 If you’re not doing so already, I would encourage you to focus on story structure. If you understand how each piece of the novel fits into the overall puzzle, it makes it much easier to figure out how to get unstuck – and much easier to avoid getting stuck in the first place. Reply R.G. Nairam March 14, 2014 I do focus quite a bit on structure in outlining. I just have trouble with chapter 5s! I’ve gotten stuck on every single one I’ve written–and sometimes in editing, too. Now I’ve figured that out, though, I’ve become better at just powering through. I think, too, that jumping ahead and working on the climax, as I’ve done a couple of times at that point, does help me get a better idea of the story puzzle. Reply
If you’re not doing so already, I would encourage you to focus on story structure. If you understand how each piece of the novel fits into the overall puzzle, it makes it much easier to figure out how to get unstuck – and much easier to avoid getting stuck in the first place.
R.G. Nairam March 14, 2014 I do focus quite a bit on structure in outlining. I just have trouble with chapter 5s! I’ve gotten stuck on every single one I’ve written–and sometimes in editing, too. Now I’ve figured that out, though, I’ve become better at just powering through. I think, too, that jumping ahead and working on the climax, as I’ve done a couple of times at that point, does help me get a better idea of the story puzzle. Reply
I do focus quite a bit on structure in outlining. I just have trouble with chapter 5s! I’ve gotten stuck on every single one I’ve written–and sometimes in editing, too. Now I’ve figured that out, though, I’ve become better at just powering through.
I think, too, that jumping ahead and working on the climax, as I’ve done a couple of times at that point, does help me get a better idea of the story puzzle.
youtube
googleplus
On Failure and Batman – a guest post by Katherine Rebekah
Check Out My New Short Film! And an Interview Thing
The Firewall Saga is Launched! (A somewhat belated announcement)
A Peek at My Upcoming Web Serial
More Dangers of Homeschooling
Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress