I received loads of comments and emails about my recent post on the editing process. So thanks v much for all the nice feedback, folks, I’m glad it was useful, if somewhat frightening!

I’m still editing – plus writing up notes for the writing workshop I’ve giving next week in Bantry as part of the West Cork Literary Festival – http://westcorkliteraryfestival.ie

I’m also reading on Wednesday afternoon with Judi Curtin – so if you have any readers of 8+ish do seek them out and send them down! Myself and Judi would love to entertain them for you!

More posts later this week – back to those notes now.

SarahX

A lot of my recent comments on this blog have come from Amy Green readers – hello out there! So here’s the latest for you.

I’ve just finished line editing Amy Green 2 – Amy Green, Teen Agony Queen: Summer Secrets. Now I’ve had several emails asking me is Seth coming back in book 2 – well, yes, he is – but there’s also a new boy in town – a certain very cute 16 year old gardener called Kit, oh and an American teen movie star. I can’t say any more . . . sorry!

I have just started writing book 3, which has the working title Amy Green, Teen Agony Queen: Bridesmaid Blitz – but that might change. It’s set in Dublin and Paris and features some new characters as well as Amy, Clover and Mills.

And I have lots of ideas for books 4, 5 and 6 – yes, there will be at least 6 books in the series!

So that’s the very latest news, folks!

SarahX

I was at the lovely Fighting Words centre today in Dublin city, helping with a class of 5th and 6th year boys. They made up a story with the help of fab Jen, their storyteller.

Anyway, I met several most interesting women who were also helping out, 3 of whom are writing and are very interested in the whole creative process. I told one of them I was editing my latest adult book (sorry folks, more about the darned editing – which I should be doing right at this moment in fact – but it’s important) – and she asked ‘What do you mean by ‘editing’ exactly?

Interesting question.

The way I see it there are many, many different stages to an ‘edit’ and some are not ‘editing’ at all.

I’ll go through it step by step just to freak out all those people out there who think a book is finished once the first draft is done and dusted.

Here’s what happens to my novels in a nutshell (the non fiction books are a little different):

1/Finish first draft – now I don’t rewrite much as I go along – so it’s a messy first draft and needs a lot of work.

2/ Print out the whole thing – I can’t edit on screen – I need to scribble – and read through the whole thing – A4 pad by my side, to write on and insert extra scribbled pages into the manuscript as necessary.
I delete scenes/chapters that don’t work, plotlines that go nowhere, delete a lot of descriptive passages and rewrite them in a sentence or two. Work on making each character stronger.

3/ I type in all the changes, print out and start editing on the pages again.
I might do this 3, 4 or 5 times until I’m happy that my editor won’t laugh me out of it.

4/ I email the book to my editors (at the moment I have 2 who work as a team) and now, my agents.
My previous agent didn’t actually read my manuscripts, but my new ones do – I have 1 who deals with the kids books, 1, the adult books. To get feedback from so many experts is fabber than fab. I’m very lucky.

5/ They all send me their notes – or I chat to them on the phone about the book. I make my own notes on the changes to be made.

6/ I mull over these changes for a few days, making more notes.

7/ I print out the manuscript again and scribble the changes on to the pages. Sometimes if I have to rewrite a long scene or add a new one, I’ll type straight onto my laptop.

8/ Then I type the changes in.

9/ Then I print the whole thing out again, read it again, and make more changes, type in.
And I haven’t gone near the actual writing yet – this is all mainly plot and character stuff!

10/ Once I’m happy with the actual story and characters, I send it to my editor again and she sends me a ‘line edit’ – a more detailed, line by line edit of smaller, but important changes.

11/ So I make those changes – this usually only takes 1 or 2 print, scribble on pages, type ins. And then I send it back to her, and if she’s happy she passes it to the copyeditor.

12/ The copyeditor does what Joe public thinks ‘editing’ is – correcting typos, suggesting word changes for repeated words; smaller changes, additions for clarity and deletion of unnecessary words.

13/ When I get those notes, I make those changes (usually on screen at that stage) start tweaking the language – taking any any unnecessary words, tightening up the dialogue, making sure each chapter starts and ends as crisply and with as much impact as possible.

14/ Then once I’m happy with that (after printing out and reading one more time!), I’ll send it back to the copy editor and once she’s happy and the manuscript is ‘clean’ – free of any mistakes – she passes it on to the typesetter – who puts it into the book’s format – with the chapter headings, page numbers, prelims etc.

15/ Final stage (thank God!) – I get sent the ‘galleys’ or the proof pages to check through – which I do carefully, every single word – small mistakes pop up even at that stage that have been missed (and it’s the author’s duty to double check for these I feel – no one cares as much about your book as you do).

16/ The book is printed.

Oh, and I’m usually half way through a new book (let’s call it book 2) when the edits for book 1 hit – so I have to stop writing book 2, edit book 1 – send book 1 back to my editor – get back to writing book 2 – get the edits for book 1 back – work on the edits for book 1 again – send them off – back to book 2 – etc etc.

OK, hold it there, you’re saying – isn’t that a lot of work?
YES!
But are all books written like that?
No, some are published with a lot less editorial attention – on the publishers and/or the authors’ part. And some books require less work for some reason. My first Amy Green book was a joy to write – just flew out of me – but the 2nd one needed more work as I was trying to do too much – I needed to pare it back, make it simpler, concentrate on what I was really trying to say.

So there you go – now you probably know far too much about my editing process. Sorry if I’ve scared you.

SarahX
PS Sorry trees for all the printing – I’m green in other ways, promise!

Those Russian girls are really something. And did you see the 15 year old English girl play? Amazing – what talent!
Supposed to be editing my book of course, but got seduced by the glamour and the grunting of the tennis!
Let’s call it research!!
Sarah

Read this book in one sitting – feeling a bit under the weather yesterday so I curled up in bed and did my reviewing work. This review will appear in Inis magazine soon – but in case you have teens that need a good read for the summer:

6 Feet Deep
By Rose Impey
Orchard Books
£5.99

Rose Impey is one of those authors who has been writing for years but has never achieved the recognition she deserves. 6 Feet Under is set to change all that.

Jordan is an average thirteen year old, that is until his mum decides to be buried alive in a wooden box to break a world record originally set by her own father.

Once she’s underground, with only two pipes connecting her to the world above (and the septic tank arrangements are fascinating if you can stomach that kind of thing!), Jordan’s life starts to fall apart.

He falls out with his two best friends, the wonderfully drawn Martine and Anand, fights with his older siblings, and feels he has no one to turn to. He takes solace in fishing, but even that has lost its lustre as his Grandpa is no longer around to share it with.

Impey’s subplots also including bullying and weight problems, but these are woven skilfully into the main storyline, so it never feels like an ‘issues’ book.

In less professional hands, the quirky buried alive plot might prove too bizarre to be believable, but Impey carries it off with aplomb.

But her real strength lies in her characters and their often fraught relationships. Even Jordan’s mum, who we only hear on the end of a mobile phone or through a pipe, is fully rounded and her motivation for putting herself through such an ordeal is wholly believable. And Jordan is a delightful teenager, any mother would be proud to have such a sensitive and caring son.

A superb book, highly recommended to thoughtful readers of ten/eleven+.

Sarah Webb

After another edit of Amy Green, mark 2 this morning (called Summer Secrets and out next spring), I now know the book almost off by heart. But I’m very happy with the way it’s come together (thanks to my two brilliant editors) and the end is in sight.

I’m now moving on to re-write The Loving Kind, my adult book for next spring. A writer’s work is never done!
But I do love it.

I’ve just finished reading the 30 shortlisted finalists for the Londis ‘Write Up My Street’ writing competition which ran recently. The winning entry is – actually I can’t tell you yet – all top secret! But it’s a great piece altogether – more anon.

But I can say this – the moment I started to read it, I knew it was the one. It has real heart, it’s beautifully written (not over written or flowery, just right), and the writer has clearly done her or his (can’t say yet!) homework – thinking carefully about the theme (community) and approaching it in a clever, left of centre way.

I was tres impressed. The future of Irish writing is rainbow bright.

Happy Bloomsday!

SarahX

I’m currently editing Amy Green book 2 for the 6th time – and I’d say there will be 1 or 2 more edits to go. It’s a 50,000 word book (ah, well it started off at 63,000 but it needed to be tightened up) so that’s a lot of work.
But it’s worth it.

I’m thinking of posting some deleted scenes on my amy green website – little snippets that I’ve taken out – like deleted scenes on dvds.
Maybe not. They were cut for a reason!

I have over ten year’s worth of editorial notes and letters and it’s interesting to see how my writing has changed and progressed over that time.

My writing is much tighter now, I use more dialogue, but less dialogue tags, more condensed descriptive passages and my characters are stronger and more rounded (I hope!). And these days I put a lot more thought into the little things – the small details that make all the difference.

When I’m working on a book it’s in my head all the time – waking, sleeping, driving, walking. I literally live in another world.

Recently I’ve been thinking about what I write – and why. And I think I write about romance, family, relationship because that’s the world I like to inhabit in my head.

But one thing I have learned over the years: writing begets writing. Words beget words. Best way to write is to immerse yourself in it if you can and write as often as you can.

I’m lucky to have the time and space to do this. Writing full time is a joy and a privilege.

I wish you all some good writing time.

SarahX

OOh la la, Paris was amazing and I had a ball. We stayed in a beautiful little hotel in Montmartre called Hotel Particulier (hope that’s spelt right – ok, checked – it’s at http://hotel-particulier-montmartre.com/fr/ ). Only 5 rooms – and ours had its own private steam room – my pores were very clean by the end of the holiday.

I dragged Ben around the galleries – bless him. I adore the Pompidou Centre – modern art. I’m a huge Rothko fan and there are 2 amazing Rothkos in there – huge red and black ones. They always make me cry which is pretty embarrassing really – but I’m kind of used to it by now (as is Ben). I’ve seen Rothkos all over the world at this stage – Chicago, New York, Paris, London – and they really are amazing paintings. I’m a Rothko groupie.

Rothko

Oh and by the way thanks so much for all the lovely emails and messages to say Happy Birthday – I’m touched. You are all so kind.

What else did we do – well we ate a lot of excellent food, drank cocktails in the hotel’s sweet little bar, walked up the Eiffel Tower (my legs still ache), walked to the top of the Sacre Coeur church – in fact Ben named it the holiday of the steps.

I do love Paris!

SarahX

I have a rather special birthday on Sunday so Ben is whisking me off to Paris to celebrate. I worked in Paris for four months one summer when I was a student and adored it. I worked in McDonald’s – and it was hot, hot, hot making those chips – but I survived!

I haven’t been back since and I can’t wait. This time I’ll actually have a wee bit of money so it will be a very different experience.

We are staying in a small townhouse hotel in Montmartre, right next to the Moulin Rouge, just in case we fancy a spot of can-canning.

I’ll tell you all about it next week, promise!

SarahX