Humble apologies for the lack of posts recently. What with Easter and friends visiting, it’s been pretty hectic the last few weeks. At the moment I’m working away on the edits of the third Amy Green book – Bridesmaid Blitz (out in Oct). I had an email from my editor today and I’d like to share it with you as it’s lovely.

Writers work away in this funny vacuum, not knowing if what they are producing is hitting the mark. I am very lucky to have two editors in Walker Books, both of whom really know their stuff. After a pretty stiff and thorough rewrite – after a very frank editorial meeting in London with both of them – I submitted Amy Green 3 mark 2 nervously, hoping they would like what I’d done.

I’d hacked the middle out of the book. It was veering away from Amy’s story and I had to bring it back and the only way I could do this was to rewrite a good chunk of the main plot. So I got rid of about 1/3 of the book (about 17,000 words) and created lots of new scenes.

There were a lot of different subplots in the original draft and I got rid of several of these – including a school production of Grease that I was rather fond of – but by tearing them out, gave the main story (Amy’s story) room to breathe.

Luckily my editors liked what I’d done. However there are still three reasonably big plot problems/blips that I now have to iron out.

In the editorial letter (I didn’t get one for the 1st rewrite as there was so much to do!), my editor has broken it down into sections – bless – to make things easy for me.

I have to 1/ build up the Seth/Polly subplot – which I’ve just done.
2/ Work on a particular agony aunt letter that doesn’t quite click.
And 3/ work on Amy’s relationship with – look away if you’re an Amy Green fan, plot spoiler coming up – relationship with her new baby sister, Grace.

I spent this week working on the Seth/Polly subplot – researching breast cancer, treatment, drugs and clinical trials. Then I wrote new scenes using the research. But here’s the thing: I had no idea whether I’d overwritten the scenes (they are pretty sad – but cancer in all its forms is hardly a walk in the park!), used too much or not enough technical information; whether they held the reader’s attention or if they were too slow moving. I’m always aware that young readers have a hell of a lot of other demands on their time and, above all, I aim to hold their interest.

So I sent the new chapters to my editor for some feedback – and here’s a snippet of the email she sent me:

Wow! These new chapters are absolutely brilliant! I love them. There is so much emotion in there, and all the facts about the cancer/drug trial etc are really interesting – you’ve gone into just the right level of detail. It all feels so much more real now. Never mind Amy, I feel like Niagara Falls! (Amy cries a lot in the chapters)

Right, I’m off to mop up my mascara!

It made my week!

I’m lucky to have editors who care about my writing and who really get what I’m trying to do. I’m truly blessed. To the gods of writing up there, I thank you for bringing us together.

I wish you all such kind and thoughtful editors.

Yours in writing,

SarahX

As you know, one of my favourite subjects – and a vital part of the writing process.

On Monday I was over at Walker Books in London, my Amy Green publishers. In the afternoon I talked marketing with the team – website, events, filming a special Amy Green trailer, fanzine, cute pink leather heart shaped Amy Green luggage tag to give away to readers . . . endless amounts of wonderfulness. And fab choc brownies at lunchtime in the Walker canteen.
They were full of brilliant ideas and I can’t wait to see the finished campaign.

In the morning I met with Gill and Annalie, my editors. They had some pretty interesting things to say about book 2, Bridesmaid Blitz.

Basically they did a nice sandwich – we love the writing, the plot needs some work, love the characters, especially Amy and her voice is fab.

Spot that bit in the middle? The plot needs some work.

Ah yes. ‘Some’ might be underplaying it a bit. I need to unpick the whole plot and piece it back together again, with more emphasis on Amy and less on Mills, her best friend. They said it very nicely of course but it still pinches.

Writers secretly want to hear how brilliant their book is, how it doesn’t need a bit of editing, how it just fits together so seamlessly that not one little tweak would make it better. But unless you are Roddy Doyle or Marian Keyes (who I bet would all laugh if they read this – as I know they both work very hard indeed on their rewrites and edits) your book will always benefit from an experienced editor’s eye.

I’m so grateful that Gill and Annalie took the time to read and really think about how I could improve my work. The more editorial notes I am given, the more grateful I am. Even though it means a lot more work.

So for the next few weeks I have to rip Bridesmaid Blitz apart and piece it back together again – my very own patchwork quilt of words and sentences and scenes. It’s up to me to make it as good as I possibly can. I owe it to myself and to my readers (bless them) to put everything I can into this rewrite and hopefully make it better.

How much of the original book will remain? I’d say about 1/3 or less. 2/3rds will be completely new material. Scary stuff really. Quite the cull. But it has to be done.

I’m thinking of putting the deleted scenes on my website – as an added extra – like they do on DVDs of movies. What do you think? Or maybe they should stay exactly where they belong – in the deleted scenes file on my laptop!

It’s all a learning process and nothing is every wasted. Or so I keep telling myself.

If you are interested in an editor/agent’s point of view on editing – read this post by the excellent Nathan Bransford, Curtis Brown, US:

http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2009/11/how-to-respond-to-manuscript.html

Good luck with your own edits.

Sarah X

I finished the – let me see, I think it’s the 8th or 9th, I’ve lost count – edit of The Loving Kind and set it packing to my editor in Pan Mac this morning! Yeah! Huge relief.

This afternoon I got stuck into Amy Green book 3 – which is currently called Bridesmaid Blitz but this may change. It was fantastic to get back to Amy, Clover, Seth and the gang, I’ve really missed them. I read over the 15k words I’ve done so far, made some tweaks and minor changes and giggled to myself at some of the funny bits which is always a good sign. Can’t wait to get back to writing it tomorrow – also a very good sign.

Found this cute website – daughter of a friend of Mum’s is one of the writers – www.babyccinoblog.com – full of fun bits about children, books, clever things for the house etc.

Did I post news on the festivals I’m doing in Sept? Maybe not – here goes: (excuse the use of the 3rd person!)

Books 2009 Festival – Dublin City Centre

Sarah will be hosting a Magic Writing Workshop for all those interested in writing in the Shaw Room at the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin at 1.30 on Sat 19th Sept. She will also talk about how she came up with the idea for Amy Green and answer questions on writing. Numbers are limited so do book asap if you’d like to join her! Age 9+
Check out the details here: www.bookevents.ie
Here is the booking link: http://www.bookevents.ie/event-details.php?prod=SarahWebb

Mountains to Sea Festival
Sarah will also be appearing at the Mountains to Sea Festival in Dun Laoghaire on Sunday 13th September in Dun Laoghaire Park. The Books in the Park event starts at 1.00. Sarah will be on at around 3. Other authors include Marita Conlon-McKenna, Joe O’Brien and Oisin McGann. Check out www.mountainstosea.ie for details
Admission free! No booking needed.

SarahXXX

Sorry for the lack of posts in July – I was in West Cork. Writing (well editing and rewriting to be strictly accurate), talking at the West Cork Literary Festival and having a much needed holiday.

But I’m back now and raring to go. I had no broadband for a whole month – imagine!

I’ll try to post some writerly things this month – as I keep getting great feedback about the editing post I wrote weeks ago now. There are obviously a lot of you writing bods out there and do email me with any questions/suggestions for writerly topics I could cover that might help you. Email is sarah@sarahwebb.ie
Don’t post here at the moment – I have 234 unread messages (mostly spam!).

I’m editing again this week – yes, back having another go at The Loving Kind, the adult novel for early next year. I was very, very lucky to get 3 different editorial opinions – from my 2 editors at Pan Mac and also my lovely new agent, Peta.

I have 2 agents now – Philippa who deals with the children’s side of things, and Peta who deals with the books for big people. The agency is called LAW, Lucas Alexander Whitley, they are based in London, and so far they have been fab to deal with – very professional, friendly and helpful.

Here are some of the changes I made after the collective input:

1/ I made the main character Libby younger – 27 instead of 33. I also removed her children and husband and gave her a fiancé instead.
The book has quite a ‘young’ feel and I think making her 27 made it fresher. She is now less ‘down-trodden middle aged Mum’ (as one of editors put it) and I’ve made her more edgy and fun.

2/ I toned down the plastic surgery scenes – I think I was over using all the info I’d discovered doing research and it was starting to read like a medical textbook!

3/ I gave Celeste (Libby’s best friend) more backstory to make her a meatier character.

4/ I tweaked the hero, Leo. One editor found him ‘spineless and meek’ at times. Not good qualities for a leading man you’ll agree!

5/ I got rid of a character called Gina who wasn’t strictly necessary to the story. I added Libby’s parents to the mix instead, a overbearing mother and a sweet dad.

6/ I made Libby more attractive and increasingly confident as the book progresses. To link in with her personal journey from put upon fiancée, to stand alone woman of the world.

As you can see, editorial notes can be pretty direct. But this is book no 9 and I like strong, honest feedback. I’m sure editors tailor their notes to suit the particular author.

My editors at Walker do something wonderful – they mark passages or phrases they particularly like with a little tick. Which a/ makes me smile and b/ makes me realise which bits really work.

It’s all a learning process. One day I’ll get there. But one thing I have learned is the more time invested in editing and rewriting – on both the publishers and the writers’ sides, the better a book will be. Editors don’t waste time on books they don’t think much of. If you get a lot of editorial feedback, it means they really like the book and want to make it the best it can possibly be.

I am presently going through The Loving Kind manuscript for the third time after rewriting it with the help of my editorial notes. I hope to send it to my editors by Friday. Fingers crossed. Then it will come back to me with copy edit notes and then finally (all being well!), final proof pages – the very last stage in the editing process.

If you’re not lucky enough to have an editor yet – feedback from a reader with a good eye who reads a lot in your genre (don’t give popular fiction to any old reader – it deserves someone who ‘gets’ the genre) is also valuable.

Finally:

Found an interesting writing book on Amazon recently called Write From the Heart by Hal Bennett. Some good stuff inside. I particularly like this quote:

If you do not breathe through writing, if you do not cry out in writing, or sing in writing, then don’t write, because our culture has no use for it.
Anais Nin

Amen to that!

And if you enjoy a stonking good chick lit novel now and again – Love Letters by Katie Fforde is a cracker. Set in Ireland with the Alpha male hero to beat all – an Irish writer no less!

Until tomorrow my writing friends,

SarahX

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!