Be Your Own Editor

Contributed by Regina Paul

Are you a writer who has a tendency to jump right into your writing without any preparation? I used to be. Unfortunately, what I’ve learned is that if I write with no preparation at all I find myself wasting time going back through my manuscript looking for little details that I can’t remember, or searching online for bits of research I need so that when I’m writing, the story is consistent. Since many of us have this problem from time to time, a little preparation before we begin writing our novel can go a long way toward saving us time and energy down the road.

So, that said, how can you prepare? Here are a few tips I use:

1. Have a place where you can jot down details for your book. This can be a folder on your desktop, a spiral notebook, or a three ring binder, it’s your choice. Personally, I prefer a folder on my desktop since that is where I write, and it is easily accessible to me.

2. Create a character list. Decide ahead of time what physical and personality traits your characters are going to have. Now, I realize that some characters pop up later as you write your story, or maybe your characters say to you, “That’s stupid, I hate pizza!” That’s fine; if it happens during the course of writing you can go back into your list and revise it by adding characters that appear later, or deleting or adding physical and personality traits as they pop up.

3. Create a time line for your main characters. Have you ever been writing and then realized that you couldn’t remember a detail about something you’d already decided happened to your heroine? I have. The way to avoid that is to create a time line for your main characters, and, if you think you need it, for any important secondary characters.

4. Create a description of the “universe” your story takes place in. Even if you are writing a contemporary story, you might have a fictional town, or even state in your book. Create either a description or a list of important details (or do both) about your fictional place. If you are writing a historical or futuristic novel this is a good place to keep details from your research.

Having a place to keep notes and lists is one of the first things I’ve learned to do as a writer. It makes a huge difference, and I am far more productive when I do this. This folder or notebook is the blueprint for your book, and will go a long way toward keeping you organized and on track with your writing. You can add other things such as pictures you create of your characters or scenes from your book. I personally like to create pictures of my characters in Daz Studio and keep them in my folder. The ideas are limitless, and only as creative as your own imagination.

Regina Paul is a freelance writer, and the author of Getting Out Alive, a science fiction romance, as well as two novellas and numerous articles. She is currently at work on her next novel and her first nonfiction book. For more information you can visit her website at http://www.reginapaul.com, where you can sign up for her monthly newsletter, “Regina’s Universe,” participate in her latest contest, get free e-books, and find many other writer’s freebies.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, October 5th, 2006 at 4:24 am and is filed under Writing/Editing Tips: The Big Picture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.