How can a Reader help a Writer?

David Harris

David Harris, my husband and a writer, is always the first person to read my manuscripts before they are sent out into the world. 

I asked him some questions about the role of a supporting reader: 

What is the role of a reader (in the sense of reading an unpublished ms)?

The idea is to help the writer make the best book they can. We can help in a few really important ways.

First, look for the big things. What are the your favourite bits and favourite characters? Does the opening grab you? Is there too much or too little information in the first few paragraphs? Later on, is there a part where you can't quite understand what's happening or why? Are there bits that could be taken out or need to be added? Is there too much or too little dialogue in places? If there are chapters, do the ends of the chapters force you to turn the page? Does the ending of the book feel right?  

Then look at some of the other things in the way they write, such as repetitions. Don't overdo the finding of faults. The whole idea is to encourage the writer to keep going, not give up in despair.     

  

When someone close to you asks you to read their ms, what should you keep in mind?

Their feelings and your friendship. By reading their ms carefully (respecting their work) and giving supportive feedback, their feelings and your friendship will be better than ever. 

How can a reader give helpful feedback?

First, talk about the best bits. Then pick just a few of the other important helpful things. Ask questions rather than give criticisms. For example, if the hero is a dragon, ask, 'Why did a dragon do this?' or 'What happened to the magic elixir?' or 'Does this bit sound like real dragon-speak?' Don't bury them under heaps of advice. Writers can only fix a couple of things at a time.  

What do you do when you need to point out something that needs changing?

First tell them that this is only your opinion and you could be wrong. Then ask them what they want this bit to do? What do they want you, the reader to feel? Is there some way of making it work better? 

Try to ask questions that help the writer sort it out rather than give them instructions on how to fix it.  

How much do you take into account that each reader might have a different view of the same story?

Ask the writer what they think is best thing about the story. Ask them to tell you in one sentence what it's all about. Ask them why they wrote it. Ask them who they want to read it, and then suggest they get some other trusted friend of about the right age to check it out too. Beware of some adults who looove red ink.   

Is it better to write down comments or talk about them?

It's good to put lots of ticks in the margin, and as well make some notes of the few important things. Friendship is about trust and your friend wants you to honest, but kind. So talking is best because then you can help them think aloud to you and work things out themselves. In sport, music, art, photography, learning a new phone, whatever, we help each other naturally. Speaking about it means you can see each other's faces and guess what they are feeling. That helps to make it a real conversation, not a list of instructions. 

Of course, if your friend lives on the other side of the world, then you might need to upgrade your technology.  

    

Raven Lucas is a series of three books. What extra things did you need to keep in mind because it is a series?

Does each ending satisfy you and make you want crave the next book in the series? Does the final ending of the series solve the big problem set up way back in the beginning? Are any of the readers' important questions not answered by the end? Do we keep discovering things about the main characters and so get to really care about them?  

Happy reading!

Christine Harris

Raven Lucas series: Answers About Editing From Gina Inverarity

My 'Raven Lucas' series has been edited by Gina Inverarity.

Here are some questions I asked her about editing - and her answers.

1. How did you decide to become a book editor?

After I finished my degree in Professional Writing and Communication at UniSA I was lucky to get a job as an editorial assistant at Wakefield Press in Adelaide. The publisher, Michael Bollen, an experienced editor, taught me almost everything I know about editing and book production. So when I finished uni I thought maybe I would be a writer, but I ended up an editor instead.

2. What things do you need to keep in mind when you edit someone's books?

First and foremost that this is someone else's work and that they have most likely worked long and hard on it, so you need to be respectful. I try to remember I am the author's first reader and it is my job to imagine all of the other readers the book will have and think of ways to help them better understand what the author is trying to say.

3. What keeps you awake at night?

I have been editing books for quite a long time now, so I try not to let them keep me awake at night. If my conscience is pricked around midnight it will usually be because I have forgotten to reply to an email, or have a deadline looming a little too large for sound sleeping.

4. Name the highlights of being a book editor.

Book launches! Swanning about (very) occasionally is one one of the perks of the job. Also the lovely quiet of me, a book and my computer. Sometimes (when you forget about marketing and publicity and blurbs and covers and printers and release dates) there is a simplicity about the editing process that is very appealing.

5. How does being an editor affect your reading for pleasure?

I have a great deal of trouble reading the Twilight series. Poorly written and over-written books are impossible to read for an editor who cares about literary quality. Otherwise I have a more-than-usual interest in imprint pages (the page at the beginning of a book that lists the publishing date and other details) and the acknowledgements pages where the author usually thanks their editor. I like to glean information that way!

6. What input do you have into design or blurbs?

I usually write the first draft of cover blurbs and then they are circulated to all and sundry for comment and then redrafted and redrafted until we get something that everyone likes. For a cover design I usually develop the design brief (in consultation with others) and then my job is to be the author's advocate. I find out what they would like and then try to make that heard. Cover design is a complex business but it's very important that the author is happy with the final result, so it is my job to try to make sure that happens.

7. You are editing the 'Raven Lucas' series. What differences are there in editing a series and a stand-alone novel?

Over a series it is important to keep the style consistent - everything from the spelling of characters' names to capitalisation. I also help the author to remember things from the previous books in the series - what characters may have said or done - so that there are no mistakes from one book to another.

8. What advice would you give to anyone who is interested in becoming an editor?

Go to uni and study English or Professional Writing or Creative Writing and then try and find a job - any job - in publishing. It can be competitive so you need to be well-read, determined and a little bit lucky.

9. What question do you really wish I had asked you (and please answer it too!)

Do I like chocolate? Yes! And I strongly believe that thanks is best expressed with the good dark stuff.

girl reading cartoon: Wizard of Draws

Who Reviews The Reviewer?

Hi

As a writer I am sometimes interested in reviews of my own work - and sometimes I line the cocky's cage with them.
Mary Kingsley, 19th century intrepid explorer and writer, used newspapers containing reviews of her book to line her canoe.
As a reader, I check reviews. But find they have changed.
Recently I have bought a few ebooks from Amazon and checked the readers' reviews first as I hadn't heard of the authors.
Those reviews were quite different to my opinion of the story.
You'd expect that.
To a point.
However I am starting to wonder how many new authors are asking their relatives to post reviews (in exchange for a cake or tube of Superglue).
Publicists and publishers can't pull swifties (as my Dad says) when the public can easily post reviews, Twitter, Blog and by other electronic means.
And we are all entitled to our own view.
However, when a review is written by a reader, it varies in perspective to that of a professional.
A personal reviewer tends to talk about how they felt about the story, whether it was better or worse than the last book, and who was their favourite character.
Whereas a professional reviewer will often talk about the construction of the plot, suspense, vocabulary and so on.
Is one better than the other?
Maybe we need both.
But it is interesting that reviews are one of the checks on books.
But who reviews the reviewer?

Christine Harris

You Be the Detective: Who is the Victim?

There is a body. Unidentified.
But there are various items that belonged to the victim.
You are a police psychological profiler.
Your job is to collect ten items (for example pen, lipstick, mobile phone, bandaid, scrap of paper, a business card from a cafe) and place them in an evidence bag.
Write a character assessement on what you've learned (or guessed) about the victim.
Your task is not to solve the crime. But to work out what kind of person the victim was, where they might have been or what their interests might have been.

Click here for more mystery writing hints.

Mystery Story Starters

The beginning of a story needs to be a 'hook'.
Something that grabs the reader and won't let them go until the end of the story.
For some writers this is the hardest part.
Here are some suggestions for story starters:

• I didn’t see the blood at first.
• Then I wished I hadn’t.
• A shiver across the back of my neck was the first sign of trouble.
• I froze. Someone was in the house. I couldn’t see them. But I knew it.
• What have I done?
• I wish I had never come here.
• If I hadn’t decided to clean out my wardrobe, I wouldn’t have been kneeling on the floor. And if I hadn’t been kneeling on the floor, I wouldn’t have been hidden when he arrived.
• ‘No, stop. Please don’t!’
• ‘I trusted you.’
• I know what you did.
• How can I ever get out of this one?
• I knew she was lying.
• Every year on the first of April I take out my shoe box.
• I wish I hadn’t seen her. But it’s too late now.
• How can you tell if someone’s guilty?
• I never thought I was squeamish. That was until today.
• The photo was gone.
• He thinks I’m an idiot. But he has no idea what I’ve done.
• I never dreamed I’d have to investigate this sort of thing. But no one else will do it.
• No one believes me. I have to make someone listen.
• Should I tell or not?
• Dead. Dead. Dead.
• I saw it in his eyes. Before he moved, I knew what he was going to do.
• I was trapped!
• It started with a wrong number.
• I heard that he said something just before he died. I have to find out what it was.
• It was locked. Firmly. Solidly. What could I do now?
• At first I thought it was a prank call. Some kid with nothing to do. Then I realised it could be true. Probably was true.
• It was the smell that first attracted my attention.
• I had no idea there was a secret room in our house. Not until I heard the noise.
• I began to wonder about her when I realised there were no photos of her. Not a single one.
• I knew I shouldn’t take it. But I did. And I’ll be sorry for the rest of my life. It was only a little thing. But it caused so much trouble.
• Victim. It was just a word in the dictionary. Until today.
• Some secrets can kill.

For more story starters, click here

My Word: How do I Choose?

Hi

I have been busy editing the second book in the 'Raven Lucas' series and an interesting dilemma popped up.
A word.
Not just any word.
It had to be the correct word.
Okay, maybe I'm slightly neurotic. But hey, that's a good thing when you're editing, isn't it?
Isn't it?
This is the sentence that caused the dilemma:
'Raven felt sick. Her thoughts careered all over the place, remembering every scary scene she'd ever watched on TV, never dreaming she'd be in a situation like this.'
My editor suggested that I might really mean 'careened' rather than 'careered'.
There is only one letter difference between the words. Did it really matter?
I began an investigation that took over an hour and involved checking dictionaries, a thesaurus and discussing the words at length with my writer husband David.
Yes, I had heard the word 'careen'.
But what, exactly, did that and 'career' mean and therefore imply within the text?
I checked the meanings.
'Careen': to rush carelessly, to serve.
The implication of rapidity that most often accompanies the use of careen as a verb of motion may have arisen naturally through the extension of the nautical sense of the verb to apply to the motion of automobiles, which generally careen, that is, lurch or tip over, only when driven at high speed.
Okay, my character Raven is thinking hard and fast. But was she tilting over, lurching? Did that suggest uncertainty or fallibility in her thoughts?
I checked 'career':
Apart from the obvious 'profession or occupation' there was another meaning.
2. A path or course, as of the sun through the heavens.
3. Speed: "My hasting days fly on with full career" (John Milton).
To move or run at full speed; rush.
[French carrière, from Old French, racecourse, from Old Provençal carriera, street, from Medieval Latin (via) carrria, (road) for carts, feminine of carrrius, from Latin carrus, a Gallic type of wagon; see kers- in Indo-European roots.]
Wow. That was interesting. The root meanings of a racecourse, a carriage, a street.
I decided on leaving 'careered'.
1. It suited the meaning of the scene better. Raven's thoughts were rapid but not 'tilting' or crashing.
2. The word 'careered' is sometimes heard on the TV news and should be more familiar to most of us.
3. My readers will be aged 10 and older. They would probably be more familiar with 'career' than 'careen'. Careened sounded more old-fashioned.
So, in the end, it came down to the exact meaning, including original roots of the word; the sense of the scene in the story and what was really happening there and the possibly familiarity to the readership.
All this over one word.
Yet it was important to me.
I learned so much about the meanings by pursuing one word.
Language is fascinating.
If the story as a whole matters, then choosing one correct word matters.
If you can do that without disappearing into your own neurosis.
Now, onto the next page ...

Happy Writing
Christine Harris

The Problem of Names

Hi

My husband, David Harris, also a writer came back from a school visit yesterday with a wonderful story about names.

Apparently finding names for new babies is as difficult as finding them for story characters.

Sometime told David, 'I am glad you mentioned your grandson's name was Finn because we are going through the alphabet for grandchildren's names and we had to skip "F" and go straight to "G" because we couldn't think of anything we liked beginning with "F". Now we have.'

Bet that turns up in a story somewhere.

Cheers,
Christine Harris