William Bernhardt - Excellent Editing: The Writing Process

Excellent Editing

The WritingProcess

William Bernhardt

The Red Sneaker WriterSeries

Other Books by WilliamBernhardt

The Red Sneaker WriterSeries

Story Structure: The Key toSuccessful Fiction

Creating Character: Bringing YourStory to Life

Perfect Plotting: Charting theHeros Journey

Dynamic Dialogue: Letting YourStory Speak

Powerful Premise: Writing theIrresistible

Sizzling Style: Every WordMatters

Excellent Editing: The WritingProcess

The Ben Kincaid Series

Primary Justice

Blind Justice

Deadly Justice

Perfect Justice

Cruel Justice

Naked Justice

Extreme Justice

Dark Justice

Silent Justice

Murder One

Criminal Intent

Hate Crime

Death Row

Capitol Murder

Capitol Threat

Capitol Conspiracy

Capitol Offense

Capitol Betrayal

Justice Returns

Other Novels

The Code of Buddyhood

Dark Eye

The Midnight BeforeChristmas

Final Round

Double Jeopardy

Strip Search

Nemesis: The Final Case of EliotNess

The Game Master

Challengers of theAbyss

Poetry

The White Bird

The Oceans Edge

For Young Readers

Equal Justice: The Courage of AdaLois Sipuel (biography)

Princess Alice and the DreadfulDragon (illustrated by Kerry McGhee)

The Black Sentry

Shine

Edited by WilliamBernhardt

Legal Briefs

Natural Suspect

What is written without effort is generallyread without pleasure.

Samuel Johnson

INTRODUCTION

If this is not your first Red Sneaker book,or if youve attended Red Sneaker retreats or conventions, you canskip to Chapter One. If youre new, let me take a moment toexplain.

Ive been telling stories for many years,doing almost every kind of writing imaginable. Ive been speakingat workshops and conferences almost as long. Every time I stepbehind the podium I see long rows of talented people, stillfrustrated by the fact that they havent sold any books. Yes, themarket is changing and agents are hard to find and self-publishingcan be frustrating. But when aspiring writers work hard, put it outthere, but still dont succeedtheres usually a reason. Too oftenenormous potential is lost due to a lack of fundamental knowledge.Sometimes a little guidance is all that stands between an unknownwriter and a satisfying writing career.

Sometimes writinginstructors and writing texts seem more interested in appearingliterary than in providing useful information. Sometimes I thinkpresenters do more to obfuscate the subject than to explain it.Perhaps they feel that if they make the writing process asmysterious as possible, it will make them soundprofound orperhaps they dont understand the subject well themselves. Some ofthe best writers I know are not particularly good teachers, becausetheyve never thought consciously about the process.

Hoping to be more useful, I formed the RedSneaker Writing Center. Why Red Sneakers? Because I love my redsneakers. Theyre practical, flexible, sturdyand full of flair andfun. In other words, theyre exactly what writing instructionshould be. Practical, dynamic, and designed to unleash the creativespirit, to give the imagination a platform for creating wondrouswork.

I held the first Red Sneaker Writersconference in 2005. I invited the best speakers I knew, not onlypeople who had published many books but people who could teach.Then I launched my small-group writing retreatsseveral intensivedays working with a handful of aspiring writers. The retreats gaveme the opportunity to read, edit, and work one-on-one with peopleso I could target their needs and make sure they got what wouldhelp them most. This approach worked well and Im proud to say asubstantial number of writers have graduated from my programs andplaced work with major publishers. But of course, not everyone canattend a retreat.

This book, and the other books in thisseries, are designed to provide assistance to writers regardless oftheir location. The books are short, inexpensive, and targeted tospecific areas where a writer might want help.

Let me see if I can anticipate yourquestions:

Why are these books soshort? Because Ive expunged theunnecessary and the unhelpful. Ive pared it down to the essentialinformation, useful ideas that can improve the quality of yourwriting. Too many instructional books are padded with excerpts andrepetition to fill word counts required by book contracts. Thatsnot the Red Sneaker way.

Why are you writing severaldifferent books instead of one big book? Iencourage writers to commit to writing every day and to maintain aconsistent writing schedule. Sometimes reading about writing can bean excuse for not writing. You can read the Red Sneaker bookswithout losing much time. In fact, each can be read in a singleafternoon. Take one day off from your writing. Make notes as youread. See if that doesnt trigger ideas for improving yourwork.

I bet it will. And the next day, you can getback to your work.

You reference other books as examples, butyou rarely quote excerpts from books. Why?

Two reasons. First, Im trying to keep thesebooks brief. I will cite a book as an example, and if you want tolook up a particular passage, its easy enough to do. You dontneed me to cut and paste it for you. Second, if I quote frommaterials currently under copyright protection, I have to pay afee, which means Id need to raise the price of the book. I dontwant to do that. I think you can grasp my points without readingcopyrighted excerpts. Too often, in my opinion, excessiveexcerpting is done to pad the page count.

Why does each chapter end withexercises?

The exercises are acompletely integrated and essential part of the book, designed tosimulate what happens in my small-group writing retreats. SamuelJohnson was correct when he wrote: Scribendo disces scribere . Meaning:You learn to write by writing. These principles wont beconcretized in your brain until you put them intopractice.

So get the full benefit from this book.Complete the exercises. If you were in my retreat, this would beyour homework. I wont be hovering over your shoulder as you readthis bookbut you should do the exercises anyway.

What else does the Red Sneaker WritersCenter do?

We send out a freee-newsletter filled with writing advice, news, market analysis, andother items of interest. If you would like to be added to themailing list, then please visit my website: http://www.williambernhardt.com/red_sneaker_wc/. We also have a free Red Sneaker phone app.Download it and youll be updated on all the latest news and youllget my weekly blog. I host an annual writing conference and I leadsmall-group writing retreats in various cities each year. Thenewsletter and app will provide dates and information about theseprograms. There will be future books in this series. And we helpsponsor a bi-annual literary magazine called Conclave that would love to see yousubmit your poems, short fiction, and creativenonfiction.

Okay, enough of the warm-up act. Read thisbook. Then write your story. Follow your dreams. Never give up.

William Bernhardt

CHAPTER 1: WRITING IS A PROCESS

My pencils outlast the erasers.

Vladimir Nabokov

For most people, writing their first booktakes a good long timeand finding a publisher for that book takeseven longer. Granted, the advent of eBooks and viableself-publishing alternatives have streamlined the waiting game forsome, but for most, especially those in traditional publishing,writing is a time-consuming process. I frequently hear aspiringwriters complain about how long it takes to finish a book, andthen, after a brief pause, they lean into my ear and whisper, Canyou give me a shortcut? How do you do it?