Dave Barry on Writing, Editing, Publishing, and Judging the Erma Bombeck Contest

This past weekend I caught an in-depth interview with C-SPAN's Book TV, featuring Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Dave Barry, one of our nation's premiere humor writers.

As usual, Dave was funny and entertaining, but he also offered some helpful advice about writing, editing, publishing, and judging.

Listed below are some notes I jotted down to share.

On Writing:

* Little decisions make writing better, not the big stuff.

* Don’t quit, even if you’re not gifted.

* It’s a process that takes work and practice.

* He likes writing books more than columns.

* He writes every day, although maybe a couple days he won’t.

On Research:

* Wikipedia is a valuable, but highly inaccurate. Cheap and easy and fast and general.

* To nail down a fact, confirm with some other site.

On Editing:

* Dave knows what’s funny

* Depends on his respect for editor’s advice, generally doesn't do major rewrites.

* As long as you’re laughing, He's OK. Does it work? Does it make people laugh?

On Publishing:

There are two ways to get published and reviewed.

Self-publish  - he doesn't think is the way to go. Easy to do, pay money to do it, but almost impossible to get distributed and reviewed. Basically no quality control over content. Some may be successful, but not from his experience. 

Traditionally Way - Get an agent, might want rewrites, they get it to the publisher. If publisher decides they have a sales staff and promotional people and get a review.

On Judging:

Someone called into the show and mentioned he was going to judge the Erma Bombeck Contest, which got my attention because I know what a thrill it was for my essay to win that contest in 2012.

Dave knew Erma. She was one of those funny writers and funny persons.

Dave said he hates judging because he wants to be nice even if he doesn’t like it.

In the end, it comes down to what he finds amusing.

~~

You can watch Dave's complete interview by clicking here.

Polishing Your Prose: Practical Editing and Revision Tips

Last Sunday I gave a workshop on "Polishing Your Prose: Practical Editing and Revision Tips" to about 25 members of the Columbia Chapter of the Missouri Writers' Guild. 

Thank you, Lori and the CCMWG board, for inviting me to come speak. Also, thanks, Eva, for taking photos.

I began the workshop by defining the basic stages of writing as: prewriting, writing, rewriting, editing, and proofreading. 
My focus for the workshop was on rewriting and editing. Here are some highlights of what I covered:

* Writing is a process of discovery. 

* During prewriting and writing, the focus is on the writer.  

* This is when writers brainstorm and come up with ideas and get their ideas down on paper.

* Tip: Organize your notes, write without editing, and save everything.

* "Write about what interests you." That was Daniel Woodrell's suggestion during a book talk I attended last month at the St. Charles Community College.

* Revision is the process of re-vision; to see again by taking a fresh look at what you've written. (More about clarity of vision below.)

* Rewriting, editing, and proofreading are part of the revision process.

* During revision, editing, and proofreading, the focus is on the reader.

* In an interview, the late Elmore Leonard said, "If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it."

* In On Writing, Steven King recommended: "Write with the door closed; rewrite with the door open."

* Other revision and editing tips:

Don't do final edits on the computer screen
Print out a copy
Read the copy out loud
Read it backwards to catch mistakes
Always give your work a title (more on this below)
Don't give too much information too soon
Use vivid writing and specific, concrete language
Make good use of white space
Avoid lengthy paragraphs
Put statements in a positive form
Eliminate needless words
Place emphatic words at the end of the sentence
Place yourself in the background
Write in a way that comes naturally
Avoid foreign language
Always keep the reader in mind

At the end of the workshop, participants completed an exercise to edit sentences and eliminate needless words. They also took a for-fun mini-quiz. To emphasize the importance of titles, I gave them the original title of ten famous novels and asked them to guess the novels' better known titles. The CCMWG writers know their stuff--they got almost all ten right.

Here are a few of the before-and-after titles:
Atticus was changed to To Kill a Mockingbird
First Impressions became Pride and Prejudice
The Last Man in Europe is better known as 1984

When the topic of clear vision and focus comes to mind, I think about how eagles take a long view then zoom in and focus. 

How timely that on Monday, the day after my talk, my grandson spotted an eagle soaring above our place in Osage County, along the Gasconade River. 

I grabbed my camera and took this photo to capture the moment. Don't you wish you had his clarity of purpose and clear vision?

How about you? Do you have any revision or editing tips?

Suzann Ledbetter and The Walking Deadline

Last Saturday I attended Suzann Ledbetter Ellingsworth’s workshop on “How to Show, How to Not Tell,” sponsored by the St. Louis Writers’ Guild.

Suzann is a multi-published, award-winning writer as well as an editor. Her editing business is The Walking Deadline.com.

 During her presentation she talked with conviction and humor about her philosophy on writing, revising, and editing. She was so impressive and funny that one guy asked her to marry him—she gracefully turned him down; she’s already married.

Here are some highlights of Suzann's presentation:

Do a synopsis! By doing so you’re telling your brain you mean business this time.

Always write forward. Don’t worry about grammar or spelling until you revise.

You don’t know your story until you finish it.

Every word really does count. Learn to recognize passive writing and revise to active.

Cut/banish repetitions. Delete indistinct, nondescript verbiage.

Suzann listed common repetitions and clues to passive constructions.  Here are some she mentioned: of, that, saw, walked, going to, only, very, just -- and the most common color references (brown/black/green/blue).

Rarity of an adjective will convey its importance when it is mentioned.

Revise on the printed copy – not on screen.

An editor should be able to tell you WHY something needs to change.

Language is story. Use it. Respect it. Put it to work.

The story is always the boss, and character is the boss of the story.

Keep a “Book-Book” – A spiral notebook for every book you write. Make notes on chapters, characters, etc.. Keep your list of repetitive words and phrases to be revised.

 

There's no secret to writing. Just sit down and do it.

To learn more about Suzann's editing business, visit The Walking Deadline website.

Writing is Elementary with Margo Dill (Part II)

In the photo above, Margo Dill holds a copy of her middle-grade book that takes place in the Civil War. The title of her book is Finding My Place: One Girl's Strength at Vicksburg.

 

Continuing with my last post, here is the conclusion of the notes I took during the Saturday Writers meeting where Margo discussed "Everything You Need to Know About Writing You Learned in Elementary School."

 

Organization. Margo gave examples of how different types of writing are organized from beginning, middle, to end.

 

   * At the beginning of a story, catch the reader's attention to make them want to keep reading. Introduce the main character's problem. Wow the reader.

 

   * Some personal essays and picture books are wrtten as circle stories, such as If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. Some stories start in the present, flashback, then end in the present.

 

  *  Some memoirs are divided into chapters or sections. Some non-fiction is written in chronological order or begins with a big event then continues from there. 

 

  * Endings should wrap up the plot and subplot in fiction. Draw non-fiction to a close without repeating the thesis or introducing new information. Be satisfying.

 

  *  Not every book will have a happy ending, but if it satisfies the reader's expectations and is true to the character, that's okay. Readers like order, so if you set up an expectation, stick with it. Continuity is important.

 

Voice. Experts say that voice is hard to define, but they know it when they read it.

 

   * Voice is something that can't be taught, but a writer can work to develop a unique voice. In fiction, it's the personality of the writer shining through. It is natural, flowing, interesting.

 

   * Voice has a lot to do with sentence fluency and word choices. Some suggestions: do more prewriting, write in first person instead of third, write with the reader in mind. The editor of Margo's book suggested she give more depth to her main character by writing personal journal entries for her.

 

   * Margo also gave an example of how readers prefer voice after reading books on the same topic. She mentioned two books she used when teaching about Rev. Martin Luther King. The students in her class preferred My Brother Martin, which was written by a family member of MLK, to a biography of MLK, which was written by someone who didn't know him.

 

Conventions. Proper grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc are important.

 

   * Conventions vary depending on the medium. She mentioned some editors use the Chicago Manual of Style while others use the AP Style Manual.

 

   * She was asked about her pet peeves as an editor. They include: improper use of apostrophe's, being inconsistent when using commas . . . using too many ellipses. . . and Capitalizing Words That Shouldn't Be. (Please excuse my attempt at humor to demonstrate Margo's pet peeves.)

 

Publication. The +1 portion of her presentation covered publication as well as editing. Some writers write for themselves and don't want to be published, which is fine. But if a writer wants to be published, Margo recommended they join a good critique group or hire a professional editor. Editing takes time and can be expensive. Don't expect to pay an editor $20 to edit a 400-page manuscript in a week. A good editor will be thorough and detailed with suggestions. To find a reputable editor, check out their credentials and get recommendations from other writers.

 

Hope you enjoyed reading about what Margo had to say about the elementary nature of writing. Next time I begin a story or an essay I'm going to try her potato method to dig deep and watch out for those pet peeves.

 

Speaking of pet peeves, one of mine is using it's as a possessive rather than its. Inquiring minds want to know: What are some of your pet peeves?

According to Writer and Editor Margo Dill, Writing Is Elementary (Part I)

Last Saturday I attended the monthly Saturday Writers meeting, which featured an exciting presentation by teacher, editor, blogger, and writer Margo Dill. Margo has a freelance editing business called Editor 911 and is a contributing editor and teacher for WOW! Women on Writing.

 

The room was packed! In fact, the staff had to add additional tables and chairs to accommodate more than 50 writers who turned out to listen to Margo talk about "Everything You Need to Know about Writing You Learned in Elementary School."

 

Margo's presentation was energetic and informative and filled with helpful hints for writers to use the tools they learned many years ago, but may need a nudge to remember. She focused on the 6+1 traits of writing: Ideas, Word Choice, Sentence Fluency, Voice, Organization, Conventions and Publication.

 

Here are some notes I jotted down during Margo's presentation: 

 

* Ideas. Sources for ideas can be your life, the Internet, newspaper articles or cartoons, books, just about anywhere. According to Margo, you don't only have to write what you know. You can research a topic or talk to other people. She used the example of traveling to Vicksburg to research her recently released book, Finding My Place: One Girl's Strength at Vicksburg. One fascinating tip was using the "potato" method for generating ideas. Don't use the first idea that comes to mind; dig a little deeper to get something fresh beneath the surface. She also talked about how, like potatoes, ideas can become rotten if you don't do anything with them.

 

* Word Choice. For advice on word choices, Margo recommended reading On Writing by Stephen King, who cautions writers about overuse of adverbs and adjectives. Instead, use specific nouns and verbs. Watch for passive voice. Use word choices that fit your genre. For description of a chacter, don't be like a J.C. Penney catalog, but mention distinct characteristics. When using colors, be specific, don't overuse, and have a reason why one color is mentioned several times. (I took that to mean that, for example, does the color red signify an angry or passionate character?) Send overused words to the "word graveyard, where words go to die." Overused words include: very, good, bad, happy, sad, just, little. Also, watch for repeat words. I found this humorous list on AskMen of overused words, some of which I use more than I should.

 

* Sentence Fluency. Vary the length and type of sentences, and vary how your sentences begin. During the editing process, study your manuscript. Watch for the first word of each sentence. Always read your work out loud. If writing in first person, watch for starting sentences with the word "I." For third person, don't repeat the character's name too much. Instead, use pronouns--although to avoid confusion, when characters are speaking in dialogue and both are the same sex, it's okay to use their names. To build suspense use shorter entences and action words. Longer sentences help readers catch their breath.

 

In my next post, I'll share what Margo had to say about: Organization, Voice, Conventions and Publication.