Every Word
Counts.
Jolene
invited me here today to share something editing-related, what with my being a
developmental editor and all. It took me a little bit to figure out which topic
would best work for this, and then it hit me: every word counts.
I have no
doubt you’re looking at me with an expression of, “Of course it does!” but just
sit and think about it for a moment. This is the thing that I've really come to
realize and understand over my years as an editor. Every single word has a
weight, a meaning, and a purpose within your manuscript. They say something
about the setting, emotion, character, plot, something.
Let’s just
break it down for a moment shall we? We’ll start with the broader strokes;
action scenes seem like a good one. Your action scene needs to fit in with your
book. That seems obvious, but bear with me. The fighting style of the
characters involved needs to fit in with their personalities, history,
experience, and physical state, and that in turn must fit the setting,
available potential weapons, and desired outcome. That’s a lot to take into
account, isn't it?
That means
that deciding to write a spinning kick could throw off the action scene,
whereas a straight kick could work perfectly. That change in one word has an
impact. It says something about the character, their style, their position
within the scene, and their purpose with that particular blow.
A better
example is dialogue tags. Now, there are plenty of people out there who say
that you should only ever use said,
and I have written a full post on that , but I stand by the weight that
a single word can have on the entire scene. If you change your tag from said to whispered or screamed,
you’ve completely changed the emotion held within those words. That emotion
then carries over to the rest of the scene and can alter the chapter or even
the plot on a broader level. It also says a lot about your character.
One little
word carries that much weight.
Let’s look
at it from a slightly different angle for a moment, shall we?
Opening lines and
closing lines are incredibly important. A good opening line will hook your
reader, give them some sense of the character, setting, and opening scene. It
will grab them and have them wanting to read more. A good last line will stick
with them and have them eager to read more later. It wraps up the entire book,
in one line.
You need to
make them memorable, and wow do they
need to pack a punch. The one which sticks with me is actually the opening line
from a client’s book Elona.
“Is mother
dead yet?”
That is one
hell of an opening line. It hits the reader hard and you just have to read on
to know what’s going on and what prompted that character to ask such a
question.
Words are
the little pieces that form the entire puzzle. Every single one of them carries
a piece of the complete piece. It must fit exactly, so that the complete
picture comes out how you want it to. The words come together to form the
broader strokes, which are more what I really deal with as an editor. They help
the character development and voice, and one word out of
place can throw that off. They keep the flow, aid the pacing, and set the scene.
They’re precious little tools that we must carefully manipulate and use for our
own nefarious gain.
Which lines
from books you've read really stuck with you and why?
Thanks to Jolene for having me.
*****
About Shen Hart
Blog
Book blog
Editing blog
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Wyrd Calling
No one escapes the Wyrd Sisters.
Wyrd Calling blurb:
No one escapes the Wyrd Sisters. Thalia gave it her best shot. She ran away and devoted her life to tricking black market traders out of their money. She could only run for so long. They always catch up with you, one way or another.
Book blog
Editing blog
Google+
*****
About Shen's Book Wyrd Calling
Wyrd Calling
No one escapes the Wyrd Sisters.
Wyrd Calling blurb:
No one escapes the Wyrd Sisters. Thalia gave it her best shot. She ran away and devoted her life to tricking black market traders out of their money. She could only run for so long. They always catch up with you, one way or another.
Thank you for having me! I love talking about stories, words, editing and everything relating to those things :D
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