Layering

I've been thinking about books in terms of layers a lot lately. Each aspect of writing forms a layer. You get the basic ones that every book needs - story and characters. Then you get the other layers - plot, style, theme, setting/world-building, concept - which aren't always necessary but add to the flavour of the book when they're created well. A good book has the basic layers done well, but a great one has the basic layers and the additional layers all on point.

When I write, I usually only succeed in creating a solid story layer and a half-decent plot. Does it make for a good book? Not really, but I like to think that my writing *is* readable. I constantly tell myself that when I rewrite and edit, I can add on more layers and improve the ones I already have. This is very true, but I am the world's laziest rewriter - which is terrible, since most of writing is rewriting. My impatience makes me jump to my next project and I procrastinate on the rewrite. I've been procrastinating on rewriting one of my novels for three years now, and I just never seem to start.

I like to think of the writing process as having its own internal layers as well. There's the basics - grammar, putting a decent sentence together that means what you want it to, dialogue - but you can also get really fancy with by adding more layers. Descriptions, body language, metaphor and simile. These layers turn a bland page into something that comes to life. Although I'm bad at adding on the larger layers and lazy to rewrite, I'm pretty good at adding on these in-writing layers. When I have to get a scene out of my head, it's often the dialogue that I want to put on paper and the important action. So, after I've gotten a scene down, I start layering. I go back to the start of the scene, fill in the setting and description, show what my characters are sensing and turn a bit of dialogue into something that's simply better. 

Thinking about books in terms of layers makes writing one a lot less intimidating. The cool thing about layers is that you can keep adding them on as you get better. I've seen it happen with published authors, comparing their early books to their later books. The better they get, the more layers the book has and the better the quality of the layers. You don't need to write a book that's got every layer perfect the first time. Just work on your writing, one layer at a time.

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Since this post turned out to be a lot shorter than I intended, I thought I'd include a short update on where I am with my writing currently. I've started a new novel and I've completed two chapters, but, I don't know what the plot is yet. All I have to go on is three main characters and that it's high fantasy. Writing this way is exciting and terrifying, and I'll either end up with something brilliant or a huge mess. Thankfully, the writing is going easily for me so I hope I can keep it up.

~Munira

The Red Pen of Annihilation

Okay, so perhaps not quite the right word, and perhaps a little dramatic. But that’s what the editing process sometimes feels like – like you’re completely ripping into your story and changing it. I’ve just finished the second draft of The Day It Rained so I thought I would talk a bit about editing. 

This is only the second time I’ve edited a whole novel, as this is only the second novel I have finished! It seemed like a daunting task the first time, and I wasn’t sure how to approach it. Every writer has a different method of re-drafting. Some people completely tear their books apart and re-order everything. I tend to plan so much beforehand that the basic order of events already make sense (hopefully, anyway) so the structure is all sorted.  

First when I edit, I print out my novel and put it in a ring binder, and then I read through it with a red pen. I don’t usually do this right after finishing writing it. I think it is good to have a break (maybe months, maybe even a year) so that you can look at it with fresh eyes. Once I have read it through the marked on grammar errors or things I think need changing/improving, I type up the second draft. 

Most advice says not to worry about grammar and sentence-level editing at first and to focus on the bigger picture. I prefer to do it the other way around. I can’t stand to have a draft that isn’t grammatically correct so I tend to edit the wording and sentence structure type things first. 

It is really hard to see yourself where your novel needs improving sometimes, so I always get feedback from other writers, because they always seem to find things that I never would have spotted myself. 

The question I always wonder about, is how do you know when you’ve edited enough? How do you know when your manuscript is ready? After all, there’s no such thing as perfection, so how do you know when to stop? I don’t know the answer to this question. The Water That Sings is halfway through a third draft and, as said before, I just finished a second draft of The Day It Rained. I’m not sure where to go with them next, so I think the way forward is to get some people to read them and see what they say. 

In some ways, the editing process is harder than actually writing the book! At least, that’s what I find anyway. This is partly because I don’t want to ruin it by changing something and making it worse, and also it’s hard to see what needs working on when it is your own writing. As writing takes practice, so does editing. 

M.T.