Michele Regenold, Writing for Kids from the Boondocks

A blog about writing for children and the quest for publication.

Saturday, January 14, 2006

No more bloopers: how to edit like a professional

Jennifer Gennari, another grad student (who's in my workshop), showed us her top 10 mistakes--things she especially looks for when editing her work. These included
  • resist the urge to explain
  • avoid stage direction (too much moving people around or describing lots of tiny actions that have no relevance)
  • use dialogue beats and misdirection
Since reading Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: How to Edit Yourself into Print, I've become more aware of these kinds of errors and how to correct them, but this was a nice review for me.

Jennifer also walked us through a fun excercise. She took a scene from a published novel, Stoner & Spaz by Ron Koertge, and introduced errors. Then she had the audience try to identify them all. Some of her errors were funny and obvious, but others less so.

2 Comments:

At 6:12 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Michelle, as a 2000 grad of the program (The Hive rules!) I am re-living it all through you. Thank you! It sounds as if things are as informative and intense as ever. Happy to hear that. I have passed along your blog address to all the writers who have asked me about the program and what goes on at a residency.

 
At 9:48 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Michelle...I'm a 2004 grad of the program...Mary Ann was one of my grad assistants! Leda, Kelly, and Laura were all in my class. I have really enjoyed your blog. Good luck on your semester and let us know how it goes. The program is lots of work, but somehow it gets done. Enjoy!

 

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