Unless You're Dead, Get an Edit by Guest Writer Robin Spano

This is my first guest post here on Listen to the Voices... and if it goes well, I will have many more. I'm so excited to introduce Robin Spano, the writer of Dead Politician's Society. Take it away, Robin!

I loved the beginning of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It reminded me of a Le Carre novel — suspenseful and international — but with more emotion. I wanted to know about Blomkvist. Salander’s voice felt honest and original. The writer in me was impressed; the reader was intrigued.

Then the book fell apart. The plot was incoherent, too many names sounded the same, and there were probably too many characters. Not only could I not follow the story of the long-ago murder case; I didn’t care. I kept reading — the writing was good enough and the characters unique enough that I enjoyed the book overall. But what Stieg Larsson lacked was an edit phase — a time when outside opinions can shape a first draft into a great final product.

It’s not Larsson’s fault — he died right before his book went into editing, and his publisher didn’t want to edit without him. But writers who are still alive can avoid similar misfortune. Don’t push your freshly finished manuscript on everyone you know, but if your neighbor or your grocer or your best friend’s dog-walker offers to take a look, say yes before they have the chance to change their mind.

When someone gives me feedback, I’ll listen to anything they say, but mostly I’m looking for 4 things:

1. What works? This isn’t an ego thing (well, maybe partly). But it’s important to know what hits a reader in a good way, so when you’re going through your MS and gutting it, you don’t remove parts that strike a chord for people.

2. What doesn’t work? If a reader finds a scene or a line that jars them—maybe a character sounds more naïve than you’d like her to, maybe you have someone holding a gun in a ridiculously wrong way — it’s important to know these things. On a general level, maybe the killer’s motivation isn’t clear enough, or your book has too many sarcastic brunettes. Better to find out before the book hits shelves than to hear it from the critics later.

3. Answers to questions. I’m too close to my manuscript to see certain things. I ask readers things like: Is the killer too obvious too soon? When they’re revealed, do you feel satisfied or let down? Are there enough clues?

OPTIONAL:

4. How can I change it? This isn’t a reader’s job — just telling me what doesn’t work is enough to highlight areas I need to fix. But when they have ideas, I love hearing them.

So great — you have all this feedback. You have six people telling you six different things, and you don’t know how to incorporate it into your manuscript. This is what I do:

1. Listen with an open mind. Trust that the opinion is coming from a good place; that this reader is trying to help you make your manuscript stronger.

2. When I hear a suggestion I agree with on impact, I make the change.

3. When I disagree, or if I’m not immediately sure, I file the suggestion (I keep them in a Word document). Maybe my critic is giving me advice that’s wrong for my book. But maybe it’s not wrong. As more feedback comes in, I compare the opinions and weigh them against my own.

4. Make my own decision. Maybe ten people want me to move the story to Helsinki from Toronto. If it doesn’t feel right, I won’t do it.

My first draft of Dead Politician Society was pretty bad. I think its basics were solid, but it had several of the problems I saw in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo — too many characters, too much name similarity, and a plot that needed tightening. If it hadn’t been for the people who helped me gut the MS and doctor it into readability, I wouldn’t be nearly so happy about releasing it into the world.

I love helping my writer friends with their manuscripts, too. This is a tricky industry to forge a career in, but when writers can help writers get stronger at their craft, we’re pushing each other forward and helping each other thrive.

Clarissa is doing something really cool with her chapter reviews here on Listen to the Voices. Not only is she giving killer feedback that a writer can use to improve, but she’s doing it in public and helping people see what good critiquing is. I’m thrilled to include such a supportive writing community on my virtual book tour, and I urge everyone with a chapter of writing to submit if for Clarissa’s kick-ass review.

(P.S. If you scroll back a few entries you can see how she pulled apart the 1st chapter of Dead Politician Society. Feel free to leave comments about whether you agree or disagree.)

Thank you, Robin, for that wonderful post. You can check out her webpage here. Tomorrow is another first for me. I'm interviewing a MUSIC GROUP! Check it out!