John Dean – Crime Writer

I am editing one of my crime novels and am struck by the fact that it is not possible to over-estimate the important ed of the process.

When I finish my final draft, and before I send it off to my publisher for their verdict, I always ask myself the same questions, for which the answer to each one has to be ‘yes’, because a strong ‘yes’ in one category does not make up for a wishy-washy ‘sort of’ in another. You cannot afford any weak links if you want someone to publish your work.

The questions are:

Plot: Does the book have a strong plot with enough twists and turns to keep the reader interested and does it feel like it could happen in the real world?

Atmosphere: Have you created enough atmosphere and tension to keep the reader engrossed?

The beginning: Do you grab the reader from the first lines?

The ending: Is the ending enough of a climax to satisfy the reader and does your final chapter wrap everything up effectively? That does not mean that you cannot leave some elements open-ended but normally you would only do that if you were planning to return to the plotline in another novel.

Characters: Does the book have realistic well-drawn characters rather than inadequately-depicted cliched cardboard cut-outs?

Place: Does the book have a strong sense of place, providing the reader with enough information to see the location but not overdoing it?

Pace: Does the story keep moving at a decent pace? Are there scenes that can come out because they duplicate similar ones?

The title: Have you picked a good title that sums up the story, one that gives the reader a sense of what kind of book it is? Ideally, titles should be no more than four or five words but there are plenty longer that indicate that it’s not a hard and fast rule, not least the Harry Potter books.

Accuracy: Yes, you are an author and, as such, are permitted to use artistic licence but if you are describing places, history, geography, organisations that exist etc, have you got your facts right? And if you decide to change some of those things, do you know enough to make the changes with confidence?

The minutaea: Have you done a thorough edit (too many errors will see an editor or agent wondering if there is too much to correct, compared with other manuscripts they have read that day and which are just as good)? Have you checked for clumsy sentence structure, poor grammar, incorrect spelling, characters whose names change half-way through without explanation (it happens more often than you might think), impossible chronology (eg characters who your novel says were a teenager when an event occurred, but the dates you have used mean that they would actually have been in their mid-twenties; mistakes like this happen frequently)?

 Sometimes, an obsession with the minutaea can hide the big stuff. When my latest novel approaches publication, I spend a fair bit of time working with Joffe Books’ excellent editing team led by Polly. However, an author can become so proud of themselves for detecting a wrongly-placed tilde (an accent placed over certain words in some languages, but you all knew that already, of course) that they miss the big things. In one example, part of my book related to a character whose eventual role in the story, when revealed, was designed to shock the reader. There was nothing wrong with the writing as such (not a tilde in sight) but, as one of the editors pointed out, by dropping too many heavy hints, I had allowed the reader to work out the secret long before I eventually revealed it, something that was obvious when it was pointed out to me.

Repetition: Editing often throws up excessive repetition, an important consideration for authors, who often do not realise they are doing it. An author may not realise, for instance, that they have used the same phrase repeatedly, which will become an irritant that drives readers away. There are times when repetition is needed, however; for instance, one of my books featured a number of foreign criminals whose names may have been unfamiliar to readers. A degree of repetition of them was required to remind the reader who they were – but not overdone because there is a danger that the reader will say ‘enough already, we’re not stupid, you’ve told us who he/she is three times’.

The overall aim of the editing is to ensure that the manuscript is as good as it can be. I can easily make one or two thousand changes during the final editing process and the publisher’s editors will make a lot at their end as well. The end result will not be perfect, but if the editing is carried out properly, it will be closer than it was.

This is a free Handy Hint but if you want a book full of advice and do not mind paying a modest amount, you can buy John Dean on Writing in paperback and e-book formats, you can do so on Amazon.

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