{"id":226,"date":"2013-02-26T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-26T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/blog\/2013\/02\/26\/tactical-tuesday-advice-for-self-editing_26-2\/"},"modified":"2015-11-25T12:22:18","modified_gmt":"2015-11-25T19:22:18","slug":"tactical-tuesday-advice-for-self-editing_26-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/tactical-tuesday-advice-for-self-editing_26-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Tactical Tuesday: Advice for Self-Editing"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\nFor years, I worked in the legal field, so when I went to
\nwork as a pastor’s secretary, and he asked me to draft a letter, you can
\nimagine the letters would need a different “tone.” On occasion, the
\npastor would return a letter and ask me to soften it. Why? Because a letter
\ndrafted from a law office would be much more businesslike than a letter from a
\nperson’s pastor.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nAbout right now, you\u2019re asking what the above has to do with
\nself-editing a manuscript. My answer: tone. Several factors can determine the tone of your work:<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nGenre<\/u>: In a thriller, the tone has to be quick,
\ndecisive, always building conflict until the moment when
\nthe hero saves what he\u2019s out to save. The tone matches the hero\u2019s efforts. On
\nthe other hand, historical romances are going to be slower. The dialogue is often relaxed (though there could be deep subtext going on). Much more detail will be given to description. Characters in
\nhistorical novels most likely lived in a simpler time. The tone of the novel
\nshould reflect that lifestyle.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nPacing<\/u>: Very much a part of the tone is pacing, and it can be used to create conflict or to give the reader a
\nrelease. In romantic suspense novels, the pace may at times be slow (but never
\ntoo slow), especially as the author builds the conflict into the story. As the
\nhero or heroine finds himself or herself fighting a known or unknown enemy or
\nsituation, the action will definitely pick up. In a mystery, the pacing is
\noften slow. The author builds the case around the detective, introducing the
\nmystery to be solved and dropping clues. Again, however, there will be scenes
\nwhere the action should be quick and decisive, but with both these genres,
\ngreat care should be given to draw out the suspense.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nCharacter<\/u>: Young adult novels are, of course, written
\nprimarily for teenagers and young adults. You will find the characters in this
\ngenre must connect with someone of that age. And surprisingly, the ones that
\nconnect the best with a younger generation will also resonate with the older reader. Character is
\nimportant in young adult novels. Even
\nissue-oriented fiction for this age range is stronger when the characters are
\nwitty\u2014whether they know it or not\u2014and true to that age group. Jump to the other
\nend of the spectrum: women\u2019s fiction has a specific audience\u2014women between the
\nages of twenty and one-hundred. These are often serious, issue-oriented
\nfiction. Again, witty characters are great for women\u2019s fiction. Those
\ncharacters provide levity to the plot, but the humor isn\u2019t going to be the
\nsame. Have a thirty-something woman act like a teenager, and the author will
\nlose her reader in the genre of women’s fiction.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nTone is the balance of pacing and character within the genre
\nof your choice. This is not to say that an historical romance cannot have humor
\nor that a thriller can\u2019t have romance. However, an author should be very
\ncareful that the tone of their story stay true to the genre.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nHappy editing.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For years, I worked in the legal field, so when I went to work as a pastor’s secretary, and he asked me to draft a letter, you can imagine the letters would need a different “tone.” On occasion, the pastor would return a letter and ask me to soften it. Why? Because a letter drafted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[504],"tags":[151,67,22,162,187,70,188],"class_list":["post-226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editing-writing-advice","tag-character","tag-editing","tag-editor-tips","tag-genre","tag-pacing","tag-self-editing","tag-tone"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}