{"id":232,"date":"2013-02-05T18:40:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-05T18:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/blog\/2013\/02\/05\/tactical-tuesday-advice-for-self-editing_5\/"},"modified":"2015-11-25T12:22:18","modified_gmt":"2015-11-25T19:22:18","slug":"tactical-tuesday-advice-for-self-editing_5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/tactical-tuesday-advice-for-self-editing_5\/","title":{"rendered":"Tactical Tuesday: Advice for Self Editing"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\nA friend wrote me
\nrecently, and she commented on a book she was reading. She indicated the book
\nwas difficult to get through because the author didn\u2019t understand RUE: Resist
\nthe Urge to Explain.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nWhen an author explains
\nthe dialogue or actions of his character rather than writing strong action and
\ndialogue that needs no explanation, and when he strays from a strong point of
\nview, he ends up talking down to his audience. The authors of Self-Editing
\nfor Fiction Writers<\/i> compare RUE to a playwright running on stage in the
\nmiddle of a scene to explain what is happening.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThat would be annoying,
\nwouldn\u2019t it?<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nSo let\u2019s look at an
\nexample of an author running onto the page to explain the scene:<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cMary,\u201d Tim stood with his mouth open as Mary
\nwalked down the stairs, \u201cyou look beautiful tonight,\u201d he said in awe. He knew
\nshe would be self-conscious in his sister\u2019s hand-me-downs. Sarah had said she’d
\ngiven the dress to Mary.<\/div>\n
\nMary looked to the floor, unable to meet his
\ngaze. \u201cThank you,\u201d she said, hoping if he recognized the dress as the one his
\nsister had given him, that he wouldn’t make fun of her.<\/div>\n
\nTim held out his hand. The little lines on his
\nface crinkled when he smiled. \u201cShall we go,\u201d he said expectantly.<\/div>\n
\nShe took his hand in hers. \u201cI can\u2019t wait,\u201d she
\nsaid breathlessly. Obviously, he didn\u2019t recognize the dress.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nDo you see the author on the page, explaining
\nevery little detail, weakening the story with adverbs and excessive explanation,
\nand switching points of view, telling the reader effectively, \u201cI don\u2019t think
\nyou\u2019re smart enough to understand, so I\u2019m going to tell you what\u2019s going on
\nhere.\u201d?<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nResisting the urge to explain requires the
\nauthor to work a little harder to establish point of view and to show rather
\nthan to tell what is happening in order to provide a clearer picture for the
\nreader. The concept also calls for the author to give the reader credit for
\nbeing able to follow the story.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nSo, how would our short little scene unfold if
\nwe operated under the admonition to RUE:<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cMary,\u201d Tim could barely keep his mouth from
\nhanging open. He took a deep breath to steady his nerves. \u201cYou look beautiful.\u201d<\/div>\n
\nShe was always stunning, but tonight with her
\nhair tied back and curls escaping to frame her oval face, her beauty would
\nrival any woman at the Cumberland Opera Fundraiser. Anyone who said that money
\ncould buy beauty had no idea of the true meaning of the word.<\/div>\n
\nMary\u2019s gaze fell to the floor. \u201cThank you, Tim.\u201d<\/div>\n
\nTim smiled and held out his hand. \u201cShall we go?
\nI can\u2019t wait to show off the most beautiful woman in town.\u201d<\/div>\n
\nMary fingered a soft curl, and the rose color of
\nher cheeks accentuated her lovely features. \u201cYes, I’m ready.\u201d She ran her hands
\ndown the front of her gown as she looked up at him.<\/div>\n
\nTim winked and slipped his arm around her waist.
\nHe led her outside to the car and opened her door for her.<\/div>\n
\nMary sat inside, her hands folded in her lap.<\/div>\n
\nTim leaned forward and kissed her. \u201cDon\u2019t worry,
\nMary. You own this dress. It looks more beautiful on you than it ever could my
\nsister.\u201d<\/div>\n
\nMary smiled.<\/div>\n
\nTim shut the door softly and hummed as he
\nstrolled around the car. Yes, sir, he would marry this girl one day. She was as
\nfrugal as she was beautiful.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe point-of-view character in this scene is
\nTim. Everything the reader experiences is through what Tim does, sees, thinks,
\nand hears. Tightening point of view is one way to paint a clearer picture for
\nyour audience.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nAllowing the audience to experience the scene
\nwith the character requires the author to work a little harder to show not only
\naction, but thought and dialogue.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nWhen self-editing, authors should look for
\ntelling signs of author intrusion and explanation. Focus on eliminating adverbs
\nand dialogue tags that try to explain what the dialogue should show. If the
\ndialogue, action, or thought isn\u2019t strong enough, punch it up a notch.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nExamine the point of view. How close is the
\nreader to experiencing the story through the eyes of the main character for
\nthat scene? Look for telling phrases like he knew, he saw, he realized,
\nhe thought<\/i> and eliminate as many as possible. Often it is as simple as
\nleaving off the phrase and changing the tense of the sentence. Other times, it
\nmight mean rewriting the entire sentence to show how the main character knows,
\nsees, realizes or thinks.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nAnd always remember to RUE.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nHappy editing.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A friend wrote me recently, and she commented on a book she was reading. She indicated the book was difficult to get through because the author didn\u2019t understand RUE: Resist the Urge to Explain. When an author explains the dialogue or actions of his character rather than writing strong action and dialogue that needs no […]<\/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":[],"class_list":["post-232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editing-writing-advice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232","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=232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}