Adventures at Wilder Farm

I’m continuing to work on editing one story in California (I head home tomorrow!) while Lita works on two different stories in New Hampshire. All three (picture books) are accepted—at three different publishers. Two books are in the post-acceptance-editing phase, and one is in the final-drawing phase. The balancing act for a writer-illustrator with all the shifting left/right brain activity is formidable! I’ll talk about the different book phases at some point—as soon as I learn what they all are…

But to continue with the editing checklist, here are some of the things to consider when looking at the micro view (from The Artful Edit):

1. Language: fresh, precise and concise, active, real (true)
2. Repetition - valid for leitmotiv, but otherwise should be de-emphasized
3. Redundancy - we usually focus hard on this one, it creeps in easily
4. Clarity - one idea per sentence
5. Authenticity - especially for dialogue - does it ring true?
6. Continuity - keeping the details straight and consistent.
7. Show and Tell - avoid summarizing, explaining. Use action and dialog.
8. Beginnings, Endings, Transitions - Sentences, paragraphs, sections (spreads), whole book. Have grace, tension, purpose.

I have my favorites.

As a reader, I tend to like clarity, continuity, and beginnings. I think this bias is appropriate for the types of books Lita is working on—historical based, or science based picture books. As an editor I try to be a good reader. The difficulty (for me) is then to communicate effectively, and constructively, back to the writer.

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