JA Konrath writes the blog A Newbie's Guide to Publishing. Having sold eight novels and over sixty short stories and articles, he's no stranger to rewriting. His latest book, the horrific thriller AFRAID, comes out this month, and is written under his pen name, Jack Kilborn. You can visit JA/Jack at www.JAKonrath.com, where he has over 750 pages of free tips for writers. Yes, I said 750.

Here's what Joe has to say about editing.


Top Ten Editing Tips.

#10. Put the writing away. A week is good.Two weeks is better. The longer you can stay away from it, the more you can forget what you wrote and approach it with fresh eyes.

#9. Get the scissors. Sometimes the words are there, but in the wrong order. Don't be afraid to switch sentences, paragraphs, and even chapters.

#8. Cut the first line, first paragraph, first page, first chapter. Often, much of the first part of a story is warm-up, and the plot doesn't start until later on. Make sure you begin with conflict, not backstory, description, or any type of exposition.

#7. Read it out loud. You can find a lot of errors reading it using your voice, rather than your mind, because your mind tends to see things as you wrote them, not as they appear on the page. Vocalizing forces you to see the words, and the mistakes.

#6. If you can cut it, cut it. As an execise, write an entire story in 70 words. You'll quickly understand how important each word is in a story that short. Guess what? Each word is just as important in a story that is 1000, 10,000, or 100,000 words. If something can be omitted, it should be.

#5. Explain yourself. In reality, you won't be perched on the reader's shoulder as they peruse your prose, defending why you wrote what you wrote. While you're editing, justify to yourself why you made that word choice, why that scene is necessary, why you chose that dialog.

#4. Listen to criticism. Praise is great, but it's like candy. We love it, but it isn't good for us. We don't learn by being told we're terrific. We learn by being told we stink. Pay attention to what people say isn't working. If you've failed one reader, you'll wind up failing a lot.

#3. Don't be afraid to throw it away. You've heard the gambling axiom "Don't throw good money after bad" which basically means you shouldn't try to salvage a loss. Sometimes the writing simply isn't working. Start over rather than try to put a fresh coat of paint on a dog turd.

#2. Don't throw it away too soon. Yes, sometimes the writing is bad. But pretty much all first drafts are bad. We aren't etching words in stone, or even using typewriters. Computers make it possible to add, delete, cut, paste, and save multiple versions. Don't abandon it without giving it a lot of thought first.

#1. We're not writers. We're rewriters. Nobody gets it right the first time. And even when you do sell it, you'll be required to make even more changes. This is a business. Leave the ego at the door, tuck away your integrity, and be prepared to work hard if you want to make some money in this biz.