by Annette M. Irby, @AnnetteMIrby

Writers are communicators. Editors help by ensuring we’re conveying what we intend. In my work as an editor and an author, I’ve sat at both sides of the table. As fiction authors, we want to tell a great story in our own voice, touching readers’ emotions. As editors, we want writers to tell a great story while following most of the rules (though we do make exceptions *wink*).

Let me share some tips that you can employ right now that will strengthen your writing.

1. Avoid tired clichés like: “she couldn’t help but.” I see this used very often, and I wonder if the author has a reason for making it sound like the character should be in denial. Ask yourself: should this character fight this reaction? If not, please drop the phrase. Another cliché that always stands out to me is he “turned on his heel.” When I picture someone spinning around, I see them rotating on the ball of their foot, not their heel. This is another cliché that we can rework with fresh writing.
2. Tighten your writing by removing prepositional phrases: “she touched him on the arm” could be shortened to “she touched his arm.” Go through your manuscript and see if you can rework any uses of the phrase “on the.” Also, watch for sentences that include several prepositional phrases in a row, like “He set his bag on the table near the window in the back of the room.” Try tightening that narrative or reworking the information into two sentences to reduce the number of prepositions.
3. Scene anchoring. Use the five senses to anchor readers in the scene. Sprinkle them in so we aren’t overwhelmed by description but include a hint of the aromas and the atmosphere, etc. If your critique partners complain that they don’t know where chapter three takes place, chances are this tip will help. Also, while you’re giving us the five senses, let those descriptors represent the character’s mood, as well as the tone of the novel’s genre. Let the weather represent the inner or outer storm, etc.

4. Reactions. If your beta readers mention that they aren’t connecting to the MCs (main characters), this tip may help. Use the opening paragraphs of a scene to give us a character’s reaction to what has recently happened. Doing this makes both the character and his/her storyline seem real. Having your MCs react to what’s happened will anchor us in their experience, helping readers relate. Also, especially in a romance, readers want to see both the hero’s and the heroine’s thoughts and emotions around the romantic thread. As soon as we’re back in their POV, let’s hear what they thought about what’s just happened. You can also slowly weave their reaction into the new scene.
5. Add tension and/or conflict. Along with number four above, one method for adding tension or conflict to a scene is to have one of the MCs misread a situation. I’m not talking about misunderstandings, though, of course, those happen. Here’s what I mean: just like people, each character interprets her world differently than other characters. She reads her surroundings and other characters’ actions, and then she makes meaning out of what she observes. Next, she reacts to what she has recognized/realized. She might assign motives that aren’t accurate. That leads to conflict between characters, and if you’ve let the reader in on what the other character’s true motive was, they’ll feel the tension. If you receive feedback that tension and/or conflict need to increase in your story, number five may help.

Hopefully these tips are useful right away as you write and rewrite your story. Keep writing (and editing), friends!

Finding Love in Whidbey Island, Washington

Could what drove them apart be what draws them back together?

Liberty Winfield lives with loss every day. She’d rather leave her history behind her, but when faced with moving back to her hometown, the past becomes unavoidable. She takes a job at the florist shop owned by her ex-boyfriend’s family from a decade ago. Now he’s unavoidable.

Clay Garrison knows the pain of ruing his mistakes. Most of his regrets center around Liberty. If he could undo his poor choices, he would. Liberty is back. He has one more chance to make things right. She doesn’t believe anyone could love her unconditionally, so he sets out to prove her wrong. He must also try to right the biggest wrong of their past, knowing that in doing so, he could lose her forever.

Will addressing the past together help them find love?

Annette M. Irby has been writing since her teen years when she sat pounding out stories on a vintage typewriter just for fun. Since then, she’s attended several writers’ conferences and studied the craft of writing. She has served as an acquisitions editor and now works in freelance editing. The third book in her Washington Island Romance series released on March 1, 2019. Book two, Finding Love on Bainbridge Island, Washington, is a Selah Contest finalist this year. Nature inspires her, especially beaches and gardens. She lives with her husband of twenty-seven years and her family in the Pacific Northwest.