Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Confessions of a Sister-Writer Editing Team

Hi, my name is Laura and I'm the one who contributed 99% of the gerunds/participial phrases (whichever are the bad ones) to our manuscript.

Hi, my name is Lisa and I'm obsessed with unnecessary additions of "that." Sometimes Laura deletes them and I add them back in.

Hi, our name is LiLa and we still really, really like adverbs that end in -ly and we tend to overuse the word "look."

Move over Stephen King.

31 comments:

Matthew MacNish said...

Editing can be like really kind of fun it seems when you do it quickly, smoothly, and without procrastinating.

Grammar gurus will see what I did there.

For those who aren't that awesome sentence was three weak qualifiers preceding two of the lousiest -ly adverbs, all sandwiched by a pair of gerunds (I think, I've never been quite clear on those).

BTW I posted something fun and stupid on my blog today LiLa. You gals might like it

Loretta Nyhan said...

I'm very fond of "just" and "a bit" and I'll probably beat you in the "looked" and "that" department.

I have so many I can't even see them anymore...

Unknown said...

I love that you can admit your faults... and Lisa you aren't kidding, going back and adding a "that" in again after it's been removed is very obsessed, and yet I find something endearing about it!

Happy Tuesday :)

Rebecca T. said...

Oh! THAT is my downfall too. I actually just did a search for THAT in my rough draft and nearly gave up with despair because I used it SO flippin' much! :)

Katie Anderson said...

"looked" huh? I need to look for that one in mine.

Bring on THE LIAR SOCIETY!!!!!!!

Vicki Rocho said...

I have been overdoing look too. Except I'm completely aware of it and fully intend to go back and fix them.

I also seem to have the was -ing virus. Someone PLEASE create a vaccine for that. I catch most of them as I type them, but it's tickin' me off.

Candyland said...

Holla! I overuse THAT too. It sucks and I can't make it stop (though I wrote this comment without it..hmmm)

Jemi Fraser said...

I'm pretty good with 'that', but I have a ridiculous number of 'look's, 'just's, 'enough's in my drafts *sigh*

Alissa Grosso said...

Well, they do say that admitting you have a problem is the first step towards recovery. Good luck with the editing!

Christina Lee said...

I'll take a then and raise you a BEGAN! So THERE ;-)

Heidi Willis said...

I am NOT doing a search for the word LOOK in my WIP. I think it might send me into a drinking binge.

And I am constantly blowing raspberries at Stephen King. Who died and made him...um...King?

Lenny Lee said...

actually that was a really really neat post. i like that you said that you use too many thats. that helps me to know that i shouldnt use so many thats and thats something that everyone should know so that they can be sure to use that less and that will make them a better writer. ok thats all i have to say on that! ha ha. my brother wrote this for me. hes funny. thats for sure. :)
...smiles from lenny

Marsha Sigman said...

That makes me feel so much better because I have that same problem with the word that.

I think that I am over that issue now.

Kerri Cuev said...

Lol! Gotta love editing! I need to double check my your and you're ALL the time. Darn silly mistakes!

Noelle said...

I officially love you guys! lol. This post was very clever.

I use "that" so much! And it's strange because more than often, you really don't need the word at all. And I love the -ly adverbs. I'm bummed editors don;t like them. lol.

Kimberley Griffiths Little said...

You two are so cute! And have I told you lately how much I LOVE and ADORE you for your gorgeous review of THE HEALING SPELL and all the support!!!
xoxo,
K.

Can't wait to plug YOUR book next year!!!

XiXi said...

Oh goodness, the other day I did a search of all the instances where I used "that" in my manuscript and edited all of the useless ones out. It took a long time. It also made me realize I have an unhealthy addiction to the word "that."

I use a lot of "just" and "look" too. I try to be more conscious of it now. D:

I totally feel your pain.

Krispy said...

I'm a "that" person too, and I like to use qualifiers a lot. I don't know why. I guess I like the word "rather." At least there are two of you to catch each other's slip ups?

Shannon Messenger said...

LOL. You guys should turn it into a game. Like, every time you find one of your mistakes you eat a Twizzler or something. ;)

Hardygirl said...

Ha! I just "wordled" my manuscript and the most common word that I used is "just". I just can't stop. It just keeps escaping from my fingertips . . .

sf

Carolyn V. said...

LOL! I love you guys even more! =)

Gail said...

Oh thank goodness there are agented writers who can't stop using "just", "that", and "look!" Add in "so" and "so that" and I'm with ya!

Gail said...

Oh thank goodness there are agented writers who can't stop using "just", "that", and "look!" Add in "so" and "so that" and I'm with ya!

Sharon K. Mayhew said...

I think that that was a lovely post. In fact, that might have been the loveliest post I've read today...

PS...I have "that" problem too!

Little Ms J said...

Dear Sisters Roecker:

All I want in the world is to smile and wear yoga pants. I would love to nosh a Twizzler and use the phrase "dicking around." My agent scolds me if I use contemporary humor and my scowl is so deep that I can see my own eyebrows while I follow your trending on Twitter. Can you imagine contractual obligations against happiness? They worry that I won't be able to scare your sniveling little children if I get too soft.

I am stuck, LiLa.

Stuck in my dark, dark world.

Think of me.

Stephen

PS. What the fuck is a gerund? It sounds like an awesome sauce (did I use that correctly) name for a monster that lives under little girl's beds.

Little Ms J said...

Dear Sisters Roecker:

All I want in the world is to smile and wear yoga pants. I would love to nosh a Twizzler and use the phrase "dicking around." My agent scolds me if I use contemporary humor and my scowl is so deep that I can see my own eyebrows while I follow your trending on Twitter. Can you imagine contractual obligations against happiness? They worry that I won't be able to scare your sniveling little children if I get too soft.

I am stuck, LiLa.

Stuck in my dark, dark world.

Think of me.

Stephen

PS. What the fuck is a gerund? It sounds like an awesome sauce (did I use that correctly) name for a monster that lives under little girl's beds.

Shannon O'Donnell said...

Hi, my name is Shannon, and I think we may have been separated at birth! Ha ha ha!! :-)

Susan Fields said...

I need to get one of my sisters to start writing so she can help me with my passive verb problem. :)

Carolina M. Valdez Schneider said...

I'm very curious as to how you are overusing "look."

Look, I didn't look like I was looking at the looker that was looking at me.

Like that?

Hang in there. If it makes you feel better, I can sic some trained monkeys on Stephen King.

Annette Lyon said...

*Snort* SOOOOO been there!

Stina said...

Oh, I can so relate.

I also overuse ALL FORMS of "look" just so it doens't look like "look" reproduced like a horny little bunny all over my ms. ;)

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