Original subtitles

[CLASSICAL MUSIC]

There's something called completion fear.

Completion fear is, I'm afraid to finish it because what

if it's not any good?

And you can get stuck in that for some time.

And here I just say, barrel on through, get it done,

and then you can see whether it's-- what else it might need.

And remember, you can always revise.

And remember, you can always revise.

If you need a different sofa, you

can have a different sofa, because nobody's

going to see that until you allow them to.

So overcome your completion fear and just finish.

What do you do next?

Pretend you're a reader.

Start on the first page--

is it a good enough first page to hold your attention?

Are you going to turn the page or not?

If the answer is not, you need a different beginning.

So revision means re-vision-- you're seeing it anew,

So revision means re-vision-- you're seeing it anew,

and quite frequently when you're doing

that, you see possibilities that you didn't

see before and that light up parts of the book

in a way that wouldn't have happened

if you hadn't done that.

So seeing the book anew, seeing into the book.

More questioning yourself-- why did this person do that?

So why else did they do that?

So why else did they do that?

And why else, in addition to that, did they do that?

[CLASSICAL MUSIC]

Once you feel there's nothing else that can--

that you can do to your manuscript to improve it,

that's when you need to hand it to an outside observer.

What I like to have is people who are dedicated readers,

but who are not in the publishing business.

You want somebody who can-- who can give you a true opinion,

You want somebody who can-- who can give you a true opinion,

and it's better if it isn't your spouse.

You don't want to have any of those frosty silences

over the breakfast table, and you also

don't want to have put themsel--

them into that position.

So it should be somebody outside, not somebody

who's in an agent or a publisher position towards you,

but who is a dedicated reader.

That's the best, and that allows you to step back,

That's the best, and that allows you to step back,

it allows you to see it through the eyes of another person.

If there's something that you thought was quite clear

but they find unintelligible, they will tell you that.

If there is a piece of information missing

that they felt they really needed to know,

they will tell you that.

They will also tell you, this chapter is too long.

Or, you already said that, or, I got it the first time.

There's only one real question-- is it alive or is it dead?

There's only one real question-- is it alive or is it dead?

And anything else can be fixed.

The best thing is, how quickly did you read it?

If the answer is, I couldn't put it down,

then you're in really pretty good shape.

If the answer is two years, something needs to be done.

It's always a good idea to have more than one person.

So Person A may say this, Person B may say that,

So Person A may say this, Person B may say that,

and you consider.

But-- but if they're wrong, you will probably

know it, depending, of course, on how pig-headed

and set in your ways you are.

But just remember, when push comes to shove,

the buck stops with you, so whoever's advice

you may have taken, wherever alterations may have been made,

what is on that page is going to be considered your work.

what is on that page is going to be considered your work.

[HARP MUSIC]

The final stages of revision are about texture and--

and the-- the little things, the punctuation marks, the grammar.

Much arm wrestling goes on between me and the line editor

about semi-colons.

We horse trade-- she'll give me that semi-colon

if I will change this other thing to an en dash.

if I will change this other thing to an en dash.

Too many semi-colons, it gets repetitious.

I-- I-- I understand that, I'm just a bit addicted to them.

Read your text out loud.

You will find things, you will see things,

you will catch things that you wouldn't if you're just

sticking to the--

the eye.

What you're aiming for is the text

that you can then print out and revise

and edit on the page, which is the best way of doing it.

And the really best way of doing your line editing

And the really best way of doing your line editing

is with a ruler.

So you have the page and you move down line by line,

and that way you can spot mistakes,

doubled words, that sort of thing.

But while you're doing that on the page it's ha--

it's useful to have a digital copy that you can search.

The thing about digital copies is that they're can put in--

you can put in find and you can check that word

you can put in find and you can check that word

to see how many times it might have appeared

in the manuscript, if at all.

Not always so easy to remember when

you're dealing with 400 pages.

[CLASSICAL MUSIC]

This is "Oryx and Crake."

It's in page proofs, so these are

the kinds of things that the publisher will send you right

before they go to print and submit.

It's your last chance of fixing things.

It's your last chance of fixing things.

And I do the manuscript editing and the page proof editing

with a line editor, and we sit beside each other

at a table like this and we turn the pages in sync,

and she makes notations on her pages

and I make the same notations on mine,

so we know we've got the same thing.

And she is a person who counts things,

and you really need a person like that.

and you really need a person like that.

So in "Oryx and Crake," she said,

you sent Jimmy Snowman out on a quest

and he's got five Joltbars, five energy bars.

And he eats one of them here, one of them here,

one of them here, one of them here, one of them here,

and one of them here.

So you either have to give him one more

or he has to eat one fewer.

And such a person is very, very necessary,

And such a person is very, very necessary,

because someone will notice and they'll

write you that letter that begins "You idiot."

So a person who counts--

you really need that person.

So those are the kinds of things--

which way does the traffic go around the Queen's Park circle

in Toronto?

I had it going around the wrong way.

That's what a good editor is for.

And they will even say things like, there isn't

a phone booth on that corner.

a phone booth on that corner.

But I will be able to say, because I've

used a good researcher, but there was in 1976.

So these things will happen, you just

need to be prepared for them.

There's a website now devoted to anachronisms

in novels about clothing.

You can do this research, and then you

will avoid the "you idiot" letters.

will avoid the "you idiot" letters.