Word Infiltration by Rolynn Anderson

What's the step you dread most in editing your manuscript?

Easy answer for me: eliminating repetitive words.  I call it word infiltration, a virus of words I tend to repeat, and shouldn't.

Let's take the word 'so,'...or should I say, you take that word because I don't want it anymore.  This word has quickly become today's 'like,' used by the younger folk to begin every ding-dang sentence.    'So' is a pregnant word, meant to show, especially when vocalized slowly, that a great deal of research, reflection and general hard work went into whatever statement follows 'so.'

Example: So, I wrote my 100K novel in twenty-four hours on an iPhone.

I found 40 extraneous 'so's when I edited Cézanne's Ghost.
I reduced 256  of 'that' to 170.
'Hand' I used 209 times.  Now, 134.
'Smile' down to 71 from 87/.
'Head' was 218 in my last novel.  Heading down to 141.

I used to have a problem with 'pull'.  I was happy to report only 60 this time.  Yanked 20 out of the text.
'Just' is under control.  Just.

I'm wary of: still, looked, shook.

Tell me, what other words do you winnow out (or replace) in your stories?  I may be missing one, or two, or three.  And do you hate this editing step, like I do?

Six Suspense Novels Spiked with Romance

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How Kind Strangers are to Authors! by Rolynn Anderson

It goes without saying that authors are extremely generous to one another, offering advice and promo help, writing reviews, and playing cheerleader.  We know how tough the writing/marketing business is, lucky to be helped by blogger friends, mentors, conference buddies and the like.  In turn, we try to pay the benefits forward.

Authors understand each other; we help each other.  But the ways non-writers reach out to help us, moves me to tears.  I’ve told you about my ‘bad trip’ on an anesthesia drug, and the two experts who are now my advisors: my anesthesiologist and his buddy, a pharmacologist.  They are both giddy about being acknowledged in Cézanne’s Ghost.  The surgeon who performed my minor surgery started reading my novels after my first visit to her office.  She, too, has offered to serve as a consultant.  Two local Starbucks managers, friends of mine, let me have book signings at their coffee shops; scores of local folk have bought my novels without knowing a thing about me.

Remember my need for a waterproof notebook for the drowned character in Lie Catchers?  I sought out the Rite in the Rain Company and talked them into putting my cover and info on mini waterproof notebooks for one quarter the cost (I never could have afforded swag as expensive as their retail price).

My new 'kind stranger' story is about an artist, Jeff Haines, whom I contacted because I wanted to put one of his sketches on the front of Cézanne’s Ghost.   When we first talked on e-mail, he said he'd never worked with a novelist who wanted cover art.  Basically, he does custom drawings.  The price he gave me was impossible for me to pay, so I passed on the picture.  But I liked the sketch so much, I decided to try one more time.  I explained to him how I would use the picture and the most money I’d ever make on the book.  He said he liked the artist-to-artist relationship and gave me I price I could pay.  One time only.  Period.

I can’t wait to show you Aline, my heroine, sketched by Jeff, but I better wait until I have paid him.  Plus I’m a suspense writer…I like to keep you waiting and wondering, don’t you know?

So, tell me about a stranger’s kindness you experienced in your adventure as an author.  Bet you’ll have trouble picking one from many!

Speaking of covers, FAINT is up for a cover RONE award.  I’m proud of my collaboration with Kim Mendoza to create this cover!     

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My Experience with Special K by Rolynn Anderson

You think I’m talking about cereal, don’t you?  Far from it.  Special K, K, or Cat Valium are street names for ketamine.  When used responsibly, ketamine is an effective anesthetic for animals and humans, especially kind to the respiratory system.  In an expert’s hands, the drug is effective, especially as an anesthetic for infants because their respiratory system is still developing.  On the street, ketamine is a hallucinogen, sold in powder or pill form.  A two hour high might be the result; if you’re one of the 10-20% adversely affected by the drug, you might be looking at a nightmare.  Too much of the drug and you’re a corpse.

Why care about K?  For CEZANNE’S GHOST, I was looking for a drug which subdues a kidnapped victim over a period of weeks.  I did my research and picked ketamine.  My heroine, an FBI agent, must fake ingesting the drug, so I had to understand how she would react to it.  Mind you, with only a couple of experiences with pot in my twenties and too few examples of feeling tipsy with booze, I had a lot of research to do.

Then…I had some minor surgery, just days ago.  Same-day service.  A mild anesthetic, I was told; a local used on the operating surface of my body.  No big deal, right?

Until the anesthesiologist shot me up with twenty-five milligrams of ketamine (I found out later).  Guess what?  I’m one of the 10-20% adversely affected by the drug.  The dysphoria I felt was truly alarming.  I heard my voice over my body saying: “Help!  Something’s wrong!  What’s happening?  I’m in trouble.  Help me!”  I could not see the room; only a beige atmosphere surrounded me.  I heard disembodied voices soothe me.  I think someone touched me to show me they were there, but none of that helped.  Distressing does not describe the incident well enough.

Later, the anesthesiologist explained what happened and assured me he offset the ketamine with a drug that calmed me.  When I explained to him my research on ketamine and we agreed I had an episode of dysphoria, he seemed pleased with my level of knowledge.  In fact, he gave me his card and said he’d help with any information I needed about drugs for my novels.

Yup, novel writing is full of adventures and surprises.  And coincidences galore!  I can now describe what my victims endured when they suffered from ketamine’s effects.  Even better, I’ve got an expert to consult when I have questions about drug use.  My scary out-of-of body experience?  Ah, what the heck.  It’s all for the good cause of writing an accurate suspense/mystery novel!    

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Homey Suspense: What do you Collect? by Rolynn Anderson

On this day, April 1st, I'm talking about foolish things we do.  Never planned on it.  Did it anyway.  Me: Bottle Stoppers.

Stop with the stoppers, I say.  Yup, I have a collection of wine stoppers and I’ve decided 30 is enough.  Cost and space factors were the main considerations when I began collecting wine stoppers.  I like buying pretty things that remind me of the places I travel, but without much room in either the expense account or the suitcase, little souvenirs made sense.  (Full disclosure, one of my purchases broke the bank at $45, and of course, I had to go searching for a way to display the things, and those plastic gizmos cost a fortune.)  It helps that I like wine and the display of my glitzy corks brightened up the bar.  Not so smart was how BIG some of the corks are, too tall on the bottle to stand up in the refrigerator or too heavy to balance on top of the container.

I’m presenting you some pictures of my collection.  Now I want to know what you collect; how it started and if you’ve been able to ‘manage’ it without too much angst.  Or Foolishness.  For those of you who have the non-collecting gene, we want to hear your story, too, even if we won’t be able to understand it.

Those series we write are also ‘collections,’ not always easy to manage.  Here’s my boutique funeral planner threesome:

Boutique funeral planners morph into a quirky detective agency, exposing secrets of the dead.  The heroine, with a fainting disorder, has prescient faint dreams; the hero is a muck-raking journalist.  Add: blind forensic investigator, embalmer, retired Army general, and a service dog.

FADEOUT  http://amzn.com/B00YWE3Z2U     
SWOON  http://amzn.com/B00A1P6P3U     FAINT  http://amzn.com/B0180LJBRI

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