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Hack the Craft

TSS162: Line Editing to Strengthen Clarity and Prose (Part Two)

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This is part two of a two-part episode to show how your line editing can strengthen your clarity and prose.  Steve sent a scene to Taylor with some specific questions regarding the action beats, and Taylor pulled on her Hack The Craft™ hat and went to work on the material.

The podcast is split into two episodes to fit into our normal timing for the show, but the entire thing can be viewed on Taylor’s Patreon page (no-registration or membership required) by clicking this link:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/21483295

Thanks so much for joining us again this week!

If you have questions or suggestions for future shows, we’d love to hear from you. You can leave your suggestions as comments or find our contact information on the Connect page.

Please consider supporting Taylor on Patreon for Patron only teaching and information.

You may also wish to join us in the Taylor Stevens Fan Club on Facebook.

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see on the left of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for THE TAYLOR STEVENS SHOW Podcast on iTunes!

Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and mean a great deal to us. They matter in the rankings of the show, and we read every one of them.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher to get automatic updates.

TSS161: Line Editing to Strengthen Clarity and Prose

by Leave a Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

This is part one of a two-part episode to show how your line editing can strengthen your clarity and prose.  Steve sent a scene to Taylor with some specific questions regarding the action beats, and Taylor pulled on her Hack The Craft™ hat and went to work on the material.

The podcast is split into two episodes to fit into our normal timing for the show, but the entire thing can be viewed on Taylor’s Patreon page (no-registration or membership required) by clicking this link:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/21483295

Thanks so much for joining us again this week!

If you have questions or suggestions for future shows, we’d love to hear from you. You can leave your suggestions as comments or find our contact information on the Connect page.

Please consider supporting Taylor on Patreon for Patron only teaching and information.

You may also wish to join us in the Taylor Stevens Fan Club on Facebook.

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see on the left of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for THE TAYLOR STEVENS SHOW Podcast on iTunes!

Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and mean a great deal to us. They matter in the rankings of the show, and we read every one of them.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher to get automatic updates.

TSS145: Line Editing for Texture and Characterization

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This is part 4 of a 5 part series in which, at the author’s request, we go through the process of converting a first-person present tense piece to third person past tense.  In this episode, Taylor begins the line edits.

In this tutorial we begin the line editing process where we learn:  

  • How to rewrite to avoid overusing pronouns.
  • How to rewrite to keep key concepts close together for impact.
  • How to organize information within a paragraph to eliminate unnecessary words.
  • Where extra information needs to get added to allow the story flow to make sense.
  • How small textural details and characterization can create instant depth that will draw the reader in.
  • How and where to include those types of details.
  • How to avoid a character inadvertently coming across as cold or selfish with humanizing touches.

Due to the length of the material we were only able to complete half of the line edit in this episode. The next episode will see us to the finish line. 

If you’ve found this tutorial helpful, please feel free to share the link with other authors and writers who might benefit.

This show is also available in video and can be seen on Taylor’s Patreon page here.

Thanks so much for joining us again this week!

If you have questions or suggestions for future shows, we’d love to hear from you. You can leave your suggestions as comments or find our contact information, including our Hotline Number for listener question on the Connect page.

Please consider supporting Taylor on Patreon for Patron only teaching and information.

You may also wish to join us in the Taylor Stevens Fan Club on Facebook.

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see on the left of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for THE TAYLOR STEVENS SHOW Podcast on iTunes!

Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and mean a great deal to us. They matter in the rankings of the show, and we read every one of them.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher to get automatic updates.

TSS143: Changing Point of View from First Person to Third Person

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Show Notes

In this week’s episode, Taylor walks us through the various changes necessary to change the point of view of your story from first person to third person.

We first use the opening paragraph some listener submitted material to provide a visual representation of

  • first person, present tense
  • first person, past tense
  • third person, present tense
  • third person, past tense

and compare them against each other to show how verbs and pronouns change from one to the next and examine the difference in “feel” that each provides.

This show is also available in video and can be seen on Taylor’s Patreon page here.

Thanks so much for joining us again this week!

If you have questions or suggestions for future shows, we’d love to hear from you. You can leave your suggestions as comments or find our contact information, including our Hotline Number for listener question on the Connect page.

Please consider supporting Taylor on Patreon for Patron only teaching and information.

You may also wish to join us in the Taylor Stevens Fan Club on Facebook.

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see on the left of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for THE TAYLOR STEVENS SHOW Podcast on iTunes!

Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and mean a great deal to us. They matter in the rankings of the show, and we read every one of them.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher to get automatic updates.

TSS137: Setting the Scene – A Hack the Craft Episode

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In this week’s episode, the second of a two-part series, we introduce 6 key questions to use as a guide when writing a scene.  These questions are:

~~ Whose eyes are we seeing this from?

~~ Where are we?

~~ Who are the characters?

~~ What is the conflict?

~~ What are the key points this scene must convey?

~~ What is the character doing?

We then revisit the original material, introduce the author’s second version, and run both through these questions. We use the answers as a foundation to rewrite the sequence. Through this rewrite process we learn:

~~ Why getting character in motion is critical to story movement.

~~ Why character in motion is critical to depth of character.

~~ Why character in motion is the basis for good description.

~~ Why character in motion is what creates a vivid sense of place.

~~ Why we cannot have character in motion without place, and cannot have place without character in motion.

~~ How to use one to build the other.

~~ How this automatically resolves big picture issues such naval gazing and misordered visual elements.

This show is also available in video and can be seen on Taylor’s Patreon page here.

Thanks so much for joining us again this week!

If you have questions or suggestions for future shows, we’d love to hear from you. You can leave your suggestions as comments or find our contact information, including our Hotline Number for listener question on the Connect page.

Please consider supporting Taylor on Patreon for Patron only teaching and information.

You may also wish to join us in the Taylor Stevens Fan Club on Facebook.

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see on the left of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for THE TAYLOR STEVENS SHOW Podcast on iTunes!

Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and mean a great deal to us. They matter in the rankings of the show, and we read every one of them.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher to get automatic updates.

TSS136: Sentence Order, Navel Gazing and More – A Hack the Craft Episode

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In this week’s episode, the first of a two-part series, Taylor digs into some listener submitted material and shares her thoughts on the importance of structuring sentences correctly and avoiding what she calls navel-gazing.  In this episode Taylor focuses on:

~~ Naval Gazing: What it is, the problems it causes, and how to avoid it.

~~ How to feed visual elements to the reader in the right order.

~~ Why we must establish a sense of time and place for anything that follows to make sense.

~~ Why we have to show the reader what the character sees as she sees it and,

~~ How failing to do this creates confusion and a jarring reading experience.

This show is also available in video and can be seen on Taylor’s Patreon page here.

Thanks so much for joining us again this week!

If you have questions or suggestions for future shows, we’d love to hear from you. You can leave your suggestions as comments or find our contact information, including our Hotline Number for listener question on the Connect page.

Please consider supporting Taylor on Patreon for Patron only teaching and information.

You may also wish to join us in the Taylor Stevens Fan Club on Facebook.

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see on the left of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for THE TAYLOR STEVENS SHOW Podcast on iTunes!

Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and mean a great deal to us. They matter in the rankings of the show, and we read every one of them.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher to get automatic updates.