Follow the principles of construction to build your book. Lay the foundation, construct the framing, all the way up to landscaping! Learn how to create your book with established principles to give it the best opportunity for success.

1. YOURYOUR
MANUSCRIPT:
BUILD IT RIGHT!
Melanie Rigney
editor@editorforyou.com@ y
Bay to Ocean Writers Conference
February 25, 2012

2. THE BIG PICTURETHE BIG PICTURE
• Laying the FoundationLaying the Foundation
• Constructing the Framing
I lli h R fi• Installing the Roofing
• Insulating the Home
• Cleaning Up and Landscaping

3. LAYING THE FOUNDATIONLAYING THE FOUNDATION
• What is your theme?What is your theme?
– Desire for love, order, justice, pleasure or
validationvalidation
– Fear of death, the unknown or unknowable
– Challenge of making choices– Challenge of making choices
– Sometimes, your theme becomes your title
(You Can’t Go Home Again; GoneWith the(You Can t Go Home Again; GoneWith the
Wind;The GirlWho Kicked the Hornet’s Nest)

4. CONSTRUCTING THE FRAMINGCONSTRUCTING THE FRAMING
• Framing builds from your foundationFraming builds from your foundation
– The four “walls”:
• Characters—who’s in the house; flawed peoplep p
worth reading about
– Protagonist—someone to root for; antagonist—the
person who stays in the way of the goal; supporting
characters—people who help the protagonist or
antagonist and serve a useful purpose
• Plot—what they do to fix the flaw to get what they
i f iwant, the driver for getting to the theme
– Subplots—always tie back to the main plotline, always
serve as a force for change

5. CONSTRUCTING THE FRAMINGCONSTRUCTING THE FRAMING
• Setting—where they do what they dog y y
• Style—what makes this house distinctive from
(and similar to!) the others in the subdivision
– Word length
– Story arc
– Pacing
– Voice
– Point of view
– Genre characteristicsGenre characteristics

6. INSTALLING THE ROOFINGINSTALLING THE ROOFING
• Roofing is where the four walls meetRoofing is where the four walls meet
• Overarching structure to protect the
foundation and wallsfoundation and walls
• In writing, that structure is transformation
– Something happens, somebody changes

7. INSULATING THE HOMEINSULATING THE HOME
• Insulating isn’t easy clean or fun andInsulating isn t easy, clean, or fun… and
neither is critique
Read in your genre– Read in your genre
– Find at least one person who writes in your
genre who is at your level or a bit moregenre who is at your level or a bit more
advanced
• Is the conflict believable? Are the characters
compelling? Is the voice consistent? Does each
scene move the story forward? Is the central
thread of the theme clear throughout?thread of the theme clear throughout?

8. INSULATING THE HOMEINSULATING THE HOME
– Find three to five people who read in your genre. In what
ways is this work similar or different compared with their
reading?
• Insulate your ego… and begin revisingy g g g
– Do the comments have a commonality?
– Will the change improve or enrich your work, and perhaps
take it in a better direction?take it in a better direction?
– Does the comment reflect your own reading in the genre?
– Is there a reason other than your own bias as the author
not to make the change?not to make the change?

9. CLEANING UP & LANDSCAPINGCLEANING UP & LANDSCAPING
• Time to get rid of the garbage and makeTime to get rid of the garbage and make
the outside look pretty!
Content editing– Content editing
• Point of view shifts, redundancies, info dumps
– Line editing (copyediting/proofreading)– Line editing (copyediting/proofreading)
• Grammar, spelling, continuity, punctuation,
adverbs/adjectives

10. PUT ON YOUR HARD HAT!PUT ON YOUR HARD HAT!
• Synopsis or opening page:What do youSynopsis or opening page:What do you
want to know?
• Questions?Questions?
• Thanks for coming!
Melanie Rigney
www.editorforyou.com or www.melanierigney.com
4201 Wilson Blvd #1103284201 Wilson Blvd. #110328
Arlington,VA 22203
info@editorforyou.com