Ken Rand: Author of The 10% Solution: Editing 101 3/4/04

Mary Rosenblum

Tonight we'll be chatting with Ken Rand, esteemed author of the great how to edit book: The 10% Solution, from Fairwood Press.

Ken Rand, a reporter for 30-plus years, has sold fiction and nonfiction to dozens of magazines and anthologies. He wrote The 10% Solution: Self-Editing for the Modern Writer (Fairwood Press). Also available: Tales of the Lucky Nickel Saloon (Yard Dog Press), and Phoenix (Zumaya Publishing). Links and excerpts are on his website: www.sfwa.org/members/Rand/.

Ken, I really like your website, by the way. Wow, what a list of publications! You are a busy man!

paulplqn

Ken, based on yur experiences, what are the most common errors we need to keep an eye out for?

Perhaps ending a sentence with a preposition? LOL!

roe

Ken I read your book, copied your list and have already begun to use it . thanks for the help great book

Ken Rand

Yes. Details are specific, relevant, and vivid.

Roe, you’re welcome.

Mary Rosenblum

Can you use too many details?

Ken Rand

Too many details, yes. Details to be specific, must END

.

Relevance is important.

For example, it may or may not be relevant that the dress is red

or that the shirt is red....

If you say it was blood red, the red of a dying red shirt...

See? too much.

Specific, vivid, relevant, and brief.

Mary Rosenblum

You know...I think I've read stuff like that.... :-)

Ken Rand

And use the senses.

Not just what it looks like but use the other senses too.

Mary Rosenblum

That's true. Good point.

What else do you see as a common problem with novice writers?

Ken Rand

We perceive the world through our vision 85 percent,

using the other senses helps readers see what you see.

Novice writers too often don't ground the reader adequately.

I get antsy when I don't know where I am, or who is doing what to whom.

You often see a character show up here, before we're aware that she's left there.

This happens in dialogue, for example when we don't know who is speaking.

Mary Rosenblum

I also get lost when someone gives me a page of solid dialogue with no visuals.

Ken Rand

Vague detail, vague setting, etc. are often the fault of craft.

Of lack of craft.

Solution: write more.

Mary Rosenblum

In other words, it's not just 'school' but a particular building.

Ken Rand

Practice is the single most useful thing a writer can do to get better

Also note the importance of time.

San Francisco is better than city, but

San Francisco 1906 is different than SF 1967.

And night is different from day--see? What time is it?

I often see (or don't see) the weather in writing too.

I wrote a series of short stories set on different continents

so I could practice using weather in my prose.  I have sold one of my Antarctica stories. I got the weather right.

Mary Rosenblum

One of the audience asked what you mean by a lack of craft.

Ken Rand

A writer with five stories hasn't mastered the craft, often,

as one who’s written 20 stories.

Practice helps mastery of craft.

flicker

I understand what it means, just how do you have a lack?

Ken Rand

Well, maybe that Wasn't the right word.

Flicker, I mean that practice helps. If you've only written five stories

you aren't as masterful as somebody who has written 20.

sweet_muse

So the more genres you try, the more you read, the more different styles you try -- will make you a better writer?

Ken Rand

Write more, practice, and you make up for lacks .

Sweet muse, that's right. Write more. Just by osmosis, you'll get better.

Reading helps, but writing is always, always, always, the answer.

sweet_muse

Ken, any advice for novice writers who have fallen off the wagon, when it comes to a regular writing schedule. I find this really hard.

Ken Rand

Try something new.

A new schedule, new font.

Write, new form (paper versus computer) laptop versus notepad.

Experiment, change.

Family's help is important too, if you can get it.

babbles

Does rewriting and rewriting count as practice?

Ken Rand

What can you give up? Not chocolate, but can you start a half hour earlier in the day?

Even starting 10 minutes earlier a day will help.

So experiment, and persist in trying to schedule time.

Your persistence is a good habit, and it'll spill over.

Okay?

Mary Rosenblum

Good answers, Ken. What about rewriting? Is that valid practice?

Ken Rand

Valid, and for me, exciting.

When I get to the editing phase

that is the 10% Solution (Of Course!), I get excited.

I know I've finished a story

and the next step is to sell it.

Editing is FUN!

paulplqn

Not to get off topic...How much did editors help in your development of "craft" & knowledge of editing?

Ken Rand

Paul, besides Patrick Swenson, I haven't had much experience with editors.

My editor at Phoenix was a freelancer, and I knew more about the craft and editing than he did.

I spent a lot of time correcting his foul ball edits.

I have a background as a reporter, and I've had to do my own editing all these years

and I think I'm pretty good at it.

rupbert

How has your news experience helped for other writing?

Ken Rand

Rupert, I've learned to self-impose deadlines on myself.

I've learned how to separate the editor brain from the writer brain.

There is an editor newsroom thingie that goes

"I don't want it good--I want it NOW!

I write first, edit later.

This is enormously helpful.

paulplqn

Where did the base come from? School? Writing courses?

Sorts writing? Former athlete?

Ken Rand

Paul, from experience. I write

active voice, not past tense.

I ain't been to college a lot.

My writing courses have been mostly right here where I'm now sitting, writing, writing, writing.

guessit

Is there anything you can get away with in a news - article that won't fly in a regular story?

Ken Rand

I don't understand your question Paul

I guess, news requires accuracy, clarity and brevity.

Same goes for fiction.

guessit

What would you say are the three most important characteristics of good writing - without these, the writing is noticeably lacking??

Ken Rand

Fred Saberhagen once told me that a writing career stands on three legs.

The first is craft, mastery of, or art, if you insist.

The second is persistence, or stick-toitivness, or perseverance.

The third is luck. You can influence that, sometimes.

Fred said if you have only one, you won't make it.

If you have two, you can make it, maybe.

If you have all three, success is assured.

Now, these characteristics show up in GOOD writing!

Master the craft (by practice), be persistent and if we're lucky  you'll sell.

Easy as balancing bowling balls on the head of a pin.

Mary Rosenblum

No kidding!

flicker

Luck, what is that? Is luck talent?

Ken Rand

Luck is not talent.

People confuse talent with craft, master of art, that sort of thing.

By luck, I mean that this editor today is looking for this type of story now.

And guess who just sent him the right story today?

Because I'm persistent, I got lucky and had the right story in the right place at the right time.

Hard work= luck.

Mary Rosenblum

Because if you only wrote one story, the odds of it being in the right place

at the right time are very small?

Ken Rand

Right on.

speckledorf

I love your definition of writer's block. Could you discuss the right brain/left brain thing?

Ken Rand

I can. Can you be more specific about what you want to hear?

The subject is broad and deep.

Mary Rosenblum

What about the difference between editing and creating?

Can they be in conflict?

Ken Rand

Creating is done in the right brai

editing in the left.

The trick is to do you writing when you're in a right brain mode

then switch gears and edit in a left-brain mode.

We do this by teaching our brains: "Okay, I'm writing, so never mind all this left-brain crap.

Now I'm done writing so it's time to edit, so never mind all this right brain wussiness." All artists have learned how to do this--separate their brain functions--in a timely manner.

flicker

Is that an opinion?

Mary Rosenblum

It's a demonstrated fact, isn't it, Ken?

The brain activity?

Ken Rand

Factoid, yes. I'm not a scientist. But this stuff works. We train our brains to get out of them what we want to get out.

shayon-joseph

How can one create one's own opportunities to become published? By this I mean, is networking, marketing a MUST in the business?

Ken Rand

Networking, yes, is a must.

Submit your work...

In 1996, I resolved to be on every editor’s desk all the time.

Know me, know I'm a serious contender.

Schmoozing by sending stories to editors is the most basic, and the most relevant way to network.

Show 'em your stuff and that you mean business.

Mary Rosenblum

So keep sending stories in, even if that editor rejects you?

Ken Rand

Yes, Gordon has rejected me 96 times.

I mean, F&SF has--I'm counting Kris is this too.

Mary Rosenblum

That's pretty good, Ken. I'll have to work to catch you there! :-)

Ken Rand

What if Gordon buys my 97th attempt?

Should I quit or send him my 98th?

Besides, Gordon and I are good friends. I'm going to interview him at Norwescon for IROSF.com.

Mary Rosenblum

I think that's one of the main points new writers need to hear over and over  --

rejections do not mean the editor hates you!

Ken Rand

When they say "does not fit out needs at this time," that's exactly what they mean.

coway

If I got reply from an editor at Washington Post, explaining how many articles they receive, and thanking me for submitting, is there a chance if I submit again it's more likely to be read?

Ken Rand

coway, sounds like a standard rejection. Sure, submit again--and again, etc.

Don't expect them to remember your last submission though.

Until you get on a first name basis with an editor

you're among those "still trying." I a novel that is on it's 56th trip though the mail.

but never stop trying.

navarrejudy

Maybe it would be wise to have a second market in mind for all those submissions.

Ken Rand

Yeah, I have a list.

Usually, before a story goes out of my office

I know where it'll go before it gets back.

I don't sweat submissions.

My left brain is a clerk who licks stamps.

paulplqn

Ken, Do you write with a market in mind, or write and look for a market?

Ken Rand

Paul, I write first, edit second, and market third.

Exceptions include Star Trek, of course, but that IS an exception.

There are plenty of story and novel markets Out There.

I never let the clerk into the art department.

Never sweat shipping while I'm creating.

paulplqn

How do you go about finding a market?

Ken Rand

Study the trades. Speculations, Callihoo (tell Julia West I sent you).

Read Locus, Writers Digest, Ralan.com.

paulplqn

Callihoo?

Ken Rand

Calihoo is a writer’s group.

Ken Rand

Julia West started a newsletter about 10 years ago, and keeps it up today.

Ken Rand

Do a Google search for her name of Calihoo and you'll see what I mean.

Ken Rand

And tell her I sent you!

shayon-joseph

Ken what about writing contests, would you consider those on the same par as your concept of "staying always on the editor's desk" OR am I speaking apples and oranges?

Ken Rand

Writing contests, like Writers of the Future, yes. I entered Writers of the Future 21 times in successive quarters before I won.

Watch out for those contests that charge fees, if they're too large.

I enter the local SF cons (Conduit) contest because I'm a local write and I want to help.

The contests that charge fees usually aren’t involved in your career

Exceptions: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and Writers of the Future.

People notice these! Enter often!

babbles

How do you stay motivated as a novice to not give up when you're having a hard time to get any response from an editor or publisher?

Ken Rand

By focusing on the writing.

Remember upstream when I said that writing was almost always the answer to all the questions you'll have about writing?

When I feel blue, I write.

When I feel; good, I write.

When editors reject me--or worse, ignore me--I write more.

.I write.

guessit

Is it better to write constantly for shorter periods...say 10 minutes each time, or for more hours, fewer times?

Ken Rand

Different strokes for different folks.

Experiment. See what works for you.

Try the OTHER style and see if it's not better.

Write fast, now--edit later.

coway

With all your experience do you find you can sit with idea and write a lengthy article in a short time? Like an idea hits and you just run with it?

Ken Rand

Yes.

paulplqn

Do you end up with a backlog of stories to edit?

Ken Rand

I always can spend time editing old stories, but I resist doing it.

I move on to the next story.

Unless an editor wants to buy an old story "if I'll edit it."...

After I do the 10% solution, I move on.

calgal

Do you ever get stuck?

Ken Rand

Yes, everybody does.

The answer is -- what, class? :)

Mary Rosenblum

Could it be WRITE???

Ken Rand

Give that woman a chocolate!  Seriously, I do have a project that is stuck, and I'm not looking at it right now. Someday… but that's another story. :)

flicker

What if you have a hard time with spending too much time focusing on writing?

Ken Rand

Do you mean hypergraphia?

Mary Rosenblum

Okay, Ken you got me. Hypergarphia?

Or is that the king of typos?

Ken Rand

I don't have such a problem--I don't get to write ENOUGH--so I don't know how to answer.

paja

Is there any way to learn self-imposed deadlines without becoming a reporter?

Ken Rand

Hypergraphia: the pathological urge to write.

Opposite of writers block.

Mary Rosenblum

Aha!

Ken Rand

Deadlining can be done without getting paid. :)

What if you wrote while the roast was in the oven?

"I'll write till the dinger goes off."

Setting goals and milestones is like doing deadlines.

"I'll write two pages a day, and finish the story by this weekend."

Goals and deadlines combined to achieve.

brooke

Ken, do you have any tricks for harnessing our natural creativity and funneling it into our writing?

Ken Rand

Or when an editor asks you for an article, set your own deadline.

flicker

Why can't I stop writing and I've never have gone to school for it. It is scary to a degree, because I can't stop. I love to write.

Mary Rosenblum

aha...a sufferer of hypergraphia!

Ken Rand

Don't be afraid.

You’re waaay ahead of people who want to write but can't start.

Count yer blessings. :)

coway

Can a writer have too many genre's going,,,like NF articles, newspaper articles, SF book, Autobiography book...etc?

Ken Rand

Well, focus can be a problem.

I generally have a primary task, and several secondary ones.

For example, I'm writing another how-to, front burner.

And I'm editing an old novel, second fiddle.

And I'm preparing for my upcoming seminar, third place.

I'll start preparing for my interviews at Norwescon next week.

If you can schedule well, and prioritize well, you can have a balanced diet. :)

paja

Thanks. Roast in the oven writing = lighten up on yourself and have fun. Thanks again.

Mary Rosenblum

I like the roast in the oven deadline myself. :-)

Ken Rand

paja, yer welcome. :)

sweet_muse

Are you planning to write any more books about writing?

Mary Rosenblum

I gather you're working on one!

Or is it the new edition of Ten Percent?

Ken Rand

I get a lot of work done the last half hour before I have to go to my day job. :)

From Idea To Story in 90 Seconds: A Writers Primer.

Beta version available in my seminar (and to selected folk--talk to me later. :)

Mary Rosenblum

ooooh, Ken, I know a lot of Long Ridge students who are going to love that one! I WILL talk to you later. Want a review on the site? :-)

Ken Rand

Another book titled I AM A WRITE will be based on my seminar.

Review? Sure. :)

Mary Rosenblum

Keep me posted!

I do review books here, you know.

sailor

Your web site mentions a critique service. Is that strictly for fiction novels?

Ken Rand

Okay. I'll file a detailed thingie with you later. :)

sailor, it's for short stories only, any genre, up to 20 pages--or 5k words.

I don't do nonfiction or children’s or poetry or plays, or partials.

Mary Rosenblum

I'll include a link to Ken's website in the transcript after our interview:     www.sfwa.org/members/Rand/

So you can go find his site if you are interested.

paulplqn

Is there time for a day job?

Ken Rand

I spend 20 hours a week shelving books at a local library.

I write the rest of the time. :)

arfelin

Hi Ken, Thanks for condensing your many years of experience into such a wonderful how to book. Could you talk a bit about widows?

Mary Rosenblum

As in widow and orphan I gather.

Ken Rand

Okay.

Notice that you don't see them in books. Why?

They look incomplete. No left-brain publisher or printer will allow it.

At the printers end, it wastes valuable paper.

Now this is really subtle, isn't it?

Like, how important can the difference between serif and sans serif font be?

Important enough that for more than 500 years, most text is printed in serif.

Subtle works in print, folks.

We're talking subliminal signals that reach readers in a very subtle level.

And remember, your first reader is an editor, so

don't send no editors no widows. 'Kay? :)

Mary Rosenblum

Definitions, please Ken. Some folk won't know what you mean.

Ken Rand

A widow and orphan is that word that, at the end of a paragraph, ends up all by itself on the top of the next page...

Like on page 354 it says, "and they all lived happily ever...

....and on page 355 it says, "...after." See?

Mary Rosenblum

And serif/ sans serif?

Ken Rand

The font you see now is serif. It has those little feet on the in and the f, and little dangly things on the ends of the s...

It's to help use see the letters better--faster.

shayon-joseph

Ken have you ever submitted a story/article that NEEDED NO EDITTING? I hear editors can't be satisfied no matter how good or tight a piece is.

Ken Rand

Yes.

I Am Klingon! which appeared in Star Trek Strange New Worlds 2

was not edited. Little of my stuff is.

Editors rarely tinker with text. Rarely, really. :)

Mary Rosenblum

I'll ditto that. At least in short fiction.

Ken Rand

My experience with Phoenix (Zumaya) was different...

I had an independent, freelance editor, who tried hard, but, well...

I spent more time fixing his editing.

Dunno how things go with NY publishers. No experience there, alas. :)

Mary Rosenblum

How much opposition did you get to your fixes, Ken? Some editors have quite a bit of ego.

As to NY, I've had very little editing and what I’ve had has been good, for the most part.

Ken Rand

None. I didn't ask. I just fixed the text and moved on.

After all, it was MY book.

flicker

What if you have a low self-esteem about writing?

Ken Rand

BTW, my critique service comes with a moneyback guarantee. :)

Mary Rosenblum

A guarantee of better self esteem? :-)

Ken Rand

Guaranteed. :)

coway

What do the editors tinker with?

Ken Rand

In my case, -- my editor was Australian, okay?

So he wanted longer paragraphs, which Brits prefer, have you noticed?

So he started jamming stuff together.

Hideously long graphs (I come from a newspaper background, ya'know).

True story: he also changed "Lisan said," to "agonised Lisan."

Mary Rosenblum

oooh, brother...

Ken Rand

Didn't highlight the change, so I stumbled on it.

2, created a said-bookism.

3, gave it a Brit spelling...and

4, reversed attribution-attributor, something I, as a newspaperman, never would do. :)

Oh, yes, now I read my galleys and proofs every word! :)

arfelin

Do you find that the more you use the 10% solution the less you need to cut? Like, does it go down to 7% after a while?

Ken Rand

Yes, which is one of the advantages, benefits, of the process.

It helps you become a better writer THE FIRST TIME.

The goal is to give yourself nothing to edit!

the goal is to make your first draft your last,

or as close as possible.

The 10% Solution helps ensure that it reaches that goal. :)

Mary Rosenblum

Ken, I have to say the the reason I shamelessly promote it to all and sundry is that it not only helps you cut, but it shows each person his or her bad prose habits as you do that search and replace.

You learn as you edit! :-)

Ken Rand

Yes, indeed. And by using it, you end up knowing earlier what to do the first time.

You become a better writer. :)

Mary Rosenblum

I agree.

flicker

How do you feel about jarring the reader?

Ken Rand

Flicker what do you mean?

Mary Rosenblum

Maybe surprising the reader with something not set up?

Ken Rand

Ah, sometimes that's a problem, as we discussed upstream, of not getting the setting down accurately.

I mean, if I suddenly see a gun in the bad guys hand,

and it wasn't there before, nor on the mantle where he could have gotten it

now, that's jarring.

It's details again: where did the gun come from? How did the villain get it in his hand?

There's a different between surprising me with suspenseful prose, and jarring me with inept craftsmanship.

Surprise me, yes, but jar me, no.

flicker

But, to make the reader become more involved?

Mary Rosenblum

But does it really do that?

Ken Rand

Recommended reading: The Art of Fiction, by James Gardner. He talks about this a lot. :) Involving the reader by making them have to go back and try to find out where that gun came from isn't a Good Thing. Suspense is.

Mary Rosenblum

That's an excellent book.

sweet_muse

I ordered 10% Solution -- Can't wait to read it....and I am going to look into other work you've done (and are going to do.)

Ken Rand

Upcoming: Bad News From Orbit. See art on my website.

Mary Rosenblum

You get a lot of raves from people who bought Ten % around here.

coway

Yes, the first time I highlighted all the to be verbs was astonishing...now I write without using them unless I have to use them

babbles

Where is the 10% available and thanks Mary and Ken for the chat.

Ken Rand