After way more time than originally planned editing the ms, it's finally headed back to the editor. It started at 103,000 words and ended up at 76,000 words, so much red ink was spilled.
I miss the characters already. Am I mad? I guess when you've watched them do everything--and I mean EVERYTHING--it can be hard to let go.
I worry about the book: will it sell; will readers like the setting of southern Spain, which I consider very romantic but is considered an 'unusual' setting; will I be able to re-focus on the current book without too much difficulty. . . .
But for now, I'm going to celebrate the fact that my 'baby' is as good as I can make it right now and hope and pray that the editor will like the revisions.
What do you do to distract yourself while waiting for an editor's reply?
Louisa May Alcott
An American writer
Showing posts with label editing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label editing. Show all posts
Friday, February 17, 2012
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
What to cut?
Since I've been in editing mode for a while now, I'm finding in some parts it's darned difficult to tell what needs to be cut versus kept versus re-written. Kept some scenes, but did a POV switch. I **think** it's better, but crap, when you're in the middle of it all, it's really hard to be objective.
Of course, since it's my book and by definition I love it, I can justify keeping just about anything. That's what happened the first time I came at this. I cut it from about 103,000 words to about 102,500. Not exactly an effective job. It's kind of like getting a run at Queen Anne Hill in the snow, getting halfway up and then sliding back down to the bottom (Snow reference since we're in the middle of Snowmageddon here).
This time I'm trying to focus with a laser beam on the primary internal conflict between the h/h and also what their own internal conflicts are. As much as possible, anything that deviates from that gets extra scrutiny. Or at least I hope it does.
Do you have a technique for the first pass, second pass, subsequent passes? Or do you look for specific things each time? My "technique" is pretty darned hit-and-miss right now, but I'd probably be a lot more effective if I could refine this a bit.
So what are your tips for editing?
Of course, since it's my book and by definition I love it, I can justify keeping just about anything. That's what happened the first time I came at this. I cut it from about 103,000 words to about 102,500. Not exactly an effective job. It's kind of like getting a run at Queen Anne Hill in the snow, getting halfway up and then sliding back down to the bottom (Snow reference since we're in the middle of Snowmageddon here).
This time I'm trying to focus with a laser beam on the primary internal conflict between the h/h and also what their own internal conflicts are. As much as possible, anything that deviates from that gets extra scrutiny. Or at least I hope it does.
Do you have a technique for the first pass, second pass, subsequent passes? Or do you look for specific things each time? My "technique" is pretty darned hit-and-miss right now, but I'd probably be a lot more effective if I could refine this a bit.
So what are your tips for editing?
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