Editing Challenges

Well, so much for doing A-to-Z. I forgot about it for two days. But, in the spirit of it:

EDITING CHALLENGES

The way I'm doing this edit follows a "top-down" system I learned about, actually through a Nanowrimo virtual write-in. Four steps -

1. Read the manuscript and MAKE NOTES. Notes should be coded for whether the suggested change will effect a) the whole story (or at least multiple chapters), b) just the current scene/chapter, or c) just that sentence/line.

2. Tackle the notes that will effect the whole story. These could be big cuts, added scenes, or themes that stretch throughout the story.

3. Now, tackle the notes that will effect a scene or chapter. After the big cuts from step 2, there may be fewer of them left.

4. Finally, go through all those nit-picky line notes. Clean up the language. Make it flow.

Theoretically, step one should only take a couple days, but this vomit draft needs a lot of work. I hope to get step one up to the mid-point of this WIP today. That's 2 days later than I had originally planned. Also, I've not been spending as much time each day on this as I need to. 

Must. Fix. Schedule.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Breakthrough!

Those several runs through the manuscript I talked about last week? Yeah, no. First off, as I started reading I realized I was BORED within three pages, so I stalled for a day, until I remembered another bit of writerly advice: "Delete the first scene." I went back in, starting at the second scene as if it was the beginning of the entire book, and it worked! I made some notes of places to drop in information provided in the previous "first" scene, and was much more interested in the story. Second, I'm a multi-tasker. They say that's not always a good thing, but it works for me in this case. I'm an editor. I see the details and the word-changes and the "needs to be expanded" all at once. I simply CAN'T with the "go through it once with a focus on X, then again to focus on Y..." I can't. It's too slow. That's probably very good advice for people who aren't trained to notice errors in writing, but in my previous
Read more

When Life Intervenes

Life happened this past week/weekend, so my progress slowed, but it's okay. Still plugging away at the edit almost every day. Scene by scene. I'm optimistic to finish this draft by the end of the month. Then I'll do a full proof-read and probably start looking for readers. Alpha readers? Beta readers? I'm not even sure which would be the right terminology. I'll figure it out. In addition to the recent life concerns, a friend is in town this week. She's not staying with us, and knows I'm working, but having that "I'll give you a buzz sometime" ringing in my ears always leaves me with a feeling that I don't want to get too deeply involved in any project. It feels like a personal flaw and I'm trying to overcome it. I should just do what I need to do and feel unapologetic if she calls me and I'm busy. I'll get there. The new book I started working on, slowly, as the muse strikes me, is getting to a point where I feel I need
Read more

Distractions

We all have distractions. The trick is finding a way to move forward around or through the distractions. Lately, life has taken a turn and dropped an extra plate in my lap. Not a problem in the long run, but the last week or two has been rather chaotic trying to keep all the plates spinning on the pole and ending up dropping one or two. The good news is, I actually made some good progress in my WIP, I think. At least it's getting organized so that I can , at some point, make "good progress". The slow news is in the editing work. I sorted out my editing work in Scrivener as I needed, but then stalled. I had made a list of things that need to be done to the manuscript, and struggled with the next step. So today, I'm moving beyond that. It's very freeing to release yourself from your own rules. Who says things need to be done in a certain order? So I sat down with the printed manuscript to start putting my hand-written changes into the document, prior to diss
Read more