You've completed your manuscript. You've typed the magic words "The End" and you feel fantastic! What next? Well you've done your research and you know exactly where you want to send it. You just need to print it out and send it off, right? Wrong!
I'll admit to being very naive when I finished my first manuscript, I thought all I had to do next was print it out and then send it off. Then a friend mentioned, "You need to edit it." Edit it? I wondered, why would I need to do that, the story is fabulous, it's fine to go. To be honest, again, I had no idea how to edit. What does editing entail? Where do I start?
I've learned a bit over the years with regards to craft. There are soooo many craft courses out there. A lot of conferences main speakers concentrate on scene structure, GMC, good opening lines. They are all important but so is editing. Editing is paramount to make your baby shine. When you edit you have to take a step back from your baby. You have to forget that you slaved over it for hours.
I recently did a month long workshop with Savvy Authors called Editpalooza. It was based on the book "Revision & Self-Editing" by James Scott Bell. It was an intensive month and it gave me ideas and processes on how to get the most out of editing. How to remove scenes that don't work. How to increase the pace and deep POV. It was excellent and I recommend the book.
In the end editing is just as important as writing. The only thing is you really do have to step away and be impartial when you're reading through. The trick is also not to over edit the life and voice out of your work. It's a fine line.
I think there should be as much focus on editing strategies as there are on craft strategies.
How do you edit?
Nicki
4 comments:
Nicki,
Hope the editing process isn't too painful. You can do it and it will be worth it when you get The Call!
Thanks for the heads up about the 2 ways that work for you. I'm attempting Maas at the moment and will look into the other.
I have to print the ms. Then I sit down with a blue pen, sticky notes and a blank pad. The blank pad is for adding extra scenes and making changes that are too big for writing between the lines of the ms or on a sticky note. By the time I’m done I’ve added 20-30% of the word count and that’s not including the scenes that got deleted and replaced.
I do scene by scene. I draw a line on the page at each scene break and then ask myself what's the goal, conflict etc. I also like Margie Lawson's deep editing analysis for making sure there's enough emotion and that the reader can see the character growth.
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