on editing

Posted by trish on Feb 6, 2012 in Blog | 0 comments

The editing of the First Draft is coming along well.  Those of you who’ve read it will know that it’s heavy on dialogue, light on descriptive passages.  I’ve had feedback from a few friends who have suggested it could be improved by a few more breaks in the conversation to talk about what is going on in that scene, what’s going on inside the main character’s head, maybe a little about the setting and what is happening around them.  I think it’s good advice, so I’m going through and adding paragraphs and sentences here and there to break it all up.  Not surprisingly there’s a word for these breaks – they’re called ‘beats’ in editor-speak. (I’ve been reading my how-to editing books!)

I’ve had a bit of feedback about the syntax and structure, and some about whether or not a particular character would behave/speak in that way.  It’s tricky to give your characters different voices so that they don’t all just sound like the same person speaking.  I’m going through the text to make sure everyone has their own sayings and indiosyncracies and perhaps try and tweak the cadence if I can be that clever.  Hard work.  But rewarding.

To give you some idea of how much more work I have in front of me, the novel is a bit like a fixer-upper house, a big renovation project.  The ‘bones’ are there but the kitchen needs ripping out, the tiling in the bathroom needs repairing and every single wall needs to be repainted.  And there are a hundred little holes in the walls where someone tried to nail in picture hangers; those need to be fixed.

I’m really keen to get it in front of someone who can give me some completely objective feedback.  My girlfriends assure me that they’re not just telling me it’s good because they’re worried about upsetting me with a bad review, but I’d still like to hear it from a complete stranger.  Well, I’m not sure I’d “like” to hear it but I know I need to hear it.  The kids go back to school tomorrow and then I’ll be able to sit at my desk for a couple of hours of uninterrupted writing every day, and I hope by the end of February to have it ready for a Manuscript Assessor.