Well.
Well well well.
I worked and worked this winter and by late February, I thought I had finally finished my novel, and I do mean, finished it. Done. Finito. Edited and hammered down. It had, after all, been two and a half years, and I'd really worked to a schedule in the last months, and a grid of sorts, notes in order, clipboard of scattered stuff, finally battened down.
Anyway, in June I began rereading, as I have now faced the reality that my word count is too high, which was no biggie in the first four chapters. Most of it was what I wanted it to be. Maybe edited 1K out of those first four, and honed parts, here and there.
BUT. I just finish a re-read of Chapter 6, which I now see is Chapter 5. And while the bulk of it is intact, I have boatloads of notes all over those pages. Virtually rewrote the first two.
It took me four full months to get to the point I could look at this manuscript and really see it and read it, in a more-than-rote way.
How long does it take you guys to get to the place in your heads where you can edit, and not feel pain, or at least be able to see what you're doing?
Monday, July 20, 2009
Editing Eye Opener From Hell
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23 comments:
That varies - a lot - depending on the manuscript.
Congrats on starting the reworking effort - again!
Typically, I need to let it stew for at least a few weeks before I can objectively recognise the vile steaminess of whatever it was I previously excreted...
Hope this helps.
keep at it girl!
We're going to find an agent at the next London Book Fair!
So much work and I have no idea how to tell when you're finished.
I know you won't let go till you're done, though.
Thanks, Sarah and ril,
I think the part that's driven me the craziest is being absolutely certain I was already finished, then deeling frustrated about word count issues and frustrated that I had to take words out I didn't want to take out, and still being too close to read it, and now, having finally opened it up again, I can see that it was in need of another read and a whittle. Maybe I was just tired before. I don't know.
Also, I have another novel writing its scenes in my head and I'm copying those down at the same time...frustrating.
But the good news is, the Blondster is in a two-week residential program, a portfolio prep course at a good art/design college, and then she goes to California for a week to see her dad and step-mom, so that's three weeks I have to work evenings and weekends, so there you go.
Hi Jan,
How are you, girl?
Hi FH,
I think the problem is - this being my first novel, I initially can't tell the difference between a strong draft and the real deal - AND - that I thought I'd only need one draft. Hah!
You're a better editor than I for being able to see when something needs changed. I'm still in a stage where I depend a little too much on the opinions of others.
What ril said.
Today is a total eclipse of the sun. Which, apprently, means it's the end of the world.
You might want to get those last few edits in, now; and, ah, it's been nice knowing you.
Ooh. Dark.
I'm editing as fast as I can! I swear I am.
And hey, you can't say 'nice knowing you', not yet! That's for another thirty years or so from now. When we're dead. Hmmmm. Maybe forty years...
And OK, I'm a science moron, first class, but are eclipses all over the world? I mean, am I gonna have one, too? Because here it's just dark because it's....getting to be nightfall...
No, I think the eclipse is only over here. Which means, I guess, it's only the end of the world over here. In Tokyo, I believe, it's only going to be a 75% eclipse. So only 75% end of the world, right? But it's cloudy and raining, so not sure we'll even be able to see it. So does that count, or will we still be here tomorrow? Not sure. Guess it'll go a bit dark, though.
There are islands off the coast of Japan where it will be 100% eclipsed. Eclipse-watchers have arrived there in hordes. To witness the end of the world, where they are. Hope they didn't make too many sandwiches.
If you don't hear from me, the prophets were right. Though I guess if the prophets were right, checking the comments isn't your first priority. What's the first priority for the end of the world?
Good question, ril.
Eclipse is seen (in full) in parts of India, China, some islands off Japan, and on the NASA live feed on their website.
We can go down in virtual flames with you.
I should be writing In my WIP. I should be editing my other WIP (which languished for a couple months before I decided what I really needed to do with it). And yet, I'm spitting out poetry. Go figure. It is what it is and I'm running with it while it lasts.
Started out writing poetry in elementary school. Getting back to my roots, I guess.
Or maybe it's all about the end of the world.
I just checked in with JB, who walked in a little bit ago from non-ecliptic Northern Hemisphere golf. (OK- I didn't know it was a hemisphere thing...)
Anyway, you're still alive, right?
My first priority for the end of the world. I've been thinking about that ever since you asked... and I truly believe it can't be what we were doing just now - watching Hell's freaking Kitchen.
Because if that was what life was all about, then life is indeed meaning-free.
Is that an answer?
Hey Sarah - you're a languisher, too, eh??
Don't want to be a geographic pedant, but Japan is North of the Equator, too.
Anyway, we survived.
This time.
Good to know I can say to JB...hey, Sport, it wasn't a hemisphere thing.
Or maybe he said Western Hemisphere...hmmm. OK, I'll leave that one alone.
I'm just happy you lived!
But meanwhile back to editing... Hate to depress you, but I'm not sure that it ever is finished. It just kind of gets to the stage where either it's (a) as good as you think it's going to get (until you re-read it three months later and notice more), or (b) you just can't bear the sight of it any longer.
I think you're right, McK. I really do.
What McK and ril said.
Something I used to do, but I had short stories which makes a world of difference, is that I wrote the first draft by hand on paper. Then, when I typed it in, I didn't mind cutting crap because it was such a pain to type in.
Same process with my silk painting.
WHEN to finish?
you can go on and on and on!
(bit like relationships too!)
you will just know
trust your intuition
Eclipse was the dark side of the moon and endings....... turning into the new moon with new beginnings. It took 6 minutes
Six minutes?
Guess I'm going to have to decide on a second priority for the end of the world, too.
LOL @ ril! Ditto. THough it doesn't stop me from continuing to produce vile excrement...
Hey McK,
Unfortunately - I was sick of thinking about this novel and, like you said, couldn't bear the sight of it any longer - until it sat for those four months and I started thinking about how that was all it was gonna do - sit - unless I looked at it again. I've been happy with most of what I've reread, but I can see the places where I hurried or was redundant to the point of blow-your-brains-out, or where TMI got the poing of the story off-track, and big surprise, those places are the ones that are gonna go. But I agree with you - I think there's always something I'll think about, later on, and wish I'd changed.
Hi paca,
I really like your style on the 'cutting crap because it was too much of a pain to type it in'.
From some reason, I can jot notes on paper, in the car, whatever - a sentence, a thought about how something should come together, that kind of thing - but writing the story itself, I type. Don't know why. And when I edit, I read what I wrote aloud - and jot notes in margins, etc.
Hi Jan,
You made me laugh with the 'bit like relationships, too'!
And I think you're right about intuition and trust.
AND about the six minutes that then gave ril the fodder for his comment that then made me just about die laughing. Which wou;dn't have been a priority for those same last six minutes, but sure would've come in handy for the afterglow part. Ahem.
Apparently Chris thought so, too...
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