#Editing-11 – Scales Falling From My Eyes

Pilgrims of the Pool is finished. Except… it nearly is finished!

Last week’s post centred on my concern over a holiday interrupting the editing. I take it all back. I might even plan one to coincide with the final round of edits of the next novel. Yes, distance really does help to remove the scales from our eyes. For me it has proved better than letting the typescript rest in a drawer; in a drawer I still think about it. Away on holiday I didn’t.

I’ve been engaged on the final final edit this week, and the last series of Comments I made in the margins – those I stared at and tussled over, seemingly for weeks – have been resolved in double-quick time, by additions, deletions or rewriting scenes.

I am currently on my last read through to ensure I’ve left no loose threads. And guess what? I’ll be away three days this week, too [rolls eyes].

However, upload is imminent. You’ll be the first to know. Or at least immediately behind my Newsletter readers - LOL!

See also: 

Editing-1: What does editing actually mean?
Editing-2: The Structural Edit

Editing-3: The Content Edit

Editing-4: The Line Edit
Editing-5: Line Edit Update 

Editing-6: Beta Readers 

Editing-7: Metadata 

Editing-8: Beyond Beta Readers
Editing-9: Writing in a Circle
Editing-10: Polishing the Novel
Editing-10A: Scheduling Hiccup

#Editing-10A: Er… Scheduling Hiccup

Pilgrims of the Pool is finished. Except it’s not… because I’ve been on holiday.

Was this a good plan? Obviously not, though it seemed to be when the holiday was booked back at the beginning of the year. A few members of Hornsea Writers, the support group I belong to, had marked their respective cards to “have summer off” and mine was supposed to start at the beginning of June. Best laid plans…

Yet burn-out is as rife among authors as the rest of the creative industries, and the marketing & publicity side of authorship carries on regardless.

This weekend I’m taking part in a freebie promo – Best of British – with a 25% extract of Torc of Moonlight. At least my Welcome sequence of newsletters is now fully automated, complete with their discounts and freebies. 

For those interested, my mailing list now tops 1,000 recipients. Check out my new Newsletter landing page by clicking the blue button, top right. You don’t have to follow it through.

Back to the editing.

See also: 

Editing-1: What does editing actually mean?
Editing-2: The Structural Edit

Editing-3: The Content Edit

Editing-4: The Line Edit
Editing-5: Line Edit Update 

Editing-6: Beta Readers 

Editing-7: Metadata 

Editing-8: Beyond Beta Readers
Editing-9: Writing in a Circle
Editing-10: Polishing the Novel
Editing-10A: Scheduling Hiccup
Editing-11: - Scales Falling from my Eyes

Editing-10: Polishing the Novel

Pilgrims of the Pool is finished. Except it’s not.

I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the number of page reads this series of posts has gathered. Readers who have been with me from the first will realise I am now into dancing mode. It feels like it – two steps forward, one step back.

As part of the editing process, last week I needed to Write in a Circle. Well, the opening chapters have been re-structured, the flow eased, the echoes between characters and between time periods re-established on a slightly different footing, character motivations and fears ramped up and/or pulled back. Short stories, even novellas, may fall from brain to page in a single torrent, but novels need coaxing, marshalling into form, and drilling until the disparate elements are… dancing to the same beat. It can take time and numerous reruns.

However, there comes a point when the writing is not improved, merely made different. I am now at the stage of enough! It is time for an unemotional, mechanical, walk-through. I use Pro-Writing Aid – other software is available – which will highlight everything from passive verbs to convoluted sentence structure.  I don’t expect it to find much that I haven’t intended, in fact I’ll be miffed if it does, but it makes a good final check.

See you on the other side.

See also: 

Editing-1: What does editing actually mean?
Editing-2: The Structural Edit

Editing-3: The Content Edit

Editing-4: The Line Edit
Editing-5: Line Edit Update 

Editing-6: Beta Readers 

Editing-7: Metadata 

Editing-8: Beyond Beta Readers
Editing-9: Writing in a Circle
Editing-10: Polishing the Novel

#Editing 9: Writing a novel in a Circle

Pilgrims of the Pool is finished. Except it's not.

How many editing run-throughs does a novel need? It depends on how much of a perfectionist the author is. And I'm definitely a tweak & fiddle writer. Should I be? Or should I be to the extent I am?

Probably not to the extent I am as inevitably it becomes time-counterproductive. However, whenever I read a novel - mainstream or indie - and come across phrasing which makes me wince, or characterisation so shallow I yawn, or authorial viewpoint that makes my eyes roll, there's a little voice in my head saying yours could be like this. And I don't want it to be.

Take the beginning. One of my beta readers brought up a point about it, and the more I've edited the whole the more valid the comment has become. In truth, this is no surprise. When I was teaching I maintained that a novel should be written in a circle. No matter how much prep work is undertaken, during the writing of the opening chapters an author is flexing muscles, marshalling characters, juggling motivations, laying down the atmosphere, honing the tone... By the midpoint, all the facets are jumping to the same beat, and by the ending it should be flowing like silk, or giving the impression it is. 

It's always worth setting the beginning against the ending to see if they balance. I'm not talking about pacing - the ending should be streaking away - I'm talking about the building blocks: sentence, paragraph, and scene structure. Is the beginning too flighty or turgid? Are the characters as introduced human enough or do they need a bit more work?

In my case I'm writing the final novel in a trilogy, yet all three must be able to be read as standalones or even out of sequence. And this was my problem. I've walked with the main character, Nick Blaketon, through six years of his life. I know him like a brother. It's his book, it's his trilogy, yet the new characters and time period stood brighter than he did because I was seeding them within their individual realms while allowing my mate Nick to wander in like an old hand.

It didn't need much: a shake-up of the initial chapter sequence, a couple of new scenes, but the difference is vivid. Nick now steps into his book with emphasis and stakes his claim to main character. 

If you're close to finishing your own novel, take time to set the ending against the beginning and weigh the two for balance. It could make all the difference, especially if you're sending the work to an agent.

See also: 

Editing-1: What does editing actually mean?
Editing-2: The Structural Edit

Editing-3: The Content Edit

Editing-4: The Line Edit
Editing-5: Line Edit Update 

Editing-6: Beta Readers 

Editing-7: Metadata 

Editing-8: Beyond Beta Readers
Editing-9: Writing in a Circle
Editing-10: Polishing the Novel