I am having way too much fun with this edit. Last edit, my editor had several scenes she wanted me to write, and others she wanted me to expand on. This edit, we're all about deleting.
And it's way easier.
Once I get over the fact that I'm performing plastic surgery on my baby (yikes!!!), I can picture all the beautiful forms this baby can take. So we delete a chapter, combine two chapters into one. Snip snip snip.
Then she points out to me that I have a thing for eyes. Eyes? Yes, I probably do. She pointed out to me one scene where I had eyes everywhere. Eyes flicking, eyes staring, eyes widening, eyes glancing, eyes welling up with tears, eyes closing. All on one page! You can tell a lot by the eyes. But I was telling too much. Most of the eyes got cut.
But seriously. I love feeling how trim this manuscript is getting.
Showing posts with label edits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label edits. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Edits Are Here!
So the big manila package arrived today. (When I was a little kid, I always thought adults were saying 'vanilla'...lots of 'vanilla folders.' You know, because they're yellow. Anyway.)
Very exciting! I can't wait to dig into this. There's something much easier about editing when you have specific instructions. Crossing out lines, changing word order, adding a sentence, deleting a paragraph. Just looks like a fun project.
Perhaps that's why I love getting reviews on my WIPs. It's brain food. It fuels me to do something, to look at it with new eyes.
For some reason Microsoft Word rebelled on me when my editor emailed back an electronic copy, though. It looked funny on the screen, but everything appeared to be normal: 12 pt font, normal margins. I couldn't figure out what it was until I printed it. It printed in 10 pt font (even though the document said it was 12 pt), with huge margins, putting a book-sized area of text in the middle of the page. I thought my editor had done something to the formatting for typesetting purposes. Apparently not...she didn't like the printed pages I sent her. (She asked me why I set my margins so huge. Yikes! She probably thinks I'm an idiot.)
And for the life of me, I could not get Microsoft Word to change the settings!!! I changed fonts, moved page margins, even tried changing the page orientation. No luck. I had to clear all formatting. All of it! Anyone else ever have Microsoft Word go nutsy like that? (Seriously. I'm not an idiot.)
So, now that I'm back to working on Perilous, where does that leave book #2? I'm going to make a few more changes today, and then I'm calling draft #2 good. Done. Time to submit it to critique groups and watch the reviews come in!
Very exciting! I can't wait to dig into this. There's something much easier about editing when you have specific instructions. Crossing out lines, changing word order, adding a sentence, deleting a paragraph. Just looks like a fun project.
Perhaps that's why I love getting reviews on my WIPs. It's brain food. It fuels me to do something, to look at it with new eyes.
For some reason Microsoft Word rebelled on me when my editor emailed back an electronic copy, though. It looked funny on the screen, but everything appeared to be normal: 12 pt font, normal margins. I couldn't figure out what it was until I printed it. It printed in 10 pt font (even though the document said it was 12 pt), with huge margins, putting a book-sized area of text in the middle of the page. I thought my editor had done something to the formatting for typesetting purposes. Apparently not...she didn't like the printed pages I sent her. (She asked me why I set my margins so huge. Yikes! She probably thinks I'm an idiot.)
And for the life of me, I could not get Microsoft Word to change the settings!!! I changed fonts, moved page margins, even tried changing the page orientation. No luck. I had to clear all formatting. All of it! Anyone else ever have Microsoft Word go nutsy like that? (Seriously. I'm not an idiot.)
So, now that I'm back to working on Perilous, where does that leave book #2? I'm going to make a few more changes today, and then I'm calling draft #2 good. Done. Time to submit it to critique groups and watch the reviews come in!
Monday, November 16, 2009
Eeek! I heard from my editor!
Writing is so much fun, isn't it?
I heard back from my editor today. Sounds like she's mailing my manuscript back with mark-ups all over it. I'm VERY excited.
First of all, we're cutting out the villain's POV. We tried it, didn't really work, we're cutting it. While I enjoyed his POV, I'd already cut it before and just added it in at my first editor's request. It's always fun to get inside someone else's head. I won't cry over cutting it, though.
Second, and this is the one that really intrigues me: She wants me to consider making only two of the girls LDS (Latter-day Saint), to appeal to a wider audience.
Now, would you believe I'd never even considered that before?
I can see how it would make the book more interesting to a national audience. All of the sudden it goes from being a book with LDS characters (and thus an LDS book) to being a culturally diverse book with several different religious characters in it. (And since the MC is Mexican-America, I think that'll help with the diversity.)
It makes sense, really. I grew up in a predominantly Baptist community. There were four of us in high school who were close friends. Two of us were LDS and two of us were Baptist.
I'm going to explore this idea more. I'm quite excited about it. It will require major revisions, but I agree that it will make my book more marketable. And that is, after all, what we want!
Sequel revisions:
today's goal: 147/175
actual: 168/180
tomorrow's goal: page 178/180
I heard back from my editor today. Sounds like she's mailing my manuscript back with mark-ups all over it. I'm VERY excited.
First of all, we're cutting out the villain's POV. We tried it, didn't really work, we're cutting it. While I enjoyed his POV, I'd already cut it before and just added it in at my first editor's request. It's always fun to get inside someone else's head. I won't cry over cutting it, though.
Second, and this is the one that really intrigues me: She wants me to consider making only two of the girls LDS (Latter-day Saint), to appeal to a wider audience.
Now, would you believe I'd never even considered that before?
I can see how it would make the book more interesting to a national audience. All of the sudden it goes from being a book with LDS characters (and thus an LDS book) to being a culturally diverse book with several different religious characters in it. (And since the MC is Mexican-America, I think that'll help with the diversity.)
It makes sense, really. I grew up in a predominantly Baptist community. There were four of us in high school who were close friends. Two of us were LDS and two of us were Baptist.
I'm going to explore this idea more. I'm quite excited about it. It will require major revisions, but I agree that it will make my book more marketable. And that is, after all, what we want!
Sequel revisions:
today's goal: 147/175
actual: 168/180
tomorrow's goal: page 178/180
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