Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Edits Abound!

I'm one of those goobs who actually enjoys doing edits. I really like diggin' in to polish things up, and find great satisfaction in doing so.

It's going pretty well with edits on my manuscript, if I do say so myself. But I'd have never figured so many edits were needed! I know that sounds presumptuous; that's not how I mean it. It's just that I've always been the kind to edit as I go, as much as I can, and I'd been pretty happy with the first several chapters at each one's completion. I assumed it'd be quick to breeze through 'em. But, man, was I mistaken.

I've been surprised at how much needs tweaking - or just plain deleting. Having been away from those early chapters for so long, it was with completely fresh eyes that my official edits began. And I've been seeing so many ways to make everything better. I only hope it continues to go well, with a smooth flow to the end!

4 comments:

Janet said...

Ain't it just the truth! I am scooping so much out, I might find myself obliged to write some new material. Oy! And sometimes the prose makes me cringe.

But sometimes I get so caught up in my own story, I forget to edit. :o) Now that's fun.

Janna Leadbetter said...

Yes, I love that! When you almost forget you're reading something you wrote and the storyline carries you away for a bit. I'll take more moments like that.

Rebecca Laffar-Smith said...

When I reach the editing stage of my novels I always get disheartened. The writing process feels so wonderful (most of the time) and it's disappointing to go over the manuscript during the editing process and be deluged by all the changes that need to be made.

Those parts where you just fall into the story are brilliant but even those need some polish.

I do love reading over my chapters when I try to leave my editors cap off. The story itself still shines with the potential I original saw in the idea and it makes for fantastic reading. If only it wasn't such hard work to bring out that polished shine.

I feel for you Janna and it's great that you can enjoy that process. I love editing for others. It's one of the freelancing jobs I love the most. In others work I don't have the emotional attachment that creates that disappointment.

Janna Leadbetter said...

Hi, Rebecca! I hope you're doing well. :)

I understand what you mean about feeling disheartened. For me, those thoughts have started to creep in: what if this isn't as good as I think it is, what if I can't make the theme consistent throughout? *sigh* But I shall forge ahead!