bookmark_borderEdit Snag

I got nearly done with the first edits when a discussion with Precious brought up a flaw in the plot. And, of course, it is an integral part of the plot. And, of course, it is in the beginning. Which means some major re-writing.

So I am thinking of ways of how to fix it. For once, it’s a problem with not enough tension vs too much. What an odd problem for me.

Even with the cutting I am doing, the dang thing continues to grow. Right now it is at 101,936. Bigger than when I said the end.

Some of the growth is from where I rewrote a bit in the beginning. Chapter One is always my most difficult. In BGCFA, the first two chapters were dropped completely after the book was bought. They just didn’t move the story forward. In this book, I actually added a Prologue that is actually more of an epilogue. Ah, foreshadowing tastes so sweet.

bookmark_borderStill Editing, Sigh

Well, I cut a big chunk out. Just under 4000 words. The story will survive without it but it still hurt.

The wordcount dipped quite a bit for a while but it now has grown back to over 98,000 words. It ended with 371 pages and is now 365. So, not too bad but there’s still time for me to kill it.

My goal is to finish the edits at no less than 95K. And to finish it soon. I’m pushing myself to get this done and submitted.

Not sure if I will be seeking beta readers or not.

Here’s some of what I cut. I may still use it, not sure.

The horticulture center used a combination of hydroponics and aquaculture to grow the plants. Basically this meant the plants were not in soil but in water. This water was filtered by live fish in a huge tank. Their water, containing all sorts of nutrients in the form of fish poop and a substance the fish produced from several glands located behind their gills, was sent to the plants. Basically. Julie could explain it much better but I was just in awe of the live fish. They were the size of an adult trout, but all similarities stopped there. Their scales were not flat against their bodies but protruded out and acted like cilia by assisting in propelling them through the water. They had fins that were as close to arms and hands as a fish could get, I suppose.

I knew Malons were vegans so I knew the fish were not eaten. However, Frankie didn’t know this or had forgotten. “What do they taste like?”

The horticulture specialist looked like Frankie had just asked her what her child tasted like. I started to explain but a voice came out over a speaker near the tank. “Friend, we are not consumable.”

We all just froze still in place. “Did that fish just speak?”

“No, I did.” One of them, the largest, swam to the end of the tank where we stood. The others arranged themselves behind him. Her. Whatever. “We are a sentient species and it is considered quite rude to consume a fellow explorer.”

(…)

“I apologize greatly for my error.” Frankie got down on her knees so she was even with the fish.

“Apology accepted. Put your hand in our water so that we may know you.”

Frankie, with only slight hesitation, stood on her tiptoes and put her hand in the water. The big fish and several others came up and, I guess, sniffed her hand. The others swam away but the big one suddenly bit Frankie’s pinkie finger. A large amount of blood could be seen in the water. Frankie grimaced but did not remove her hand.

“You are in us now. You are, in our ways, one of us.”

The horticulture specialist was again shocked but she had the presence of mind to have Frankie remove her hand and wrap it in a cloth. Mona tapped something on her device. “Interesting. They injected you with a numbing compound to help with the pain. I have instructed the nanites to regrow the tip of your finger. You will not feel it at all.”

Frankie’s eyes got real big. I don’t think she knew how much the fish had bitten. I think it was Mona’s calm that kept her from cussing up a blue streak. Instead, she started grinning and turned back to the tank. “So, how do I taste?”

If fish could laugh, these fish would have been rolling on the rocks. “To use a human phrase, you taste like chicken.” Once we stopped laughing, the fish invited us to come to the larger tank and swim with them. They promised to not bite anyone else. I think Frankie was going to take them up on the offer. The rest of us were not interested that much.

bookmark_borderStill Editing

When I do the first round of edits, I basically am re-reading the thing. I take out what doesn’t belong (will it kill the story to have this out?) and add clarity where it is murky. I’m not looking for spelling errors or punctuation. That comes later. The hard part is not getting caught up in the story and forget what I am doing. That’s why I let them sit for a few weeks between saying The End and when I start the editing.

Editing To Sleep has so far been surprisingly easy. I already know what bits are getting cut. I haven’t gotten to that point yet. I am on page 22 of 371. And, surprisingly, the word count isn’t dropping. It is actually increasing. I find that odd. The beginning is actually the worst bit of the thing so that’s where a lot of hacking and slashing takes place. I’ve not done that yet.

Meanwhile, I am also still working in Harri’s story, Butch Girls: Stereotype This. It’s not pretty and I keep telling myself to just keep writing it and see what happens. So, I am. Little bits at a time. And it is interesting how it is going. My other attempts to write this had Harri and Liz (the romantic interest) always bickering and getting mad at each other. But this time they are both a little calmer and the conflicts Liz has is all in her head (as in she is thinking of it, not talking aloud about it). I hated the bickering so I’m glad that aspect is gone! Maybe that’s why they feel so flat.

bookmark_borderI Hate Editing, But….

I do. But for some reason, I’m not as fearful of it as I have been in the past.

I started editing To Sleep (aka The Watchers) today. I just could not leave it alone any longer. I feel…alive with it. As if I am actually a writer.

Somewhere, before I started the edits, I gained over 500 words. So, I started the edits with a document of 100,858 words and, after several hours of editing (but only getting to page 13), it is 100,854 words. Ha. Take that, edit demon!

Alas, I am going to cut a huge chunk fairly soon so, I can only waller in it for so long.

bookmark_borderEdits Done!

Okay, done with that round. It came out to 117,574 words. The pages came to 391 but that is with .5″ margins. With the publisher’s submission guidelines of 1″ margins, it comes out to 501 pages. Whoa! Big difference! Wait, I use Verdana when I type ’cause it’s so big. Changing to Times New Roman….Wow. That shrunk it down. 399 pages now. In comparison, BGCFA final copy (with chapter breaks and other stuff) came to 78,303 words and 302 pages. So after the chapter breaks are put in, Simple Sarah is going to be huge. Coooool.

Anyway, I diverted myself.

Next, off to the beta readers!

Then, edit in their suggestions/changes.

Then, print it out, pull pages at random, edit one page at a time*, and enter those in.

Send it off!

Hope it sells!

*In pulling pages at random, you see just that page. You don’t get caught up in the story. You see the words on the page as just that, words. You can see a lot of errors this way, especially commonly skimmed over errors and sound-a-like words such as their and there and they’re.

Words of advice: make sure you print it out with the page numbers! Made that mistake once….

bookmark_borderEditing Continues

I realized I’d not posted in a while. Not since I went off and ranted on a few things. Nothing like gaining friends that way, eh?

Anyway, edits on Simple Sarah continue. To recap, I printed it all out (402 pages) and went through it to edit. I then started inputting those edits including hacking off bits and chunks. It ended at 121,103 and, right now, sits at 118,457 and 393 pages. I’m at a place where I’m having to pause and think and it will result first in a huge hack of words but then some other words put into its place.

It is going much slower than I thought it would. I had some issues I needed to iron out. And even still, there’s a few places where I have just decided to leave in and worry about later based on beta reader opinion and, perhaps even later if it sells, the editor’s opinion.

My goal is to get this damn thing done by this weekend. My self-imposed goals were not realistic but I learned a lot from them. I still want to get two BG books out this year but I will be happy to get one written and edited and sent and get the other at least written. I’ll re-evaluate that as soon as Simple Sarah is out of here.

bookmark_borderPaper Edits

I finished the edits already. Now to enter them and other changes into the manuscript. After that is done, I’ll send it off to the Beta Readers.

Over all, I really like this book. It has some issues here and there that I think I can fix or I can get good suggestions from the Beta Readers.

Speaking of which, any one want to be one? A Beta Reader, that is?

bookmark_borderAnd the Edits Begin

I hate editing. I really do. I wish I could say I’ve gotten better at it.

But this is daunting, don’t you think?

That’s 402 pages, double spaced, .5″ margins all around, with a footer. Oy.

That small amount I’ve got separated by my finger is pages 1-83. I’m on page 50. Oy.

My printer did a good job of it. It only got itself hung up once and I hung it up twice trying to feed it paper. I only had to reprint 3 pages! Not bad. It did it really fast because I remembered to put it on “economical/fast draft” setting. Ink is expensive!

I’m doing a slash and dash type of editing right now. If it don’t forward the story, out it goes. I’m thinking a huge chunk of the beginning is going to go. So I’m glad I ended it so big.

Oh, and I’m getting a cross-cut shredder. That stuff will be mulch after I’m done with it.