Editing

As I'm quickly approaching the end of my novel, I am going to have to start editing it. Urgh, don't want to! Can it not be perfect as it pours out my head?

I suppose not.

There are a lot of books to help with editing. Fix Your Damn Book by James Osiris Baldwin looks On Editing by Helen Corner-Bryant and Kathryn Price. There's also Editing Bootcamp: A Fiction Writer's Guide to Self-Editing Part 1 by Dola Basu Singh. and The Little Book of Self-Editing for Writers by Bridget McKenna. I need to invest in one.

interesting, as does

My problem when editing is that every word in my book is my baby and therefore precious. I think I feel as if, if I chop something, I don't love my story enough when actually trimming the rubbish out of a story is what makes it shine!

The fact of the matter is, every story needs an edit. It's rare that a first draft smashes it out the park straight away, and even if it does, there might be spelling mistakes or something that requires an edit.

My novel has certainly not smashed it out of anything. I know for a start that a bit of conflict waaaay back in scene 20 needs to be brought forward to scene 15. There's not enough conflict in the Fun and Games section of my novel and Bad Guys Close In is too short. Bad Guys Close In is supposed to be 25% of my novel and at the moment, it's 10% at best. I think I need to insert a subplot that comes out in Bag Guys Close In, the second half of the middle of my book, that moves the story and the character development on. Subplot is not my best skill but I did plan on a love story, which I didn't end up using, and that could come about in this part of the book.

It's usually during editing that I think the entire book is utter rubbish and start again. However, this is the first time I've made it past 30,000 words in the last six months between three rewrites so I think I'm getting somewhere.

When editing, I'm going to break the novel down in to smaller chunks and edit each scene as its own little story. I'm going to use postit notes that I can move around to say what happens in each scene and where I can chop out words, sentences and paragraphs, or maybe even scenes I just don't need anymore.

And I'm going to invest in a 'How to Edit' book. Wish me luck!