Hello my friends,
I am stuck. I have been ignoring other tasks to focus on editing my two manuscripts and unfortunately I am not getting anywhere with the edits; except maybe burnt out.
I would love any advice you can give on how you edit and what works best for you.
I am at the point now where I am thinking of writing up a summary of each chapter and just writing the whole thing from scratch using the summary as a guideline. I could then go back and pick and choose the best from each version and combine it into the new and improved manuscript. Does that sound crazy? It sounds like a lot of work but the writing is the fun part and I am missing the fun so I thought if I just wrote it again I would enjoy it and maybe the editing would go faster.
I am obviously grasping at straws here. Please help!
Editing is a bit too complex a process to explain in a single comment. The simplest type of editing for me boils down to reading a manuscript until I find something that doesn't sound smooth, which I then change to something to sounds smoother. Once you've read the entire manuscript, if you feel that there are problems with the plot and/or character arc(s), you can either try what you mentioned or attempt to fix it without a complete rewrite. Do you have any beta readers on these projects? They can really help notice things that you may not.
ReplyDeleteI have trouble in the editing process as well. I did find a great website that I found helpful for the editing process though and maybe you will find it helpful as well. It is called, The Creative Penn by Joanna Penn. Here is her post about what to do after the first draft. http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2012/12/07/after-first-draft-whats-next/ She has lots of good advice on her blog. Hope that helps.
ReplyDeletePeace,
To leave a link in a Blogger comment: Morgan Dragonwillow
Morgan, That was super helpful. That post also answered my other question; I have been working on finding an editor and now I have the information i need to make the right choice.
DeleteI purchased your first book today and look forward to diving in this weekend.