ENJOYABLE EDITING

The Fourth and Fifth Edits, and Doing it with a Friend

Editing is becoming more enjoyable. The end of this process is in sight. I am actually doing these two together, but not on my own.

The Structural issues, Characterisations, Character Arcs, etc, have been dealt with as best as I could in previous edits.

This Fourth Edit is about filling out anything missed in previous edits, and when writing it, but at the same time - cutting words. Filling out is not about adding padding. It is about deepening the story where needed so that the reader is drawn further into the plot. But I have to do this at the expense of my word count. I still have too many words in this novel - 124,188 to date. So, trying to get it down to 120,000 if possible at this stage is about being ruthless and having a keen eye for shortening sentences without ruining the sense. Deepening the plot means that I have to return to my sources of research to find out what really happened in 1917, and whether what I already have fits in with that time.

The Fifth Edit, is wonderful! I have a friend who has volunteered. In fact, she is a member of my Book Group, who loves proofreading ... and has volunteered several times to help me out. I decided it was time to take her up on it. The time had come for another pair of eyes to look over for errors, spellings, punctuation, etc. Being as close as I have been to this novel means that I can overlook the same errors time and time again. But it is working, and we are doing well. We do it together. I am reading it out aloud off screen, and she follows on her script. She is enjoying it, and I am loving that she is finding all my excess commas!

Apart from the writing, I think these Fourth and Fifth Edits, might be the most enjoyable of the process. But can't wait to get to the end.

See you next time!