(Which, sadly, makes it about half-done.)
I finished writing the Epilogue for book two last night, and I’m happy with the progress of the plot and character arcs throughout. This book is a bit longer than first. It picks up a few months after the events of book one and continues the story from there.
So why is it only half done, then? The answer is simple… editing, editing and after that, some more editing! Starting from a book that is completely written, my steps forward will likely look like this:
- I’ll edit the whole book using ProWritingAid. Some folks love third-party editing software, while others hate it. I happen to like using it, but only for specific tasks. My goal in this editing pass is to significantly de-clutter my language. I find this piece of software really good at highlighting clumsy passages. Its suggested corrections, on the other hand, are often outright laughable.
- After my first de-cluttering pass, I’ll print out the entire book and edit the manuscript the old-fashioned way… with a red pen. For whatever reason, editing a printed manuscript works differently for me. It puts me in a different mode of thought. Seeing the red ink on a page is, strangely, encouraging. The more red ink I can slather on the page, the better. To me, it’s a graphical representation of improvement.
- I’m sending three chapters to my workshop each month to critique. The workshop provides critical feedback on how the plot and pacing is working. They ask questions about things that didn’t come across clearly, which gives me an opportunity to decide if that’s what I want the reader experience to be at that point in the story. Often, I end up needing to go back to add a sentence or paragraph to better communicate a concept. I’ve spent decades thinking through the mechanics of my fantasy world… my readers haven’t. The workshop is a great place to be continually reminded of that.
- I’m likely to pay for some private coaching at AllWriters. This is similar to the workshop experience, but more focused. I have a couple of really tricky sections in this book where point of view shifts drive everything. They will benefit from analysis and discussion. Coaching is perfect for that.
- I’ll do a chapter map for book three while I’m working on the book two edits. Injecting details, foreshadowing, and mysteries into book two and having them play out in book three will ultimately lead to a more cohesive series of novels.
This is where my process is now, but remember, I’m new to all of this. As I learn about the craft of writing, I’m finding myself budgeting more and more editing passes. I’m fearfully anticipating looking back on this blog post in a couple of years and wondering how the heck I managed to get by with such minimal editing.