Oct 12

Untangling

Posted: under Editing, Revisions, the writing life.
Tags: , ,  October 12th, 2010

Though I can almost hear the cries of Woe! No! from here, the braiding process always results in dropping some overwritten sections (or parts of them) and tightening this and adding to that.  Unlike cooking, where once you put the salt or the spices in, they’re in for the duration, writing allows do-overs…trying whether something works and then removing it if it doesn’t.  (Would love to have had that option the time I put way too much tarragon in the tarragon chicken!!)

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Oct 08

Progress Report

Posted: under Editing, Life beyond writing, Revisions, the writing life.
Tags: , , ,  October 8th, 2010

(GRUMP: just erased the whole post I was about to send.  My right little finger hit *something* (I wasn’t looking at it, so don’t know) and it all disappeared.  So this is not the post you would’ve had but the post’s general gist as I remember it after that moment of shock, useless attempts at recovery, and then writing a GRUMP.)

This week has been about reorganizing the POV sections into chronological order and writing connections when the lack of them became apparent.  I’ve also been noting places were cuts could be made later, to accommodate the additional material that will bring the book to the conclusion I’m trying to achieve…for which I need a LOT more room.    Right now the book’s just under 163,000 words,  but it changes daily up and down as this is trimmed slightly and that is added for connectivity and this other bit now turns out to be wrong, and here I’ve added a chunk…etc.    There’s a lot of front-loading in this book, so anything trimmed there has to be carefully done so the plot-threads can run smoothly on, without fraying to nothing later.

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Jul 24

Page Proofs

Posted: under Craft, Editing, the writing life.
Tags: , ,  July 24th, 2010

When my first published story came out,  I was startled at how differently it read, set in a two-column layout.  I’d been worried the story wouldn’t feel fast-paced enough–but in that format, it flew by, almost too fast-paced.   That was my first experience of how the choice of layout affects a story.

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May 11

Copy Edits Done…

Posted: under Craft, Editing, the writing life.
Tags: , ,  May 11th, 2010

….Almost.   Still a few more things to be done before shipping them back to NYC.   I need to rewrite the Dedication, write the Acknowledgments, and run back through the text to catch a couple of things I think I may have done wrong.   Read the rest of this entry »

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May 07

20 Chapters…

Posted: under Editing, the writing life.
Tags: , , ,  May 7th, 2010

…of copy edits corrected.    There are only (!) 39 chapters, but more words in the last nineteen than in the first twenty.

I quit after finishing chapter 20, a few minutes ago.  Tired.  Tired of all the little red marks and having to check every single one.  Copy-editing is a tough job for the copy-editor, but the CE’s job is one of marking anything that strikes him or her as off.

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Mar 03

Revision Letter Arrives

Posted: under Editing, Revisions, the writing life.
Tags: , , ,  March 3rd, 2010

You would be SO happy that Editor sends me these, if you knew what gets fixed before you ever see the book.   I know some of  you think you’d like the raw, untouched text better, but…no.  Seriously,  editors…and Editor in particular…make books better.  So did the alpha readers and my agent, all of whom had comments that made me rethink some things.

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Dec 17

Book Surgery

Posted: under Editing, Revisions, the writing life.
Tags: , ,  December 17th, 2009

Book II has now undergone several procedures, starting with cloning and a new identity (has a hospital bracelet with the name of its primary and the number of its clone-identity), followed by (for that clone) extraction of all POV chapters for that character into another file.  Both the primary and the POV clone are on life support for the duration, ensuring that nothing’s permanently lost.  Read the rest of this entry »

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Oct 12

Editorial Gratitude

Posted: under Editing, Life beyond writing, Revisions, the writing life.
Tags:  October 12th, 2009

I told my editor that you alpha readers had found problems, and that I’m working on them.

She’s glad you found them and that I’m fixing them, so she won’t have to.

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Sep 12

For the Alpha Readers…

Posted: under Editing, Life beyond writing.
Tags:  September 12th, 2009

Because I’m stuck in page proofs of book one, with a deadline on it, and needing to prepare a presentation for another (and different) university gig, you won’t hear back from me about what you sent for some time.  Don’t worry about that.  The rain is also a factor.  My phone’s out completely and the other phone hisses.   At least the internet hasn’t died, but we’re due even more rain (it’s now over 7.5 inches in two days) and this has made some ordinary chores…time-consuming.

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Aug 25

Opportunities

Posted: under Editing, Reader Help.
Tags:  August 25th, 2009

As I close in on having Book Two ready to send to my agent & editor,  and approaching the six-months-to-release date for Oath of Fealty, I’m seeking some help from you folks…

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