En fin, le fin
23 Mar 2007 02:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wayfaringwordhackAt last. This draft is COMPLETE! I still want to read over my last three chapters to check for flow before I send it into hibernation, but YAY. Finished draft. At last. :D
Do not ask me for a total word count because I don't know. And don't really want to. :P I'll work on trimming it down though during the edit, so I will most likely post "words cut" on the update filter. I pray I don't have to post a whole lot of "words added" updates, even though I do already have a whole chapter in mind that needs rewriting.
Anyhow, the plan is this:
Tonight: read last three chapters, make tweaks.
Tomorrow: Set ms aside for 2 wks, and work on another project.
April 7-25: Revise TDD
and then...My mother-in-law arrives for a visit. She'll be here from the 26 April to 15 May. I do still hope to get this draft edited and sent to interested parties *evil grin* by May 1st, but we'll see.
In the meantime, anyone want to share their full-manuscript editing techniques?
Do not ask me for a total word count because I don't know. And don't really want to. :P I'll work on trimming it down though during the edit, so I will most likely post "words cut" on the update filter. I pray I don't have to post a whole lot of "words added" updates, even though I do already have a whole chapter in mind that needs rewriting.
Anyhow, the plan is this:
Tonight: read last three chapters, make tweaks.
Tomorrow: Set ms aside for 2 wks, and work on another project.
April 7-25: Revise TDD
and then...My mother-in-law arrives for a visit. She'll be here from the 26 April to 15 May. I do still hope to get this draft edited and sent to interested parties *evil grin* by May 1st, but we'll see.
In the meantime, anyone want to share their full-manuscript editing techniques?
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no subject
Date: 23 Mar 2007 11:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 23 Mar 2007 03:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 23 Mar 2007 11:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 23 Mar 2007 03:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 23 Mar 2007 10:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 24 Mar 2007 08:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 23 Mar 2007 11:51 am (UTC)Print out whole ms (NOT in SMF, as that takes up too much paper). Sit down and read through, making your marks, your notes, your corrections with coloured pencils.
Not only do you look for grammar nits, but make notes about encluing, when characters first show up, setting stuff you may want to refer to later, and generally anything that occurs to you.
Don't forget to spill coffee or tea on it at some time. I had to make do with milo, but the effect is the same.
no subject
Date: 23 Mar 2007 01:21 pm (UTC)You may want to have a notebook to put in things like "kill X on page 23" or "X us dead! Why does he turn up on page 145??"
My problem is that I always always get bogged down in the micro details and forget all about the big picture (like, er... plot and er... structure and er... theme).
Congratulations!
no subject
Date: 23 Mar 2007 03:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 23 Mar 2007 12:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 23 Mar 2007 03:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 23 Mar 2007 01:30 pm (UTC)Do I owe you a reading or anything since you read the complete Tara?
I'm still tweaking Tara, because things keep bubbling up.
In general, I'm really bad at editing because I gradually change more and more stuff and I really ought to end one story and begin another, so I'm trying to forestall that by outlining my next fifteen novels all at once.
But for what it's worth, this is how I edit: I read through the ms. on the computer trying to keep the same frame of mind I would use for critting on the workshop, and I jot everything that bothers me down in my composition book, but I don't stop reading. When I've read through, I go back and fix each thing noted.
no subject
Date: 23 Mar 2007 04:12 pm (UTC)As for "owing," no you don't owe me anything. *grin* When I offer to do a full novel crit, I do it for pleasure and not necessarily to get a return review, unless it has been previously agreed to. I don't like the sense of obligation involved.
In general, I'm really bad at editing because I gradually change more and more stuff
This is exactly what I'm afraid of. I dearly, dearly only want to make one more pass, but I know I'm going to find stuff that is going to need more refining. *sigh*
no subject
Date: 23 Mar 2007 01:37 pm (UTC)I break the full novel down chapter-by-chapter, reading each chapter and making notes about which characters appear in it (and is it their first appearance), what the chapter does for the character development, plot, tone, and theme of the novel, what problems I might notices with continuity.
I correct line nits as I go along.
Good luck!
no subject
Date: 23 Mar 2007 04:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 23 Mar 2007 08:13 pm (UTC)I'm holding you to May 1. Miss it, and I'm not taking the 3 legged cat.
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Date: 23 Mar 2007 08:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 23 Mar 2007 08:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 23 Mar 2007 08:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 23 Mar 2007 11:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 24 Mar 2007 08:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 24 Mar 2007 08:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 24 Mar 2007 08:23 am (UTC)