Hi all. I finally decided to take one piece of my work seriously and get it sorted out for submitting to an agent. (Not looked for one yet) So I started to edit, polish, sort out all the little mistakes and reduce my font size on every page. I just wish someone had told me how long it takes! I have over a hundred and fifty pages to do, it's never ending. This is definitely a labour of love.
Hi Amy. Thanks for your input. I do seem to be doing quite a lot of deleting and re-writing. I haven't deleted full paragraphs or done any really big cuts. It's hard to assess the story really as it's the diary Fourteen in Sixty Nine, the one I've posted a few times, that I'm sorting out. But I'll keep going because this time I'm determined to try and do something with it. Thanks again.
I've found whenever I feel like I'm half way there- I'm about a tenth of the way!
I've had two reviews from editors and its helped my writing a lot but its also made me go back to the beginning and re-write chapters I thought I'd never delete, and could get away with just 'polishing up'
So beware of thinking of editing as just simply polishing and improving. Always ask yourself - would the story be worse without this part? Is it as strong as the rest of the story?
Also, as painful as it my be - my advice is to just accept that this road may be a few years long rather than a few months long! Jeremy's story of how long it can take to even be ready for publication, is not uncommon.
It sucks to think you can spent so much time on the labour of love and not get a lot in return, but if you want to take it seriously, don't give up!! But don't waste time just making a small edit here a small edit there. Delete a whole chapter and see how it feels, delete a whole character and see how you'd get around it. Lay out your whole narrative and structure and question it as a whole.
(I keep a document of big cuts from my novel so nothing is ever lost!)
And its only now after a year that I've finally started to be brave and move around my structure, cut whole chapters and re-write, and its only now that I feel like I'm really, truly 'editing'.
Good luck. If you ever need a person to talk to just message me. And never give up!
Thanks Jonathan. I think I'm in danger of overdoing it this is why I intend to read it at intervals. I feel that putting it down for several days then looking again gives it a different perspective.