Editing: the first phase

I began on the first phase of editing my book, Tomorrow's June. According to Chris Baty (see previous post), he recommends going through each chapter and writing down the characters who appear and the action that occurs.

Done and done.

The next step is to transpose the story into movable outline form, preferably on 4 x 6 cards.

Until then.

The next step

OK. I have given it a few days. I have mulled it over. I have given it every consideration. I am ready to begin the next step.

Editing.

I wrote in my last post about seeking out advice on editing from Chris Baty and being gobsmacked about what he wrote. Herein I berate myself for a sentence or two: I seem to operate in a dream land where I drift from topic to topic, thinking I know what I am doing but in reality have no idea. I have had my first novel finished for YEARS. I had no idea how to edit it, just a vague assumption, and I still didn't do it. Please tell me what that means?

I have lately come into contact with several old friends, mine and my husband's. Everyone is doing their thing and living their lives while I knock around with the same two chapters that need editing. It is ridiculous, really. I did a cursory look at the dozens of writing books on my bookshelf and none tell the reader how to edit a book. Instead, they are filled with advice on "capturing the muse." I don't need my muse captured, she lives in my basement.

So, what to do? Here is the advice, in a nutshell from Chris, keeping in mind that edits take at least a year:

1. Print out a copy of your manuscript.
2. In the margins of each chapter, write the following: the characters who appear and the action that occurs.
3. Transpose your story into movable outline form by using index cards or digitally. This is done by breaking down each chapter into its component scenes and creating an index card for each scene, noting the same information in #2: the cast, the action, and what role the scene plays in advancing the story.
4. Cull the cards. Remove unnecessary scenes. Make sure the remaining characters are central to the story and if they aren't, have a damn good reason for being there.
5. Figure out the pacing by moving the cards (scenes), testing structure and ideas, until the arc appears. Reshuffle the cards, literally.
6. Implement the changes in #5 to the manuscript.
7. Start a sentence-by-sentence, word-by-word rewrite. Look for wooden prose and awkward conversation. Check your research and facts.

Brilliance.

I found none of this advice in any of the books I spent all my hard-earned money on. So I will start from the beginning and begin to print my manuscript. I am going to start with my first book, then go to last year's NaNoWriMo story titled Three Weeks in Arizona, then this year's winner, which is untitled.

I plug in my printer, make sure I have enough paper, and hit print.

"Replace cyan cartridge" appears. I check my supplies for a cyan cartridge, which is blue and I am printing in black ink but it doesn't seem to matter because the printer won't print without it. I don't have one. Does Toni Morrison go through this? I mean really. I have to go buy one and money is tight.

This, readers, is in a nutshell, my writing life.

*** Update ***
I told my husband and he suggested we go to the university and print them, so I did and I now have a hard copy of two out of the three novels. He is going to print the third one for me this week.

Crisis averted.

A new challenge

So I wrote this 50,000 word novel, in fact I now have THREE 50,000 word novels to edit. I just signed up for NaNoEdMo, that's right National Novel Editing Month, which happens in March. The goal is to devote 50 hours to the task of editing. I can totally do that.

And here is an embarrassing confession: I really don't actually know how to edit a novel. Sure, I edit every day in my job, but a novel? To find an answer, I turned to Chris Baty, the founder of NaNoWriMo, and read his advice on how to edit, it was really great advice on how to take the novel apart and then put it back together. So I will be doing that for all three novels. In fact, I am going to start with my first book after I log off of here.

I re-read last year's NaNoWriMo entry last night, which I am going to title, Three Weeks In Arizona. It was pretty good! So I am going to include that in the editing mix as well. In fact, I might use Three Weeks as my editing project in March, but we will see.