Life keeps on trucking. We’re transitioning from Wedding Season to Summertime and we have lots of plans. I’ll fill you in as each completes. For now, we’re back with my Editing Series with Editing Path Part 3. We’ll get into the details below, but this follows on from last week’s post right into the part of my process where I am now.
Drawing from the Well
I thought I made a lot of progress last week. This week was nuts. I was given the gift of time to work this past weekend. I finished the first arc of this edit, which I lovingly called Part 1 on social media and charged right into the second. Looking at last week’s post, I edited 21 pages and over 8,000 words. That feels great! I’m identifying new chapters that have to be written (more interstitia to make everything connect logically and fulfillingly) which is important. Things are coming along and I’m very happy with my progress.
Page 75/276
36,482/143,875 Words
Filling the Well
I only finished one book this week: In a Fix by Linda Grimes. It was okay. Certain aspects of the plot felt contrived and I just didn’t connect with the characters. These things happen. Now I’m reading The Phantom of the Earth, the first in a series by Raeden Zen. It’s Sci-Fi so that’s a different look for me but it’s pretty good so far.
#38/105 for #ProjectBookworm2023
The big thing last week and this week is Dragonflight Patch 10.1: Embers of Neltharion. The story so far is great. I can’t wait for the rest this week as well as the start of the new Season. I need to have my laptop checked out, though, because it’s acting up a bit more than usual. Hopefully it’s nothing catastrophic.
My wife and I also watched a Man Called Otto this weekend. Wow. Just wow. You can’t adequately describe its beauty and impact in words. Just go watch it. It’s on Netflix.
Well Chat
We’ve done our initial read-through and made our notes, thus completing the Brown Edit. Sounds great, right? Well, hang on a sec. Now, it’s time to get into actually using all the insights from that to make positive changes. That brings us into the Red Edit that makes me stop and look at a lot of big parts of the book-to-come.
As with the overall editing process itself, the Red Edit (and the Orange, Blue, and Purple Edits after it) is broken into pieces. The first is processing the Brown Edit. I’m doing that now. All the notes I scribbled onto the First Draft are incorporated one way or another. This is also where I identify any missing chapters that still need to be written to smooth things out.
After that, we get more specific. I’ve collected tips from authors and readers all over the place. I take a long, hard look at the hook, first chapter, and last chapter. Does everything sufficiently work? Does the hook set? Do I accomplish all the goals of the first chapter including the first line, the opening situation, the first domino of action, person, place, feel, and foreshadowing. The first chapter has a lot of heavy lifting to do.
Then it’s onto the Climax itself. How’s the Breaking Point? Does the hero feel like an underdog? Is there an “almost” moment? Is it sufficiently difficult? Did you twist the knife enough? What about twisting the plot? And, most importantly, is it satisfying?
The longest part is looking at the 38 Elements of Story Structure. This comes straight from ProWritingAid so I’ll just give you the link for your review.
The last few pieces are much faster. I have read it enough times by this point that I can assess if the plot, pacing, and character arcs work and are easy to follow. Then I make sure that if death is addressed in the book, it is done well (tips from Hello Future Me) and ensure that every scene I have is necessary. With that done, I finally shuffle the chapters together and make sure that the eighths are balanced.
Once all of that is done, my First Draft has finally ascended to its Second Draft form and is starting to resemble a book. As you can see below, though, there’s still a long way to go. Stay tuned for the rest of the refinement process. See you next week!
The Brown Edit– First Read-ThroughThe Red Edit – Developmental Edit- The Orange Edit – Fine Detail Edit
- The Blue Edit – Line Edit
- The Purple Edit – ProWritingAid Edit
- The Gold Edit – Edit Out Loud Edit
- The Green Edit – Final Read-Through and Polish
May the tide carry you to safer shores.
BSG