Skip to main content

Dungeon Editing Update

    
Withdrawing her hand from the engraved door, the princess glanced around her. This had been her life. She rarely left these two floors – what need had there been? – and even in her usual haunts she did not open all the doors. She passed doors every day that were known to be merely the shortcuts for servants or unused rooms. The nagging thought that a dungeon could have existed in her own castle without her knowledge emerged again. She felt like she knew her castle, but did she? ~Dungeon
      Editing novels is new to me -- especially editing my own. It is not an easy process. In emailing a friend the other day, I described my allegorical baby encased in concrete while I stood over it with an axe. Somehow, I have to chip the concrete away -- my baby cannot live like he is. And yet I hesitate for fear that I will hurt him,. I can hardly tell which is concrete and which is baby. What if I whack away the wrong piece? This is what editing feels like to me.
      The fact remains that my novel must be edited. It cannot go to the publishers in its current state. I HAVE to start somewhere.
     I read through it a couple times, making tiny changes -- a word here, a spelling there.  The editing process wasn't going anywhere fast, and I was afraid that if I didn't do something it wouldn't go anywhere at all.
     So I changed tactics.  I locked away my original draft and forbade myself to look at it.  Then I opened a new Word document and started over.  If someone out there is an expert editor and knows that this is not the way to do things, please send me a comment with a better idea.  Until then, I proceed as described.  It is my hope that all of the things I subconsciously wanted to change will come out in the new version, and I will be able to implement those changes without losing my flow.  It is also my hope that, when the second draft is done, I can melt it together with the first, using the best pieces from each.  We shall see if it works...

Comments

  1. Esther, (for I suddenly realized that that is your name, and not just 'Bound and Freed' ;), I sure can sympathize with your feelings of working on edits for your novel, Dungeon... one has such a fear of chopping the life out of the child of one's work. It is scary! I had this experience when I sent in a short-story to a competition for publication, and while I did not re-write it, I had to re-write major bits of it, and sometimes, it just felt easier to put it aside and restart. Definitely a good thing, I think -- I know a friend who is doing the same thing, writing a second draft with her novel, so I think you're doing great.

    All the best with your editing!
    Blessings,
    Joy :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Countdown: Eight Days

Eight days.  Do you know what that means?  Barely over a week.  Tomorrow will be one week from the announcement date. Are you excited? I am. So, today, I want to talk to those who wrote something for the contest, whether or not you entered it in the end. What made you start writing your story?  What was the first inkling of an idea that tickled your brain?  What was it that you liked about your premise?  As you wrote, did you have a favorite character or a favorite scene?  And are you glad you wrote it down?  Do you feel like you learned and grew in your ability as a writer as you tried out things for this contest? And, if your story isn't included in this year's Rooglewood anthology (either because you didn't submit it or because it didn't fit with the other four stories selected), what will you do with it?  Will you market it elsewhere?  Or will you lock it away in a drawer?

Goodbye and God Be With You

It's rather fitting that some things come to a close on this day -- the last day of the year. I submitted my last entry into the Rooglewood contest this morning.  I can hardly believe it took me until the day of the deadline to send it in because I'm usually earlier than that.  And, even with the extra time I took, I still felt a little bit like maybe I could have done better if I had more time. But there was no feeling of regret when I hit "send."  Mostly it was just a prayer that Rooglewood would hear the heart of the message when they read it and that maybe, if I win, they could help me bring the full potential out of my little story.  And there was also a feeling, after working on these stories for more than six months, that it felt good to close that chapter and move on to the next one. I did it.  I wrote them.  And I'm really proud of them. Last year, the act of hitting "send" on my contest entry catapulted me into an anticipatory state....

Infinity Dreams Award

Rules 1. Thank and follow the blog that nominated you. 2. Tell us eleven facts about yourself. 3. Answer the questions that were set for you to answer. 4. Nominate 11 bloggers and set questions for them. STEP ONE:  Dear Tracey Dyck at http://traceydyck.blogspot.com, thank you for nominating me. STEP TWO:       I am the tallest girl in my family.      My hair is probably the same color as Tracey's.      I love red hair.  Long, rich, wavy, red hair.  Yes.      Death doesn't scare me.      Thunderstorms make me feel safe.  And happy.      I've seen about 170 human babies be born, and I haven't even counted the little animal babies that I've seen.      I think math is fun.      I think school in general is fun.      Im a vairy gud speler.      I am an aunt.    ...