And…Editing (For Real) Begins
Hey guys, remember back in February when I told you that I’d be working with Alice Sudlow? Yeah, scrap that. When I first signed up to join the 100 Days program, I declined to opt into the editing that was offered. Although hopeful that I would actually finish a book, it seemed premature to think about paying for editing when I wasn’t sure I’d have anything to edit at the end of the hundred days. Silly, silly me.
After I finished, I reached out to the folks at Write Practice and felt fortunate to grab one of the last two spots Alice had available. The downside?
The editing slot was for June. June.
Remember, I finished my first draft in 80 days, in January. I looked at (calculated using this site) the days between January 3 and June 1 and guess what?
149 days. ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-NINE DAYS.
That’s ALMOST enough time to write the next three books in the series. I really thought about doing that- I have a pretty good idea of what happens next, and after that, and in the last book so I could have. Really.
Two things held me back.
- One, during the celebration/wrap-up live webinar with Joe Bunting et al, I asked if we should start working on the next book right away, and the emphatic answer from the Write Practice folks was “No, finish the first book first.”
- The second reason I decided to wait was that I’ve been listening to the Story Grid Podcast and I saw how drastically Tim Grahl’s novel changed after Shawn Coyne started applying the Story Grid methodology to it. If my own book needs a radical overhaul, it’s far easier to do it with one book and not have to go back and essentially re-write the last three!
To be fair, there was probably a little procrastination in there too.
“So,” you ask, “why bring this up now? You just griping about Alice’s availability?”
Nope. ‘Cause I just sent the book off to be edited. For real. And the adrenaline high I’m riding right now is providing the creative energy for this post.
Writing is like shadow boxing. Editing is when the shadows fight back.
Alice reached out to me a few days ago and asked if I’d like to work with a different editor, Kim Kessler. Would I?
I went to Kim’s webpage and read everything I could find about her. I watched her TEDx video and looked for her novels on Amazon. Like Alice, Kim is a Certified Story Grid Editor. What I couldn’t find on Kim’s site was what kinds of books she enjoys reading and editing. I shot off an email to Alice who asked Kim and then sent this back:
“Fantasy is my favorite — to read, write, or watch! I love world building and take every character and idea absolutely seriously no matter how different from the real world. High fantasy, urban, space, you name it. My Story Grid Edition [the book she’s analyzing through the lens of Story Grid] is The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.”
And
“I feel very comfortable in YA; it’s what I’ve read and edited most. Also, internal genres, which show up strongly in YA, are a personal strength.”
Done. Woo! Woo!!! Though what this does to the new book (different series) that I am about to start…I’ll think about that later.
So this morning, before I could let my nerves get the best of me, I wrote up a little about me, why I wrote the book, what my goals are, and compiled the book. And compiled the book. And did it a few more times. I use Scrivener by Literature and Latte, and there are many, many, MANY options when you want to compile.
The funny thing is (funny-not-funny) Scrivener doesn’t have a preset option for “Compile your first book to send to a developmental editor”. Literature and Latte, can you add that to the future developments list? For PC. Please and thank you.
Have you had to change your team members mid-stride? How did that work out for you?
I would like to second the request for Scrivener to add that compile feature, for Mac too, please.
Congratulations on sending your work off to a developmental editor too. Hopefully, you are enjoying the process. Well as much as anyone can. I’m in the same boat as you right now. I have received my draft back from my editor, also named Alice, though it’s a different one. Going through all of her notes and suggestions has been incredible, enlightening, and sometimes frustrating. Because why didn’t I notice some of these things when I first wrote it, right? But all in all, it’s worth it to me and in the end, makes the story that much better.
Did you also use a Story Grid editor? Or a different developmental editor? I’m curious how you’ve tackled the editing process!