Tuesday, 30 April 2013

The Final Draft

On Thursday last week I finished what I thought would be the final draft of my book. Except that it wasn't. I thought I was all done and the story would just need proofing for typos, grammar etc but when I totted up the word count I found it had increased by at least 20%. All feelings of satisfaction ebbed away as it dawned on me that I would have to cut, cut and cut some more to get the wordcount down again. I'm now trying to decide which scenes will stay and which will go, trying to comfort myself with the thought I could use some of the cut scenes in a future book instead. But even with my most trusted readers trying to help me it's still so hard to decide! I'm currently itching to print it out so I can do a proper edit but there's no paper and not much ink left. I've just placed an order on the site that sounds like a very long river and I'm waiting for their delivery. My plan is to print out the whole darn thing and lay it out scene by scene. Maybe then I'll see what needs to go and what should stay? Maybe...
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4 comments:

  1. Barbara Watson3 May 2013 at 08:54

    Seeing my work in print always helps me; it's so much more concrete than the computer screen. At the same time, cutting words is HARD! Because we've written them and love them. Sometimes setting the MS aside for awhile and then returning to it can help us see what needs to go and what should stay. Cheers on your edits!

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  2. Dawn3 May 2013 at 10:38

    Thanks Barbara! Yes I've always found hard copy easier to edit, although that was when I worked in an editorial capacity and I wasn't emotionally attached to the copy. Like you say, when you've written words you love it's so hard to cut them. I keep putting the MS aside and going back to it and it's a lot better for doing that as I see things I didn't see before. I suppose I'm just impatient to get it finished, but perhaps I should take a step back once more and then go in for the kill! :)

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  3. Sarah Allen9 May 2013 at 13:33

    I always have the opposite problem, I always come up too short. But best of luck! I know we can both make it work :)

    Sarah Allen
    (From Sarah With Joy)

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  4. Dawn11 May 2013 at 13:00

    Thanks Sarah :) Good luck to you too!

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