Editing and Revising

Last week after a one month hiatus, I started editing and revising the adolescent scribbling I call my novel. A couple of evil fiends friends offered to be fresh eyes and they have made a number of harsh suggestions that I'm sure will make my novel better.

Two things have surprised me. First, how taking a break from my novel could change my perspective. Now that I'm not living in wrapped up in the storyline or held captive captivated by the characters on a daily basis, I can be more objective. This is good because I can look at the evil criticisms suggestions that were made without taking them personally. More than likely, the critiques are things I'd have seen too.

Second, just how impossible difficult editing and revising can be. You have to look for punctuation, grammar and spelling. Then there's continuity, repetition, gaps, cliche, awkwardness, wordsmithing, triteness, imagery, etc. Somethings will get cut and condensed, others will get expanded and explored. The hard part is knowing what makes the story better.

I hope the shredding editing of my novel won't take as long as writing it did. I'd like to get this over and done with finished as soon as it's ready. In the meantime, I have started my second novel. The working title is Untitled.