Novel Editing - Start NaNoEdMo
Well I started on 1st of March, but didn’t write it up because my broadband was down, Thanks Pipex! - I’m moving from Pipex internet to Pipex Homecall, evidently two different organisations - it took me over a week to get a migration code from Pipex internet, then Pipex Homecall don’t use it & I have to get another one (only took three day though)
So the target for NaNoEdMo is to spend 50 hours editing during March - hopefully ending up with a much improved novel - even more hopefully a manuscript that’s ready to send to a publisher!
There are a few strategies outlined on the NaNoEdMo site, which seem to boil down to printing off the rough draft then going though it making notes* - which you can do in a computer document, but is probably easier on a printout. So I printed it out last Wednesday, which took several hours and 195 pages!
*The process of editing involves:
- Rereading the novel, making notes (e.g. post card or post-it) of any significant scenes or plot points - things which may later be resequenced to improve the flow or structure of the story.
- Notes of any new scenes or points to include in the rewrite.
- Notes on time-line and characters to spot continuity and other discrepancies.
- You can either note/correct spelling and grammar as you go through, or leave that for a later pass.
You then try re-sequencing the noted scenes/plot-points to improve the flow, time-line, continuity - removing irrelevant or bad ones and inserting new ones until you are happy with it. Then, if now already done, fix formatting, wording, spelling and grammar. Oh, and think of a best-selling title too!
I only doing so-so so far… a couple of hours on Saturday and Sunday and about an hour and a half last night. So far I’ve gone through to page 120 of 195 making scene/plot-point post-it notes and margin notes (about wording mainly) and some spelling and grammar markings.
If my internet connection is working, I’ll post more progress notes as I go!
Cheers,
Andy.