I realise I have been somewhat AWOL on here for a while - has it been two weeks, or more? - sorry about that. I’ve been ploughing through The Partnership, using the delete button rather a lot, and I haven’t really had much to say about the process.

However, I can now say that I have finished my umpteenth read-through edit of my manuscript and in doing so I have managed to shave off 22 pages. It sounds like a lot, however I only got rid of approximately 2930 words. They were mostly widows and orphans which cut useless lines and reduced page length.

I’m happy. What with all the editing I’ve done in the last two months I think it’s in even better shape. 

The plan now is to get some more beta-readers to give me their thoughts. Whilst I’m waiting for their responses, I will start composing my query letter for Literary Agents and hopefully begin on the sequel(s).

Exciting times!

I had gotten through 60 pages (of 425) of this current read-through edit of The Partnership when I came across two problems.

The first was that Microsoft Word had somehow reversed or straightened 23 out of the 3379 apostrophes in the manuscript. I know the exact figures because I had to search through them all to rectify the errors.

The second was that I realised that my characters were blushing excessively. I guess I hadn’t noticed before because of all the deep breathing they were enduring.

I’m glad I spotted this one early on so that I can keep an eye on it as I continue reading ;-)

I think I’m ready to embark on hopefully my last big read-through edit of The Partnership.

This edit will address:

• the changes I’ve made since the last big edit;
• the way in which I have described the characters’ appearance, and more specifically the skin colour;
• the semi-repetition of the same idea in some sentences;
• the widows and orphans;

I’m excited.

This could be it. The final edit. And then I have three more beta-readers ready to read it and give me their thoughts. (Yes, Kate, you’re one!). I will also ask my last beta-reader to re-read it to check the changes I’ve made.

I hope they won’t throw up more issues to edit…

And then, then, I’ll get on to acquiring an agent!

Right, I think I’ve got my characters breathing normally now.

And somehow I managed to reduced my manuscript by five hundred words and two pages.

There was definitely way too much sighing. ;-)

Since I finished editing my male voice, I have been working through some other issues which came to my attention. These have included:

• The American-English spelling of words ending in ‘-ward’ (for example; toward, forward, onward instead of towards, forwards, onwards, etc).
• More American English-isms, for example; to talk with instead of to talk to, in line instead of queue, aside from instead of apart from, and others found here.
• Whether it’s necessary to use ‘and’ before ‘so’ as a conjunction in a sentence.
• The over-use of the same word when other synonyms are available, for example; nodded (bobbed/dipped/bowed etc) and talked* (spoke/conversed/discussed etc)

With these having been addressed, I thought I was ready to do another read-through edit of the entire thing, where I check:

• the changes I’ve made;
• the way in which I have described the character’s appearance, and more specifically the skin colour;
• the widows and orphans; 
• the semi-repetition of the same idea in some sentences;
• and the various ways I have expressed the intake of air into the lungs.

Now, for the last point, I mean expressions like:

gasped.

sucked in a breath

took a deep breath

inhaled deeply

forcibly exhaled…

And so on…

When I did a search for these types of expressions to see exactly how much of a problem it was, at first I didn’t find anything ‘wrong’. I had only used ‘exhaled’ seven times; ’sucked’ and ‘inhaled’ nine times each;  ’gasped’ thirteen times; and ‘deep breath’ twenty-seven times.

Then I searched for ‘breath’ (which picked up all the verb forms).

It came up with ninety five hits.

Even taking away two uses of ‘breath-taking’ and one ‘breathless’, as well as the twenty seven uses of ‘deep breath’ - that’s still a lot of ‘breathing’, ‘breaths’, ‘breath’, ‘breathe’, and ‘breathed’.

I’m amazed my characters aren’t hyperventilating.

So, anyway, I need to work through these ninety five to see if I can reduce them - and by at least half - before I do my read-through edit.

Here goes!

(*Edit: I just realised that I haven’t yet looked into the use of the word ‘talk’ - which has 102 hits. ‘Spoke’ came up 31 times, ‘speak’ 39, ‘discuss’ 31, and ‘chat’ 27. Some of those ‘talk’ forms need to be changed.)

thewritershelpers:

Having trouble finding synonyms for ‘white’, ‘black’, ‘tan’, etc? Have any clear idea what tone you’re going for? Here are some web pages for skin tone description and references:

Words Used To Describe Skin Color

Handy Words for Skin Tone (Includes palettes and comparisons)

Describing Characters of Color

More Tone Synonyms w/pictures

7 Offensive Mistakes Writers Make (includes more than just skin color)

This is rather useful, especially the last link (my highlight). In it, it states:

In many stories, the color of a character’s skin will only be described when the character doesn’t have a fair complexion. This typically happens because the writer is white and subconsciously thinks of xir own skin color as the default and everyone else’s as the outliers. Even JK Rowling, whose books frequently focus on tolerance and equality, is guilty of this.

The solution is simple - just describe everyone’s complexion, and all will be well.

Whereas I don’t think I am guilty of this, I want to check my manuscript in case I am and I don’t realise it.

(Source: thewritershelpersdeactivated, via booksandpublishing)

Last night I finished the edit of my male character’s ‘voice’.

I’m really pleased my friend gave me feedback to work on this because I’m really happy with the results.

In addition, I managed to reduce my manuscript by 7 pages (from 437 to 430), and by 1,150 words (from 135,750 to 134,600). I think it needs more reduction, though.

Now I plan to go back to the beginning again (how many times have I already said/done this?!) and look at my female character’s voice, as well as check my male’s voice with fresh eyes, and I also need to edit a few other things:

• the use of the dash ‘-‘
• the various ways I have expressed the intake of air into the lungs
• the excessive use of the word ‘nodded’
• the semi-repetition of the same idea in some sentences 

Let’s hope this doesn’t take more than two months, at the most.

Oh, and then I have to check for Widows and Orphans.

Wish me luck!

I feel like a broken record. I just keep saying how much more time in the day I want to be able to work on The Partnership and I feel disheartened when I haven’t been able to make progress.

It feels like a dog sat in the corner of the room giving me sad puppy eyes, wanting me to give it attention.

Maybe tomorrow I can give it a couple of hours.

Maybe.

whiteelephantintheroom:

Just pitched Lucky Dog Bookstore in Oak Cliff for a reading of Splitting the Difference on March 14th or 16th! But without proof of interest, they’re reluctant to host, staff & purchase inventory for a first-time, indie author.

If you’re serious about attending, can you do one of these things?

Like their page and post on their wall?

Follow/ Tweet ‘em @LuckyDogBooks?

Share this announcement with your Dallas friends?

If this reading happens, it’s all you, Texas Tumblrs.

I just have four chapters left in editing my male character’s ‘voice’.

I’m ignoring the fact that I’ve written the chapters really long because four sounds good.

Four is also the number of pages I have managed to reduce my manuscript by so far in this round of editing.

I’d also quite like an extra four hours in the day to get all this work done.

It’s been a week since I last posted here and to be honest I am finding it difficult to find the time to do it.

The thing is, (as usual) I’m finding it difficult to find the time to work on The Partnership in order for me to write about it on here.

If I did have the time, I would say that I’m going through the manuscript once more refining the male character to make sure his voice is just as strong as the female’s.

In addition, in doing so, I have come across some other issues that need addressing afterwards:

• the use of the dash ‘-‘
• the various ways I have expressed the intake of air into the lungs
• the excessive use of the word ‘nodded’
• the semi-repetition in some sentences of the same idea

Furthermore, I am also aware of the Widows and Orphans that need dealing with, but they are going to have to wait until I’ve been able to work through the above.

Will the editing ever end?