In my last update
(which I realize was a long time ago), I made reference to a manuscript I've
been working on for the past year. I'm still working on it, ironing out the
kinks as it were so I thought I'd impart a little about my experience with
developing a manuscript.
Last year, I submitted
a manuscript to Fictionista Workshop, hoping for the opportunity to work with a
team on polishing it up. I crossed my fingers and waited. In the spring, I
received confirmation it had made the cut. I was excited about the prospect. I naively
assumed that the manuscript was all ready to roll; that during the twelve week
workshop, I'd come out at the end with this polished work, ready to query. Was
I ever wrong about that.
After twelve weeks, I'd
cut the first 17k, rewrote almost every chapter except for one or two in their
entirety, and was only a 1/3 of the way through editing the manuscript. The
cutting was a challenge, but it was necessary. Once the superfluous content and
backstory was removed, the narrative began to flow much more smoothly. I liked
the characters better and I had a more accurate sense of who they were. Cutting
all that content, while painful, allowed me to be more objective in the
process. What I cut wasn't wasted, it helped me further develop the characters
and move the story forward.
Although the workshop
had technically ended, I was fortunate that my team and I seemed to gel, and
they kindly agreed to stay on and continue to work with me, at a much less rigorous
pace. Sometimes it was very slow going, thanks to that pesky obligation called
a job, but we all persevered. In May of this year, I finally had a completely
edited—and mostly rewritten—manuscript.
Thus began edit round
two. The second time through allowed me to weed out crutch phrases—those phrases
we lean on when we're trying to get the words on the page and don't want to interrupt
the flow. A second edit, through a cleaned up manuscript made repetitive words
pop out, and I was able to remove instances in which I felt the need to over
stage-direct readers. I followed it up with a third, a fourth, a fifth edit ... You see where this is going. I'm on my final
read through. Six edits should be the magic number. I hope.
For me, the experience
has been a positive one. I had the privilege of working with a group of very
cool women who wielded the power of "Track Changes" with
unparallelled finesse. There is an unfathomable comfort in having a team to work
through the difficult parts of editing a manuscript, when characters can be
less than cooperative and resistant to change. Or maybe that was just me.
In any case, progress
is being made. I look forward to being able to share more with you; eventually
in the form of something with a cover.
If you are interested
in checking out the latest article I wrote for Fictionista Workshop click on the link
below:
(The irony that I've
written an article on this topic is not lost on me after CW&IA).
Thank you for your
continued support of my writing.
HH
