The Chant of the Editor

[crows]

So, I've finished the meticulous initial read-through of my manuscript.

...

Yea. What now? There's so very much... left. I need to flesh out these characters, make them come alive with detail and backstory without wandering off on boring tangents from the main line of the story. I need to fill in the blanks of the plot, write in things I forgot to write in when I was composing it, clean up the inconsistencies, all before even thinking about starting to polish the prose. Not that I won't be doing that on the way anyway, I hope, but... but...

I think this is the part where I have to start carefully outlining the novel, chapter by chapter, and coming up with things like 'what is the point of this part?', mapping out what information leads where. Also, this is the part where I need to research all of the shit I didn't know about when I started writing this. Like, helicopters, and epidemiology, and how medical care is administered when there isn't technology available.

Oh god. Oh god.

Comments

[mermaidrain.livejournal.com]

I've done this before (I'm practically a professional editor!). The next step is actually giving a copy of your manuscript to someone else you trust and have them read it to give you feedback (and I'm more than willing AFTER I finish Liz's novel first!). You need another set of eyes to pick up on the stuff you can't see and to find the plot holes. (PICK ME! PICK ME!) ;) I can walk you through this. After next week, my life will calm down like WHOA because my classes will be DONE!