As I finished reading the last page of my edited manuscript, I was ecstatic to find my story was completely intact, (including my beloved last line). With this being my first foray into YA Fantasy, I’m taking this as a huge victory. This was not an easy story to devise or lay out given the large amount of detail in shaping an elaborate lie.
Not to toot my own horn, but I’m pretty proud of what I’ve accomplished. This novel started out as a fun little project and turned into something I can only describe as an outright passion. Everything about the story and characters reached deep inside of me and challenged my imagination to ask “what if?” From start to finish, this novel always felt like magic to me.
Thankfully, my editor saw the magic as well! Every scene I was willing to fight for remained in place with little or no adjustment. This was particularly true in the last two chapters, where I had the most fear of a major chop job. Like I’ve said before, this is the part of the novel where I told the biggest and most complicated lies. One major hole or misplaced scene could’ve ruined the whole story!
However, that’s not to say everything remained exactly the same word for word. After all, editors are supposed to go in there and fix the problems. My editor did some artful clean up on the text and eliminated unnecessary descriptions. I fully admit that I have a penance for adjectives and sometimes overly descriptive sections. My sentimentality for adjectives definitely needed to be tempered with my editor’s red pen!
Aside from deletion, she sometimes moved a sentence or a paragraph to a different location. The shift was usually subtle, but I was amazed at how much it changed the flow of a section. It just goes to show how important placement can be, even if just for a sentence. It’s something I couldn’t see for myself and has made me further appreciate the sharp eye of an editor.
Throughout this entire process, I had two key questions floating around in my mind:
1) Where are those 7,000 words I noticed were missing from my word count?
2) What is the fate of the epilogue?
The answer to the first question was very clear when I finished with the last page. No major scenes or sections were cut, which means this is a cumulative total of little deletions from the entire manuscript. After reviewing the first five chapters of the fully commented version of the manuscript, this conclusion is even more clear to me. A deleted word or phrase here and there adds up really fast! While 7,000 is a huge number, I find myself more than willing to let all those words go as my editor has left me with a clean and simplified manuscript that retains all the elements of my writing style.
As for the epilogue, it remains in place. Yet, I find myself in a fierce debate on whether it should exist at all. I love how it creates a cliff hanger that leads to the sequel, but there are a few holes in it (which my editor did point out). While those holes are easily fixable, I remain firmly entrenched in the Epilogue Dilemma: To epilogue or not to epilogue?
As I continue working on notes for the sequel, I’m realizing the current epilogue has cornered me in terms of plot development. There are elements in the epilogue that restrict where I can go with the continuing story and I’m not sure I like the direction it’s taking. My muse needs to start talking and I need to start mapping out some possible solutions.
All in all, I’m thrilled with the edited draft of my manuscript. While I admire writers that can self-edit, I’ve learned I am not one of those writers. I need that fresh set of eyes and the scalpel of a red pen to make my work the best it can be.
In the coming weeks, I hope to post an interview with my editor, Kristen Fairgrieve of Got My Red Pen Out. If you’re in the market for a freelance editor, I highly recommend her services! Stay tuned for insights on her process and editing style.
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c.b.w. 2014
C.B. Wentworth 