Paul Austin Ardoin's Blog, page 18

First and third, nobody out

All right, seriously, you guys. This is getting ridiculous.

I wrote the whole first draft of The Reluctant Coroner in first person, from Fenway Stevenson's point of view (she's the title character and the sleuth in the mystery). About two-thirds of the way through, I realized the book should be in third person, not first person, and so my first edit was changing everything from "I rolled my eyes" to "Fenway rolled her eyes."

I couldn't do a global search-and-replace, because there is a ton of dialogue that has "I" and "my" and "we" and "me." But I did one painstaking manual pass and changed probably two thousand instances. Then another pass, another 200. Then five alpha readers, who caught another 500. Then another pass, where I caught 25 or so. Then two more alpha readers, who caught about 10 apiece. Then a professional edit; she caught another 20. The another pass—just 5 this time. And I just found TWO MORE INSTANCES—one is "I nodded" and the other is "Fenway drummed my fingers on the table."

I bet this would be funny if I weren't banging my head against the wall.

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Next step: The Big Edit

All right, everybody—it's really happening! I got the manuscript back from my editor. On the 345 pages, there are 4,101 edits (holy moly). Some are minor—a comma here, an adjective there—and some edits need fully rewritten paragraphs or sections.

The good news is one of my editor's comments in the email she sent: "There were several times actually that I found myself wrapped up in reading and had to go back because I realized I hadn't done my editing along the way!" (Aw shucks, I bet you say that to ALL the authors!)

It looks like I'll be heads-down in this next stage for the next few days. Send snacks.

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The Journey Began...

Do you know about National Novel Writing Month? Every November, aspiring authors start new novels. The goal? 50,000 words (about 175 pages) by the end of the month.

Back in 2010, I decided to do NaNoWriMo. I even posted my goal to Facebook. I had the first name of my heroine: Fenway. I had the character of her father, a selfish man more devoted to the Red Sox than to his daughter. I had Fenway's occupation: coroner. And I knew who the murderer would be.

I started writing, and got 1,000 words written that first day... and then that was it. November came and went. I didn't forget the idea kicking around in my head, though.

Last year—on October 30, 2017—Facebook helpfully served me up an "On This Day" reminder. It was my post from 2010. An awful reminder that it had been seven years since I had written a word about Fenway the Coroner and her estranged father.

So on November 1, 2017, I started again. And I decided how I would complete the novel. I wouldn't go back and edit what I had written. I wouldn't spend more than a day away from writing. And I would write it until it was done.

Judy Blume says that she's a terrible writer. But she's a great re-writer. And it's so much easier to edit your work when you, you know, have something to actually edit.

And that's how my journey started.

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Almost back from the editor!

My editor just contacted me today, and expects to have the document back in my hands next week! I hope to have the manuscript in my beta readers’ hands the week after that (March 20 or so). Of course, it all depends on the extent of the edits!

Thanks to all those who have supported me so far, and a special shout-out to my alpha readers! If you're interested in being a beta reader, let me know in the comments on the main page. 

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