It’s editing time

Observation – it's much easier to edit a 50,000 word novel than a 110,000 word one, particularly if the novel is a stand alone and not part of a trilogy.

So I'm working through my contemporary romance at the moment. I don't have a title for it yet – that will be part of the editing process, I think.

At the moment, it's big picture stuff – a couple of people read and gave me some feedback, and I've been working through some ideas myself. So I'm now into the last fifty pages and thanks to some things I tweaked at the beginning I'm now completely re-writing the ending. So it kinda still feels like drafting, although not as laborious a process cause now I KNOW what the story is.

Then it will be time to put it against my colour chart. I showed you that here: http://nicolermurphy.com/post/Writing-processe28093my-colour-charts.aspx I'm going to have to change some of the items that I use the colours for – eg when I use magic ain't that important in this book. And the break up between thinking/talking/action needs more thinking because straight romance doesn't tend to do much on the 'action' front. I'm also going to add a little something based on a fabulous blog post I read yesterday: http://www.elisabethnaughton.com/2011/06/13/the-secret-to-selling/ So I'll be considering the questions each scene posts, and whether they get answered or not.

The gadda books also get plotted against Michael Hauge's movie plot timeline: http://www.storymastery.com/articles/30-screenplay-structure but again, that won't work for this one because it's not a fast paced, action story.

Instead, I'll be plotting it against the romance arc that Valerie Parv presents in her book "The Art of Writing Romance" (a must have if you write in the genre). This arc presents the romance storyline as a sort of snakes and ladders game, with advances and then falls that help build to the final triumphal moment of commitment and happily-ever-after.

Read it aloud to tweak the wordage and that should be the editing done. Not sure yet if I'll get someone else to read it again, or not. I'll put it away for a few weeks, read again and decide if ready for submission or not.

Once romance is done, will start work editing the gadda novella. I'm going to get it professionally edited, in order to have it up to scratch for self-publishing and luckily, I've managed to gain the services of the editor who did Rogue Gadda on behalf of HarperCollins – I like the continuity of it.

I love editing and I love learning to be a better editor.