2008-1-26 (Editing a paper) - 31 by Nick's Events

Photo Credit: Nick’s Events

Do you know how spell check works?

“Of course” you say.

Do you have 50,000 words or more (possibly from NaNoWriMo)?

“Of Course!” you say.

Are you making progress editing your novel?

“Of COURSE…not,” you say.

Don’t feel bad and don’t feel alone. In the wake of NaNoWriMo you should just be glad you have gotten this far! Now, to be perfectly honest, 50,000 words is not a complete novel. But you don’t want to hear that and we are not here to talk about that. We are talking about editing.

I am sure it has been done, created, marketed and promoted somewhere else, but you should be working on your ‘Edit Your NaNoWriMo in 30 Days!’ or something catchy.

“How?” you ask.

Well, even if you spend at least three days on each chapter…that is ten chapters edited in a month.

“But it looks like such a HUGE file!” you say.

It is a huge file. But stop psyching yourself out. Look at it like this.

• If you break it into small enough steps, editing, than it is easy.
• If it doesn’t seem easy, you haven’t broken it into small enough steps.
• Think ‘baby steps’, in other words ‘One Chapter at a Time’
• Use FastPencil.com

Okay, this last part is only a suggestion but it helps. It’s what I have been using. They set you up with a ten chapter model ‘project’ for your book and as you edit each chapter, you just lay it out.

I am not saying print and publish with them. That is a completely different issue and one you should research fully as to what best benefits and suits you. What I am saying is the interface is easy to use, it is free, and you can even connect with other authors. And if you only want one copy of your book you are all ready with them. They run about the same cost as other services and it’s already laid out in their program.

If you don’t want to use FastPencil to publish, then you can utilize their layout and easy breakdown of chapters. Lay it out, organize your story, name your chapters and then you will have a better overall view. You don’t see a never ending cascade of text in a word document. Instead you see a couple thousand words in each ‘chapter’ and you can just work on ‘One Chapter at a Time’.

Baby steps. No one every wrote a book in a day (unless they were insane) so don’t think you have to sit down and edit it in one day. But you do have to start. Just like writing, in order to have a finished product you have to edit.

Try Baby Steps Like this:

* Work on One Chapter

* Start with just what the SpellCheck Program picks up

* Go through just ONE chapter and see how it reads.

* Go back through the chapter and look for plot-holes thus far.

See how easy this is? Breaking it down like this? I find it easier than saying ‘I’m going to read the whole thing and look for plot holes. Then I am going to read the whole thing and look for punctuation. I am going to read the whole thing and only look for…getting burned out. Especially your first pass of editing through your book, you are going to have pages dripping red and you are going to feel overwhelmed again.

Just. Start. Small.

Some days I day dream about hiring someone to edit all 130,000 words…and then I worry about losing my writing style and voice in the edits. But hiring someone is an option. It’s whatever you feel comfortable with. But that Next Great American (Insert Country/Nation Here) is not going to edit itself sitting on your desktop. Don’t let it collect virtual dust. Get to it! The world is waiting for you!

http://www.KarishaPrescott.com/

www.KarishaPrescott.com/

KarishaPrescott.com